The present disclosure relates to a spinning beam for producing hollow fiber membranes in a phase inversion process, and to a process using the spinning beam.

There is provided a thin film composite (TFC) hollow fibre membrane comprising a porous hollow fibre support layer formed of a polymer and a selective layer, formed of a cross-linked polyamide, on an inner circumferential surface of the hollow fibre support layer, wherein the TFC hollow fibre membrane has a power density of 25-50 W/m.sup.2 at a pressure of 30 bar. There is also provided a method of forming the TFC hollow fibre membrane.

The present invention provides a porous hollow fiber membrane suitable for the removal of minute substances, e.g., viruses, contained in a liquid. The present invention relates to a porous hollow fiber membrane which is provided with a separation-functioning layer containing a fluororesin, has a gas diffusion amount of 0.5 to 5.0 mL/m.sup.2/hr as measured in a diffusion test, and also has foaming points at a density of 0.005 to 0.2 point/cm.sup.2 as measured in a foaming test under the immersion in 2-propanol.

An object of the present invention is to provide a separation membrane having high mechanical strength and being less likely to cause clogging and capable of continuously maintaining high water permeation performance. The present invention relates to a separation membrane characterized in that the average diameter D1 of a spherical structure in a region within 10 m from a first surface in a separation membrane having a spherical structure layer formed of a thermoplastic resin and the average diameter D2 of a spherical structure in a region of 10 m to 20 m from a second surface satisfy the relational expression of D1>D2 and the average diameter D1 and the average diameter D3 of a spherical structure in a third region satisfy the relational expression of 1.10<D1/D3<4.00.

The invention relates to a spinning nozzle (10) for the extrusion of a hollow fiber from one or more spinning masses and an apparatus comprising a spinning nozzle (10) as well as method for extruding a hollow fiber by means of a spinning nozzle (10), wherein the spinning nozzle (10) has an inlet port (12, 13, 14) for each spinning mass to be extruded for introducing the spinning mass into the spinning nozzle (14), an outlet port for the exit of spinning mass along an outlet axis (A), and at least one spinning mass flow channel for guiding at least one spinning mass to be extruded from the inlet port (12, 13, 14) to the outlet port, wherein at least one spinning mass flow channel comprises a flow manipulation section having an inlet and an outlet, which comprises a flow-guiding structure (18, 19, 20) for influencing a spinning mass flowing through the spinning mass flow channel, wherein the flow-guiding structure (18, 19, 20) is thereby designed to influence spinning mass flow such that the spinning mass flowing through the spinning mass flow channel at least partially flows through said spinning mass flow channel along at least two different flow paths, wherein the flow paths running through the spinning mass flow channel exhibit a substantially identical path length between the inlet of the flow manipulation section and the outlet port of the spinning mass flow channel.

The present invention relates to a variable-diameter spinning nozzle, processing devices for hollow fiber membrane bundle and membrane module. The variable-diameter spinning nozzle comprises a center round tube, a middle round tube and an external chamber which are sequentially nested, and a first drive mechanism for driving the middle round tube to move vertically upwards and downwards. The bottoms of the center round tube, the middle round tube and the external chamber are leveled. The variable-diameter spinning nozzle provided by present invention obtains membrane fiber by adjusting the location of the middle round tube, and this membrane fiber involves membrane fiber heads with relatively large diameter on both ends and a membrane fiber middle section with relatively small diameter. In the subsequent process of binding and assembly of membrane module, porosity of the membrane fiber middle section can be adjusted by controlling a diameter ratio of the membrane fiber head to the membrane fiber middle section, and thus arbitrary fill density and regular arrangement of membrane module are achieved.

A nanofiltration membrane comprising a selective layer comprising or consisting of poly(amide-imide) cross-linked with polyallylamine is provided. A method of manufacturing a nanofiltration membrane and use of a nanofiltration membrane in a water softening process that is carried out at a low pressure of less than about 2 bar are also provided.

The present invention provides a porous hollow fiber membrane that has both high strength and high pure water permeability, and that exhibits excellent thermal deformation resistance. The present invention is related to a porous hollow fiber membrane containing a fluororesin-based polymer, and a manufacturing method of the membrane comprises a drawing step and a relaxing step. The porous hollow fiber membrane is characterized in that: the molecular chain of the polymer is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber membrane; and at the same time internal distortion of oriented non-crystalline chains, which is disadvantageous in terms of entropy, is alleviated.

A fiber-reinforced porous hollow fiber membrane comprising a hollow fiber membrane and a reinforcing fiber completely or partially embedded in the hollow fiber membrane; wherein the reinforcing fiber is placed in a portion that does not exceed 90%, preferably 80%, of the thickness of the hollow fiber membrane as viewed from an inner or outer peripheral surface of the hollow fiber membrane on a side that is not a side of the porous hollow fiber membrane to come in contact with an object to be treated, and preferably at least 50 volume % of the cross section of the reinforcing fiber is embedded in the hollow fiber membrane. The obtained fiber-reinforced porous hollow fiber membrane has excellent permeability, separation performance, and mechanical properties.

The present invention is directed towards a method for the preparation of macroporous or mesoporous polymer films in hollow fiber geometry. The method according to the present invention reliably produces macroporous or mesoporous homopolymer or copolymer films in hollow fiber geometry having an ordered porous structure. Preferably, the pores are isoporous. The method involves the purging or casting a polyol adjacent to a film forming polymer solution of at least one homopolymer or at least one copolymer in a suitable solvent while polyol diffuses in and then condenses out of the film forming solution before the solution is immersed into a coagulation bath. The methods also require the presence of a carrier solution or carrier substrate during spinning or casting. The method makes macroporous or mesoporous film formation possible with a single step processing method.