The present disclosure relates to semipermeable membranes which are suitable for blood purification, e.g. by hemodialysis, which have an increased ability to remove larger molecules while at the same time effectively retaining albumin. The membranes are characterized by a molecular retention onset (MWRO) of between 9.0 kD and 14.5 kD and a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of between 55 kD and 130 kD as determined by dextran sieving curves and can be prepared by industrially feasible processes excluding a treatment with salt before drying. The invention therefore also relates to a process for the production of the membranes and to their use in medical applications.

The present disclosure relates to a dialyzer comprising a bundle of semipermeable hollow fiber membranes which is suitable for blood purification, wherein the dialyzer has an increased ability to remove larger molecules while at the same time it is able to effectively remove small uremic toxins and efficiently retain albumin and larger proteins. The invention also relates to using said dialyzer in hemodialysis.

A hollow fiber membrane laminate that includes a plurality of hollow fiber membranes wound to form a plurality of layers in a cylinder shape. The hollow fiber membranes are wound around a central axis while reciprocating a feeding point of the hollow fiber membranes along a central axis. Hollow fiber membranes adjacent to each other in each respective layer are separated by a predetermined separation distance. A speed differential z is reduced for successive layers approaching an outer side of the cylinder to maintain the predetermined separation distance. The speed differential z has a value obtained by dividing a pitch of the hollow fiber membranes within a respective layer by a traverse reciprocating distance.

The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the manufacture of at least one hollow fiber membrane, wherein a spinning mass is extruded via a spinning unit to form a spinning thread and precipitated in a precipitation bath to form a hollow fiber membrane and the hollow fiber membrane is optionally rinsed in a rinsing bath, wherein furthermore the hollow fiber membrane is passed through at least one drying unit, wherein the drying unit comprises a pressure section which is constructed in such a way that a positive pressure compared with atmospheric pressure can be set in the pressure section, and at least part of the precipitating agent or rinsing agent contained in the at least one hollow fiber membrane (104) is separated from the at least one hollow fiber membrane.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a membrane distillation module with excellent stability of water treatment ability over time as a result of wetting being controlled; and a membrane distillation apparatus comprising the same. Provided is a membrane distillation module that comprises a housing and multiple porous hollow fiber membranes, both ends of which are bonded and fixed to the housing, wherein: the water contact angle of the outer surfaces of the porous hollow fiber membranes is at least 90°; and a hydrophobic polymer adheres to at least some of the areas of the porous hollow fiber membranes that are not bonded and fixed.

A separation membrane module includes a case and a separation membrane built in the case, wherein the separation membrane module satisfies the following requirements (1) to (3): (1) the separation membrane contains a hydrophobic polymer, a hydrophilic polymer, and a biocompatible copolymer, the hydrophilic polymer containing a hydrophilic polymer having mobility, (2) the separation membrane contains the hydrophilic polymer having mobility in a range of 1.0 to 1.7% by mass, and (3) a water content per self-weight of the separation membrane is in a range of 0 to 10% by mass. The separation membrane module is provided in which fouling of a membrane is suppressed and the amount of eluted substance is small.

In some examples, a membrane module includes a fiber bundle. The fiber bundle includes a tubular first region and a tubular second region positioned around the tubular first region. One of the first or second regions includes hollow fibers oriented along an axis of the fiber bundle. Another of the first or second regions includes hollow fibers that are not colinear in a radial direction from the axis of the fiber bundle. A void fraction of the second region is different from a void fraction of the first region.

The present invention provides an intrinsically anti-microbial hollow fiber membrane for filtration of liquids. The membrane comprises a plurality of porous hollow bilayer membrane fibers wherein the liquid enters from outside of the fiber, passing through the porous membrane into the lumen of the fiber and coming out from the hollow ending of the fiber, wherein this configuration provides a liquid outside-in arrangement and retains the filtrate outside. It means that membrane of the invention has built in characteristics to act against microbes in order to provide the use with a safe liquid free from microbes. The outer side or outer wall of the hollow fibers may be configured to become hydrophobic whereas inner side or inner wall of the hollow fiber membrane may be configured to become hydrophilic to enhance the water permeability to a great extent. The hollow fiber membrane may be configured to give it an intrinsic anti-microbial capability. A device containing above said membrane has also been disclosed.

The invention relates to a method of determining a permeation property of hollow-fibre membranes wherein the permeation property of the hollow-fibre membrane is determined on a hollow-fibre membrane bundle which has been introduced into a housing and has terminally open hollow-fibre membranes at a first end of the hollow-fibre membrane bundle and terminally closed hollow-fibre membranes at a second end of the hollow-fibre membrane bundle. The invention more particularly relates to a method of determining the ultrafiltration rate and/or the ultrafiltration coefficient of hollow-fibre membranes.

The present invention relates to a polymeric hollow fiber membrane and a carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane, both of which have excellent gas separation performance, and processes for preparing the same. Specifically, the present invention relates to a hybrid polymeric hollow fiber membrane that comprises a glassy polymer containing fluorine and a ladder-structured polysilsesquioxane, a hybrid carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane prepared by pyrolysis thereof, and processes for preparing the same. The hybrid polymeric hollow fiber membrane and the hybrid carbon molecular sieve hollow fiber membrane according to the embodiments of the present invention are excellent in gas flux and selectivity and can have a large surface area per unit volume. Thus, they can be advantageously used for separating gases with a high energy efficiency on a large scale.