The invention relates to pre-treating an oil derived from a renewable feedstock to remove at least a portion of one or more contaminants by filtering the oil with a nanofiltration membrane. The resulting permeate oil has a reduced concentration of the contaminant relative to the feed stream to the nanofiltration membrane.

A polyolefin microporous membrane is disclosed. The membrane includes at least one microporous membrane layer, where the microporous membrane layer has an air permeability between about 100 sec/100 cc and about 220 sec/100 cc, a pin puncture strength of at least 550 gf, and a crystallization half time t.sub.1/2 of from 10 to 35 minutes when subjected to isothermal crystallization at 117? C. The air permeability and the pin puncture strength are normalized to a thickness of 16 ?m.

A roll-to-roll process and apparatus is disclosed for treatment of a membrane substrate. The apparatus and process processes the membrane substrate in a forward direction using one or more treatment solutions, and then processes the membrane substrate in a reverse direction using other treatment solutions. The treatment solutions used in the forward and reverse directions are preferably chosen so that the treatment sequence is the same in both directions. In this manner, the membrane substrate can accumulate reaction time by repeated processing in forward and reverse directions. t,?

The present invention relates to novel block copolyimides for preparing highly selective integrally asymmetrical gas separation membranes of improved permeance, processes for preparing these block copolyimides, membranes prepared from the block copolyimides, and also the use of the block copolyimides and of the membranes prepared therefrom.

Described are membranes for separating olefins from a mixture that includes olefins and non-olefins. The membrane includes polymers and metal ions associated with the polymers. The metal ions mediate the transport of the olefins through the membrane by selectively and reversibly coupling with the olefins. The olefin/non-olefin selectivity of the membrane remains within at least 80% of its original selectivity after 200 hours of exposure of the membrane to a stream of hydrogen gas, 100 hours of exposure to a stream of acetylene gas, and 100 hours of exposure to a stream of hydrogen sulfide gas. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of utilizing the membranes of the present disclosure to separate olefins from a mixture that includes olefins and non-olefins.

A separation membrane for blood processing, wherein the separation membrane for blood processing includes: a separation membrane containing polysulfone-based polymer and polyvinylpyrrolidone; and a coating film provided on at least a part of the surface of the separation membrane and containing a polymer material having a structure represented by the following general formula (1):

##STR00001##

wherein R.sup.1 is a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; R.sup.2 is a methyl group or an ethyl group; n is 2 to 6 and m is 1 to 3; P denotes the number of repetition; and a plurality of each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, n, and m present in one molecule may be the same or different.

The invention describes a method for obtaining purified recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus particles (rAAV), comprising the steps of: a) performing a depth filtration of a starting material previously obtained from cells producing rAAV particles, the said starting material being selected in a group comprising a cell lysate and a culture supernatant, whereby a rAAV-containing clarified composition is provided; b) submitting the rAAV-containing clarified composition to a first step of anion-exchange chromatography on a chromatographic support wherein elution is performed by using a linear salt gradient and wherein the rAAV-containing fraction is collected, whereby a first rAAV enriched composition is provided; c) submitting the first rAAV enriched composition at least once to a second step of anion-exchange chromatography on a chromatographic support wherein elution is performed by using a linear salt gradient and wherein the rAAV-containing fraction is collected, whereby a second rAAV enriched composition is provided; d) submitting the second rAAV enriched composition to a step of tangential flow filtration, whereby purified recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus particles (rAAV) are provided.

Novel block copolymers comprising at least one (poly)2-C.sub.1-3alkyl-2-oxazoline block and at least one (poly)dimethyl siloxane block, having at least one end group X which includes both an NH.sub.2 group and an NH group, have been found to be particularly suitable for forming vesicles. The vesicles may be used to form filtration membranes.

Provided is a microporous membrane which has an asymmetric structure and which exhibits higher permeability while keeping a high particle rejection. This microporous membrane is an asymmetric microporous membrane that is provided with: a skin layer in which micropores have been formed; and a support layer which supports the skin layer and in which pores larger than the micropores have been formed. The material of the microporous membrane is a polyvinylidene fluoride-based resin. In the skin layer, multiple spherical bodies (1) are present, and multiple linear joining parts (2) extend three-dimensionally from each of the spherical bodies (1), each pair of adjacent spherical bodies (1) being linked to each other by one or more of the linear joining parts (2). Thus, the skin layer has a three-dimensional network structure wherein the spherical bodies (1) act as nodes.

A laminated film (10A) has a polyolefin microporous membrane (20) and a porous support layer (30), in which the polyolefin microporous membrane (20) and the porous support layer (30) are bonded to each other by bonding parts (40) that contain a thermoplastic resin and are scattered, and the laminated film has a Gurley value of from 5 sec/100 mL to 100 sec/100 mL.