The present disclosure relates to a nanofiltration membrane and a method of manufacturing a nanofiltration membrane. The method includes providing a support structure having a first mesoporous layer made of TiO.sub.2 and/or ZrO.sub.2 and a second porous layer adjacent to the mesoporous layer made of aluminum oxide. The method further includes grafting an anchoring group within pores of the first mesoporous layer, wherein the second layer is inert to the grafting step. An initiator for a surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) reaction is covalently bonded to the anchoring group. The support structure is impregnated with a monomer and a solvent, and a polymerization reaction is performed, which includes passing a catalyst through the mesoporous layer, the monomer being configured to start the polymerization reaction by grafting from the initiator in the presence of the catalyst.

The invention is an improved method of making a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane in which a polyimide precursor polymer is pyrolyzed to form a carbon molecular sieve membrane by heating, in a furnace, said polyimide precursor polymer to a final pyrolysis temperature of 600 C to 700 C at a pyrolysis heating rate of 3 to 7 C/minute from 400 C to the final pyrolysis temperature, the final pyrolysis temperature being held for a pyrolysis time of at most 60 minutes in a non-oxidizing atmosphere. In a particular embodiment, the cooling rate from the pyrolysis temperature is accelerated by methods to remove heat. The CMS membranes have shown an improved combination of selectivity and permeance as well as being particularly suitable to separate gases in gas streams such methane from natural gas, oxygen from air and ethylene or propylene from light hydrocarbon streams.

Apparatuses and methods for fabricating thin film composite hollow fiber membranes. In some implementations, an apparatus is used to remove excess first solution from a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution. In some implementations, the method and apparatuses include flowing a gas, for example, compressed gas or ambient air, past a surface of a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution prior to immersion in a second solution. In some implementations, the gas is flowed past the surface under positive pressure, while in other implementations the gas is flowed under negative pressure, for example, vacuum. The apparatuses and devices can be used to produce thin film composite hollow fiber membranes without pressing or damaging the hollow fiber.

Apparatuses and methods for fabricating thin film composite hollow fiber membranes. In some implementations, an apparatus is used to remove excess first solution from a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution. In some implementations, the method and apparatuses include flowing a gas, for example, compressed gas or ambient air, past a surface of a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution prior to immersion in a second solution. In some implementations, the gas is flowed past the surface under positive pressure, while in other implementations the gas is flowed under negative pressure, for example, vacuum. The apparatuses and devices can be used to produce thin film composite hollow fiber membranes without pressing or damaging the hollow fiber.

Apparatuses and methods for fabricating thin film composite hollow fiber membranes. In some implementations, an apparatus is used to remove excess first solution from a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution. In some implementations, the method and apparatuses include flowing a gas, for example, compressed gas or ambient air, past a surface of a hollow fiber that has been immersed in a first solution prior to immersion in a second solution. In some implementations, the gas is flowed past the surface under positive pressure, while in other implementations the gas is flowed under negative pressure, for example, vacuum. The apparatuses and devices can be used to produce thin film composite hollow fiber membranes without pressing or damaging the hollow fiber.

A method for controlling fiber cross-alignment in a nanofiber membrane, comprising: providing a multiple segment collector in an electrospinning device including a first and second segment electrically isolated from an intermediate segment positioned between the first and second segment, collectively presenting a cylindrical structure, rotating the cylindrical structure around a longitudinal axis proximate to an electrically charged fiber emitter; electrically grounding or charging edge conductors circumferentially resident on the first and second segment, maintaining intermediate collector electrically neutral; dispensing electrospun fiber toward the collector, the fiber attaching to edge conductors and spanning the separation space between edge conductors; attracting electrospun fiber attached to the edge conductors to the surface of the cylindrical structure, forming a first fiber layer; increasing or decreasing rotation speed of the cylindrical structure to alter the angular cross-alignment relationship between aligned nanofibers in adjacent layers, the rotation speed being altered to achieve a target relational angle.

Provided is a method of producing a zeolite film continuously and efficiently. Zeolite is formed on a surface of a support using a method including: a first step of attaching zeolite fine crystals to a surface of a support; a second step of preparing synthetic gel for growing the fine crystals; a third step of putting the support and the synthetic gel into a reactor and performing hydrothermal synthesis; and a fourth step of cleaning the support subjected to the hydrothermal synthesis, in which in the third step, multiple containers arranged to be movable in a constant-temperature apparatus are each used as the reactor, the temperature and pressure for the hydrothermal synthesis is adjusted by the temperature and pressure in the constant-temperature apparatus, and the reaction time of the hydrothermal synthesis is adjusted by setting the time from when the reactor enters the constant-temperature apparatus to when the reactor exits the constant-temperature apparatus.

Provided is a method of producing a zeolite film continuously and efficiently. The method of forming zeolite on a surface of a support is characterized in that the method includes: a first step of attaching zeolite fine crystals to a surface of a support; a second step of preparing synthetic gel for growing the fine crystals; a third step of putting the support and the synthetic gel into a continuous reactor and performing hydrothermal synthesis; and a fourth step of cleaning the support on which zeolite has been hydrothermally synthesized, and in the third step, the temperature, pressure, and flow of the synthetic gel in the continuous reactor is adjusted, the support is moved being immersed in the synthetic gel, the reaction time of the hydrothermal synthesis is adjusted by adjusting the time from when the support enters the continuous reactor to when the support exits the continuous reactor.

A method for preparation of conductive polymer/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite nanofiltration (NF) membrane and the use thereof. This conductive polymer/CNT composite NF membrane is obtained by polymerizing conductive polymer into a CNT membrane and then in-situ cross-linking with glutaraldehyde under acidic condition. The synthetic method for the conductive polymer/CNT composite NF membrane is simple and has no need of expensive equipment. The prepared membrane has controllable membrane structure and possesses superior electrical conductivity and electrochemical stability. The membrane can couple with electrochemistry for electrically assisted filtration. With the electrical assistance, the membrane can achieve improved ion rejection performance while retaining high permeability by enhancement of membrane surface charge density, which alleviates the permeability-selectivity trade-off. Furthermore, the electrically assisted NF membrane filtration can also enhance the removal for small molecular organic pollutants.

Disclosed herein is a molecularly-mixed composite membrane comprising an amorphous scrambled porous organic compound (ASPOC) material and a polymer. With current developments in membrane technologies, there exists a need for largely scalable membranes and improved performance with difficult molecular separations. Mixed Matrix Membranes improve separation performance to a degree, but also increase the membrane defects as the filler material aggregates into particles that disrupt the membrane matrix. The disclosed membrane is configured to reduce defects and increase homogeneity. The disclosed ASPOC material avoids aggregation and disperses uniformly in the polymer matrix, creating a molecularly-mixed composite membrane with improved separation performance. Also disclosed herein are methods for making the same.