A gas separation element comprising a membrane sheet and a permeate spacer, wherein the membrane sheet comprises a porous support and a discriminating layer, CHARACTERISED IN THAT:

(a) the porous support comprises less than 10 mg/m.sup.2 of monovalent metal ions; and
(b) the discriminating layer has an average thickness of at least 0.7 μm.

The present invention relates to a spiral wound membrane element designs that utilize entrance and exit points in the feed space channel and utilize barriers on the perimeter of the feed space as well as barriers in the feed space area to direct fluid flow in the membrane element.

The present invention provides compact spiral-wound filter elements having cassette-like performance. The invention further provides filtration systems (e.g., TFF systems) and processes (e.g., SPTFF processes) employing compact spiral-wound filter elements having cassette-like performance.

A process for separating a feed gas comprising a polar gas and a non-polar gas into a permeate gas and a retentate gas, one of which is enriched in the polar gas and the other of which is depleted in the polar gas, the process comprising passing the feed gas through a gas separation module comprising: (i) a feed carrier comprising a membrane envelope and a feed spacer located within the membrane envelope; and (ii) a permeate carrier comprising: (a) a macroporous sheet; and (b) a protective sheet; and wherein: i) the feed gas is fed along the feed spacer of the feed carrier and a part of the feed gas passes through the membrane envelope and into the permeate carrier to give the permeate gas and a part of the feed gas is rejected by the membrane to give the retentate gas; ii) the protective sheet shields at least a part of the membrane envelope from contact with the macroporous sheet; and iii) the protective sheet comprises a non-woven material.

Embodiments of the present invention provide the integration of arbitrary flow directing patterns, deposited or integrated on or into the porous permeate spacer in a spiral-wound membrane separation element.

The present invention relates to a counterflow membrane module configured to separate a feed fluid into a permeate fluid and a residue fluid across one or more membrane sheet(s). The counterflow module comprises a second end offset from a first end along the first direction where an inlet is provided at the first end and an outlet is provided at the second end. The one or more membrane sheet(s) each have a first portion, a second portion and a permeate section. A conduit is adjacent to the permeate section of the membrane and is configured to receive and output the permeate fluid separated from the feed fluid.

Embodiments of the present invention provide the integration of the function of the feed spacer, the permeate carrier, or both, as a part of the membrane sheet in a spiral wound membrane element.

Spiral wound reverse osmosis devices with reduced lateral leakage and thereby increased salt rejection are made by compacting a microporous layer within a composite reverse osmosis membrane longitudinally along its lengthwise periphery. Means and method for causing longitudinal indentations in composite membranes during manufacturing operations are disclosed and described.

A filter element comprises a membrane layer; and a feed spacer on the membrane layer, wherein the feed spacer comprises a plurality of unit cells arranged in three dimensions, wherein each of the plurality of unit cells comprises a cavity defined by a triply periodic minimal surface, and wherein the cavities of the plurality of unit cells are interconnected to allow a fluid to pass through the cavities of the plurality of unit cells.

The present invention relates to a spiral-wound filter module exhibiting almost no heavy metal leaching and a manufacturing method thereof, and specifically, to a spiral-wound filter module, which can be used as a filter for producing safe drinking water by substantially reducing the amount of a heavy metal leached when immersed in water, and a manufacturing method thereof.