A mixing system has a parallel droplet dispenser capable of making droplets of a first working material in the range of 10 nanometers to 10 micrometers, a pump to deliver fluid for the droplets of the first working material and to produce a first emulsion, a compact mixer having low inter-voxel mixing to receive the emulsion and produce a homogenous material, and a dispensing system. A method of dispensing a graded material includes generating droplets of a first working material, the droplets having a size in the range of 10 nanometers to 10 micrometers, adding the droplets of the first working material into a fluid to create a first emulsion, wherein addition of the droplets of the first working material is controlled to create gradient in the emulsion, mixing the first emulsion to create a homogenous, graded mixture, and dispensing the homogenous, graded mixture onto a surface.

A membrane for fluid species transport includes a porous substrate and a selective-transport layer comprising 2-D-material flakes. The porous substrate defines surface pores with dimensions larger than 2 microns, and the selective-transport layer coats the porous substrate and spans across the surface pores. The porous substrate can be contacted with a liquid or coating to fill or coat the surface pores of the porous substrate. Next, a 2-D-material-flake solution is deposited on the porous substrate. Evaporation of solvent from the deposited 2-D-material-flake solution forms the selective-transport layer.

A multi-effect membrane distillation system includes first and second membrane distillation effects. Each effect (stage) includes a feed channel, a gap, and a vapor-permeable membrane separating the feed channel from the gap. A liquid feed is fed into the feed channel of the first effect via a feed inlet, and the liquid feed is extracted from the first-stage feed channel via a first feed-transfer conduit that delivers the liquid feed to the second-stage feed channel. The feed is extracted from the second-stage feed channel via a second feed-transfer conduit. At least one permeate-extraction conduit is coupled with the first-stage and second-stage gaps and is configured to extract permeate (e.g., pure water) therefrom.

A solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane is provided. The solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane includes a thermally conductive, microporous support layer having a feed surface, and an active separation layer adjacent the feed surface of the support layer. The support layer is capable of absorbing solar-thermal radiation. Utilization of solar energy for a membrane separation process replaces fossil-fuel derived energy with renewable energy as the driving force and does not involve the generation of undesirable greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the solar-thermal vapor-permeation process using the provided membrane is cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly.

The present invention relates, in general terms, to a composite membrane for use in filtration. The present invention also relates to a method of fabricating the composite membrane, and a method of filtrating using the composite membrane as disclosed herein. The method of fabricating a composite membrane comprising contacting a perfluorinated polymer solution with a surface of a polymer layer and drying the perfluorinated polymer solution at a relative humidity of less than 20% to form a perfluorinated polymer layer physisorbed on the surface of the polymer layer.

A substrate processing apparatus includes: a collection tank storing a mixed fluid containing water and an organic solvent; a dewaterer disposed in a pipe connected to the collection tank, and including a separation membrane allowing the water to pass through and does not allow the organic solvent to pass through; a separation pipe which is connected to the dewaterer and into which separated water that has passed through the separation membrane flows; a concentration monitoring sensor measuring a concentration of the organic solvent contained in the separated water; a shut-off valve disposed in the separation pipe, and shutting off a flow of the separated water when the shut-off valve is in a closed state; and a controller closing the shut-off valve when the concentration of the organic solvent measured by the concentration monitoring sensor exceeds a safe concentration lower than a lower explosion limit of the organic solvent.

The present invention provides a separation membrane suitable for separating water from a liquid mixture containing an alcohol and water, the separation membrane being capable of reducing a decrease in separation performance regardless of long-term use. A separation membrane 10 of the present invention includes a polyimide having a structural unit X represented by the following formula (1) and a structural unit Y represented by following formula (2). ##STR00001## A.sup.1 is a linking group including no arylene group in a main chain and having a solubility parameter, in accordance with a Fedors method, of more than 5.0 (cal/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2. A.sup.2 is a tetravalent organic group including an arylene group.