An ion-conducting membrane used in the chlor-alkali industry and a preparation method thereof are disclosed. The ion-conducting membrane includes a perfluorinated ion exchange resin base film, a porous reinforcing material and a perfluorinated ion exchange resin micro-particle surface layer. The perfluorinated ion exchange resin micro-particles are a mixture of one or two of perfluorocarboxylic acid resin micro-particles and perfluorosulfonic acid carboxylic acid copolymer resin micro-particles with perfluorosulfonic acid resin micro-particles. A mass percentage of perfluorosulfonic acid resin micro-particles in the mixture is 50-95%. The surface layer of the present invention has good compatibility and adhesion, and maintains a good degassing effect during the entire lifespan of the ion-conducting membrane. The present invention is used in the chlor-alkali industry, stably and effectively processes alkali metal chloride solutions having a wide range concentration and suitable for operating in a zero polar distance electrolytic cell under novel high current density conditions.

The invention includes compositions comprising curable imidazolium-functionalized poly(room-temperature ionic liquid) copolymers and homopolymers. The invention further includes methods of preparing and using the compositions of the invention. The invention further includes novel methods of preparing thin, supported, room-temperature ionic liquid-containing polymeric films on a porous support. In certain embodiments, the methods of the invention avoid the use of a gutter layer, which greatly reduces the overall gas permeance and selectivity of the composite membrane. In other embodiments, the films of the invention have increased gas selectivity and permeance over films prepared using methods described in the prior art.

The present invention includes methods and systems for improving oil quality of a contaminated oil mixture by removing contaminants from a contaminated oil comprising the steps of: pretreating a membrane contactor system having a first and a second surface with an hydrophobic liquid, wherein the hydrophobic liquid is contacted to at least one of the first and second surfaces; obtaining a contaminated oil that comprises oil and lipophobic contaminants; contacting the contaminated oil onto a first surface of one or more membrane contactors to coalesce the oil on the first surface; and collecting the coalesced oil from the contaminated oil on the second surface of the membrane contactor.

The present invention includes methods and systems for improving oil quality of a contaminated oil mixture by removing contaminants from a contaminated oil comprising the steps of: pretreating a membrane contactor system having a first and a second surface with an hydrophobic liquid, wherein the hydrophobic liquid is contacted to at least one of the first and second surfaces; obtaining a contaminated oil that comprises oil and lipophobic contaminants; contacting the contaminated oil onto a first surface of one or more membrane contactors to coalesce the oil on the first surface; and collecting the coalesced oil from the contaminated oil on the second surface of the membrane contactor.

Embodiments are directed to composite membranes having: increased volume of the microporous polymer structure relative to the total volume of the PEM; decreased permeance and thus increased selectivity; and lower ionomer content. An increased amount of polymers of the microporous polymer structure is mixed with a low equivalent weight ionomer (e.g., <460 cc/mole eq) to obtain a composite material having at least two distinct materials. Various embodiments provide a composite membrane comprising a microporous polymer structure that occupies from 13 vol % to 65 vol % of a total volume of the composite membrane, and an ionomer impregnated in the microporous polymer structure. The acid content of the composite membrane is 1.2 meq/cc to 3.5 meq/cc, and/or the thickness of the composite membrane is less than 17 microns. The selectivity of the composite membrane is greater than 0.05 MPa/mV, based on proton conductance and hydrogen permeance.

A substrate surface may be modified with a polymer coating to render the surface suitable for plasma functionalization. The polymer coating is deposited onto the surface at ambient temperature to a thickness of less than 0.1 m. The polymer coating includes poly(p-xylylene) or a derivative thereof, and is capable of penetrating into pores of a porous substrate while no substantially altering the porosity of the substrate. The coated substrate is selected from a material lacking a primary or secondary aliphatic hydrogen atom.

Methods are disclosed for modifying surfaces of a structure used in manufacturing semiconductor devices wherein the structures are formed from organic polymers. In addition to the surface of the structure, which is over a core, a portion of the structure slightly below the surface is also modified via fluorination of the organic polymer. The fluorination is achieved by exposing the structure to a mixture of gases including fluorine in a range from about 0.01% to about 10% and inert gas comprising a remainder of the mixture of gases. Fluorination occurs from the surface into the core to a depth of no more than about 1 micron and such that a portion of the core below more than 1 micron from the surface is not fluorinated.

A method and system for recovering natural gas liquids (NGLs) from hydrocarbon mixtures and for producing a pipeline quality natural gas (NG) stream from a NG stream with a BTU content greater than about 1100 BTU per standard cubic foot. An NG or petroleum gas stream containing NGLs is delivered to a crossflow semipermeable membrane filtration apparatus wherein the semipermeable membrane is wetted with an organic liquid to render the membrane oleophilic. The NG stream is delivered at a pressure of at least about 150 psig. NGLs permeate through the wetted oleophilic membrane at a backpressure of at least 120 psig and maintain the desirable membrane characteristics; they are collected as liquids at a pressure of at least about 15 psig. A pipeline quality, primarily methane retentate stream of not greater than about 1050 BTU/scf is produced.

A process for making an iron oxide impregnated carbon nanotube membrane. In this template-free and binder-free process, iron oxide nanoparticles are homogeneously dispersed onto the surface of carbon nanotubes by wet impregnation. The amount of iron oxide nanoparticles loaded on the carbon nanotubes range from 0.25-80% by weight per total weight of the doped carbon nanotubes. The iron oxide doped carbon nanotubes are then pressed to form a carbon nanotube disc which is then sintered at high temperatures to form a mixed matrix membrane of iron oxide nanoparticles homogeneously dispersed across a carbon nanotube matrix. Methods of characterizing porosity, hydrophilicity and fouling potential of the carbon nanotube membrane are also described.

The invention relates to a process for preparing a filtration membrane having an average molecular out-off of <1000 g/mol.