Provided are an inexpensive, high-quality, permeation-side flow path material that is suitable for use in spiral membrane elements and enables the improvement of productivity, a method for producing such a permeation-side flow path material, and a membrane element having such a permeation-side flow path material. Provided are (a) a permeation-side flow path material for use in a spiral membrane element, the permeation-side flow path material comprising a resin sheet comprising a plurality of ridge portions 31 formed parallel to one another; and a plurality of openings 32 formed between each pair of the ridge portions 31, (b) a method for producing such a permeation-side flow path material, and (c) a membrane element having such a permeation-side flow path material.

A feed of at least one of (a) a source liquid including a solvent with a dissolved impurity and (b) a retentate of the source liquid is pumped in a substantially closed loop through a liquid-separation module. The liquid-separation module includes a membrane that passes at least partially purified solvent to a permeate side of the membrane while diverting the impurity in a retentate on the retentate side of the membrane. The purified solvent is extracted from the permeate side of the membrane; and the retentate from the liquid-separation module is pumped to or through a pressurized reservoir with a variable volume for the feed component and recirculated as a component of the feed. Over time, the volume for the feed is reduced and the pressure applied to the feed in the reservoir is increased to balance against an increasing difference in osmotic pressure across the membrane.

A filtration system suitable for recovering base stock from used lubricating oil and other applications pass feedstock over nano-filtration membranes assembled as a stack of membranes all experiencing parallel flow. On exiting a first stack of membranes the feedstock passes through an opening in a pressure-sustaining separator plate to flow in the reverse direction past a second stack of membranes and subsequently establish a serpentine flow of feedstock through multiple stacks of membranes. The stacks of membranes all share a common pressure containment vessel. Pressure boosters installed in the flow-through openings of separator plates separating consecutive stacks can serve to restore lost pressure of the feedstock and maintain effective permeation of permeate through the membranes. A pressure control valve at the outlet to the permeate-receiving cavities of a stack can be used to adjust the trans-membrane pressure.

The invention relates to a combined method for gentle molecular surface functionalisation of the very thin, selectively-acting separating layer which preferably consists of aromatic polyamides, polyurethanes and/or polyureas, of thin-film composite membranes for reverse osmosis (hyperfiltration) and for nanofiltration, subsequently collectively termed water-filtration membranes, in order to achieve a passive antifouling effect without impairing the selectivity of the water-selective separating layer made of polyamides and the water-permeability of the membrane.

The present invention relates to a method for curing adhesives used in the manufacture of membrane modules containing polymeric membranes, particularly polyimide based membranes used for the nanofiltration or ultrafiltration of solutes dissolved in organic solvents using microwaves. To maximise the chemical resistance of the adhesive used in these organic solvent applications, it must be as fully reacted and crosslinked (“cured”) as possible. Typically, thermal processing (heating) of the entire membrane module is used to cure the adhesives. However, the time and temperature required to achieve this high degree of completion of reaction may damage the separation performance of the membrane contained within the membrane module. In one particular aspect, this process utilises microwaves to preferentially promote the curing of epoxy adhesives over the general heating of the membrane module.

A polyamide (PA) nanofiltration (NF) membrane and a preparation method thereof by regeneration from a scrapped microfiltration (MF) membrane are provided. The method adopts a cleaning-repairing-interfacial polymerization upgrading strategy, where, sodium hypochlorite and oxalic acid are used for deeply cleaning a scrapped MF membrane. PDA is used as a repairing agent to construct a reaction platform on the membrane surface, and finally a reaction system of piperazine and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) are used to form a PA NF membrane with a PA active layer. The repairing can construct a coating with a given thickness and prominent hydrophilicity on the membrane surface, which provides favorable base membrane conditions for upgrading and preparing an NF membrane.

The present invention discloses a nanocomposite membrane for heavy metal rejection and a preparation method thereof. The nanocomposite membrane comprises a porous membrane prepared from a two-dimensional sheet material and a hydrophilic inorganic nanomaterial distributed between the sheets of the two-dimensional material. The effective pore size of the nanocomposite membrane under wet conditions is not greater than 1.2 nm. The static water contact angle of the nanocomposite membrane is not greater than 45°. The preparation method of the nanocomposite membrane comprises: adding reactants on both sides of a nanoporous membrane to carry out an interfacial synthesis reaction to obtain the nanocomposite membrane. The method is simple and controllable. Driven by lower pressure, heavy metal ions in water are rejected by a pore size screening function, thereby achieving the purpose of deep removal. The nanocomposite membrane can be used to quickly remove heavy metal ions from water.

A method is disclosed for scaling control in a membrane system operation. The method can be performed by a model in the control system of a plant. The method can include selecting one or more antiscalants corresponding to one or more components of the scale, based on one or more of feed water condition, membrane material, membrane fouling status and a kinetic study relating to a reaction between the antiscalants and the components of the scale. The composition of one or more selected antiscalants can be estimated based on an overall scaling rate constant.

A thermally sterilizable fluid filter (10) for concentrating substances contained in a fluid by way of micro-, nano- or ultrafiltration of the fluid, particularly for concentrating a pharmaceutical precursor and/or intermediate, in particular a vaccine, in a fluid. The fluid filter has a filter housing with a fluid inlet, a retentate outlet and a permeate outlet. A filter cartridge is arranged in the filter housing (12) and has a filter medium of a ceramic material and/or a ceramic composite material. The filter cartridge is held with axial play on the filter housing.

A subsea system is configured to inject seawater into a subterranean formation. The system includes a sub-micron filtration module and a plurality of pumps and a plurality of other filtering devices arranged in series.