A composite membrane comprising: a) a porous support; b) a gutter layer; and c) a discriminating layer;
wherein at least 10% of the discriminating layer is intermixed with the gutter layer.

A thin film composite polyamide membrane comprising a porous support and a thin film polyamide layer characterized by possessing: i) an azo (N?N) content of from 0.40% to 1.00%, as measured by pyrolysis gas chromatography; and ii) a dissociated carboxylate content of at least 0.40 mol/kg as measured by RBS at pH 9.5.

The invention relates to a process for manufacturing a laminated material (S) comprising a fibrillated cellulose layer, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: (a) depositing a suspension (1) of fibrillated cellulose on a filtration membrane (2) and draining the suspension through that membrane so as to form a wet layer of fibrillated cellulose (A) having a dryness, that is to say a ratio between the mass of dry matter and the total mass of the fibrillated cellulose layer, of between 5% and 18%; (b) transferring the wet layer (A) under pressure to an at least partially hydrophilic surface of a substrate (B), so as to form the laminated material (S); (c) drying the laminated material. The invention also relates to a device for implementing the process.

A composite membrane for separations includes a substrate sheet with a non-woven array of nanotubes, and a dopant incorporated with the substrate sheet to form a non-porous, permeable composite. The composite membrane may be used to separate a target gas from a liquid by mounting the composite membrane in a housing chamber, and conditioning a permeate side of the chamber to establish a driving force for the target gas across the non-porous, permeable composite membrane.

A method of manufacturing a composite film, the method including: a coating step including coating a coating liquid containing a resin on one surface or both surfaces of a porous substrate to form a coating layer, the porous substrate having a tensile strength at 2% elongation in a machine direction of 0.3 N/cm or more; a solidification step including solidifying the resin by bringing the coating layer into contact with a solidifying liquid to obtain a composite film including the porous substrate and a porous layer that is formed on one surface or both surfaces of the porous substrate and that includes the resin; and a water wishing step including washing the composite film with water by transporting the composite film at a transport speed of 30 m/min or more in a water washing tank; the water washing tank including two or more drive rolls for supporting and transporting the composite film, and a path length between any two adjacent drive rolls being from 0.5 m to 5 m.

A method of manufacturing a composite film, the method including: a coating step including coating a coating liquid containing a resin on one surface or both surfaces of a porous substrate to form a coating layer; a solidification step including solidifying the resin by bringing the coating layer into contact with a solidifying liquid to obtain a composite film including the porous substrate and a porous layer that is formed on one surface or both surfaces of the porous substrate and that includes the resin; a water washing step including washing the composite film with water; and a drying step including drying by removing water from the composite film while transporting the composite film at a transport speed of 30 m/min or more using a drying apparatus including a drying device including a contact type heating device and a hot air blowing device, wherein the composite film is brought into contact with a contact type heating device as well as exposed to hot air blown from a hot air blowing device, to remove water from the composite film being performed by bringing.

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for manufacturing a continuous web of polymeric membrane and for continuous downstream processing of said web. The apparatus (10) comprises: a casting station (20) for casting the continuous web (M); a carrier (24) for carrying the web downstream; a membrane drier (30) downstream of the carrier, for drying the web; and a brushing station (40) downstream of the drier for brushing the web. Said drier is located immediately downstream of the carrier, and upstream of said brushing station. The apparatus (10) further includes an additional drying station (50) downstream of the brushing station (40). Brushing after drying retains more surfactant in the membrane which is useful for certain applications. In addition, initial drying eliminates virtually all solvents from the membrane, but leaves some non-solvent (e.g. water) within it, which in turn fixes the surfactant on the nitrocellulose fibers, which improves significantly the consistency and reproducibility of the membrane.

Solvent and acid stable ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes including a non-cross-linked base polymer having reactive pendant moieties, the base polymer being modified by forming a cross-linked skin onto a surface thereof, the skin being formed by a cross-linking reaction of reactive pendant moieties on the surface with an oligomer or another polymer as well as methods of manufacture and use thereof, including, inter alia separating metal ions from liquid process streams.

Described are hydrophilic polymers (including in the form of a filter membranes that includes hydrophilic polymer) having pendant ionic groups; to methods of making the hydrophilic polymer with pendant ionic groups and derivative membranes and filters; and to method of using the filter membranes for filtering a fluid such as a liquid chemical to remove unwanted material from the fluid.

The present invention provides highly permeable and porous polybenzimidazole membranes, methods of making them, and their application as a high-performance membrane support for gas separation composite membranes. The polybenzimidazole membranes are bonded to a fabric substrate.