Described herein are water desalination membranes and methods of desalinating water. Sulfonated poly(arylene ether) polymers are also disclosed, including those comprising one or more sulfonate groups at various points along the polymer chain. The polymers may be used as at least a portion of a water desalination membrane. The polymers described herein are useful for preventing transport of aqueous ionic species (e.g., Na.sup.+ and Cl.sup.−) across a membrane made from the polymers while allowing water to pass. Chlorine-stable polymers are described, as well as polymers exhibiting good performance for rejecting monovalent cations in the presence of polyvalent cations.

Provided are a polar carbon nanotube dispersion which may be dispersed in a solvent at a high concentration, and a separator having improved filtration efficiency based on a polar carbon nanotube manufactured from the dispersion and a polar one-dimensional carbon body. According to the separator and the method for manufacturing the same of the present invention, a polar carbon nanotube dispersion which may be dispersed in a solvent at a high concentration even without use of a surfactant or a stabilizer may be prepared, and a separator which is not easily exfoliated and may be stably used even under a high pressure may be manufactured, based on a polar carbon nanotube prepared from the polar carbon nanotube dispersion and a polar one-dimensional carbon body.

The present disclosure relates to an artificial, extracorporeal system for supporting the function of the liver of a patient suffering from liver failure, which is characterized in that it comprises a first high-flux or high cut-off hollow fiber membrane dialyzer which is perfused on the lumen side with the patient's blood and wherein a buffered aqueous solution comprising human serum albumin is passed in a continuous flow through the filtrate space of said first dialyzer, a second hollow fiber membrane dialyzer which removes water-soluble substances from the dialysate of said first dialyzer, and a third, integrated hollow fiber membrane dialyzer which is perfused with the retentate of second hemodialyzer and which allows the passage of certain amounts of albumin over the membrane wall into the filtrate space which is populated with adsorbent material. The system can be used for the treatment of acute liver failure and acute-on-chronic liver failure.

Composite materials for removing hydrophobic components from a fluid include a porous matrix polymer, carbon nanotubes grafted to surfaces of the porous matrix polymer, and polystyrene chains grafted to the carbon nanotubes. Examples of porous matrix polymer include polyurethanes, polyethylenes, and polypropylenes. Membranes of the composite material may be enclosed within a fluid-permeable pouch to form a fluid treatment apparatus, such that by contacting the apparatus with a fluid mixture containing water and a hydrophobic component, the hydrophobic component absorbs selectively into the membrane. The apparatus may be removed from the fluid mixture and reused after the hydrophobic component is expelled from the membrane. The composite material may be prepared by grafting functionalized carbon nanotubes to a porous matrix polymer to form a polymer-nanotube composite, then polymerizing styrene onto the carbon nanotubes of the polymer-nanotube composite.

Systems and methods for treating water may involve a first electrochemical separation module that includes at least one ion exchange membrane having a first set of performance characteristics, and a second electrochemical separation module that includes at least one ion exchange membrane having a second set of performance characteristics that is different than the first set of performance characteristics. Performance characteristics may relate to at least one of water loss, electrical resistance, and permselectivity. Staged treatment systems and methods may provide improved efficiency.

The invention discloses a forward osmosis (FO) membrane containing silica nanoparticles having high permeate water flux and its manufacturing method. The FO membrane containing a plurality of silica nanoparticles comprises a substrate layer made of polysulfone and a polyamide layer disposed on the substrate layer. In the course of manufacturing the polyamide layer on the substrate layer by interfacial polymerization, the plurality of silica nanoparticles with different properties is added into the polyamide layer to obtain the FO membrane containing silica nanoparticles having high permeability and solute selectivity.

Methods are provided for reducing the quantity of acid gas reinjected into a reservoir by partial CO.sub.2 removal processes. The methods include acid gas removal, acid gas enrichment, generation of a CO.sub.2 rich stream and an H.sub.2S rich stream, and reinjection of the H.sub.2S rich stream into the reservoir. The acid gas enrichment can be performed by a solvent-based acid gas enrichment unit, a membrane-based acid gas enrichment unit, or a combination of a solvent-based acid gas enrichment unit a and membrane-based acid gas enrichment unit. The system includes an acid gas removal unit, one or more acid gas enrichment units, and an acid gas reinjection compressor. The acid gas enrichment unit can be a solvent-based acid gas enrichment unit, a membrane-based acid gas enrichment unit, or a solvent-based acid gas enrichment unit and a membrane-based acid gas enrichment unit.

A polymerizable composition for forming an ion-exchange resin precursor, the polymerizable composition containing a monomer component and polyethylene particles in an amount of 50 to 120 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the monomer component, wherein the monomer component contains an aromatic monomer for introducing ion-exchange groups and a nitrogen-containing aliphatic monomer, the nitrogen-containing aliphatic monomer being present in an amount of 10 to 35% by mass in said monomer component. An ion-exchange membrane is produced by applying the polymerizable composition onto a polyolefin type filament base material and polymerizing the polymerizable composition to form an ion-exchange resin precursor and, thereafter, introducing ion-exchange groups into the precursor.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a separation membrane element which has an element configuration having high fresh water production performance and high removal performance, has an improved membrane surface linear velocity whereby fouling due to hardly-soluble salts (scales) or organic matters is less likely to occur on the membrane surface particularly in high recovery ratio operation, and is excellent in fresh water production performance and removal performance over a long period of time.

A pervaporation membrane formed on a porous support containing a composition encompassing a polysiloxane, a crosslinker and a catalyst are disclosed and claimed. Also disclosed are the fabrication of membranes which exhibit unique separation properties, and their use in the separation of organic volatiles from biomass and/or organic waste, including butanol, ethanol, and the like.