The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for electrically conductive membrane separation from a mixture solution via membrane nanofiltration, electro-filtration, or electro-extraction by: generating an electric field at the membrane filter, holding the membrane filter at a constant electric potential, or driving a constant current through the membrane filter; feeding a mixture solution through the membrane nanofiltration system; and separating a component from the mixture solution into a permeate solution.

An inert gas generating system includes a source of a gaseous mixture, and a fuel separation unit configured to receive a portion of the gaseous mixture from the source. The fuel separation unit includes a reverse selective membrane configured to separate the gaseous mixture into a condensable gas portion and a permanent gas portion. The inert gas generating system further includes a catalytic oxidation unit configured to receive and react hydrocarbon vapors within the condensable gas portion to produce an inert gas.

Provided is a method of producing a composite, which is capable of preventing a silicone coating solution, which becomes a silicone resin layer that prevents an acidic gas separation layer from entering a porous support, from entering the porous support, preventing a porous film and an auxiliary support film from being peeled off, and suitably forming a dense silicone resin layer on the surface of the porous support. The method thereof includes a coating process of coating the surface of the porous film side of the porous support with the silicone coating solution which becomes a silicone resin layer according to a roll-to-roll system. In the coating process, the conveying speed of the porous support is in a range of 0.5 m/min to 200 m/min, the viscosity of the silicone coating solution is in a range of 100 cP to 1000000 cP, and the peel force between the porous film and the auxiliary support film is 10 mN/min or greater.

A permeable microcapsule embedded fabric acts as a sorbent that creates mold-able, variable geometry fabrics for static or dynamic use. The fabric is composed of micro encapsulated solvent spheres held together by structural members. The fabric provides an excellent means to absorb and separate gases and/or liquids, particularly to separate carbon dioxide from flue gases.

A membrane based process separates amines or organic acids from a solution containing at least one amine or at least one organic acid according to their hydrophobic properties. The more hydrophobic amine or organic acid passes the hydrophobic membrane into an acidic aqueous solution, thus selectively removing the amine or organic acid from the first solution. The process is particularly suitable to obtain chiral amines in high yield. A transaminase-catalyzed transamination of an amino donor and amino acceptor is combined with a hydrophobic membrane separation of the produced chiral amine. The selective removal of the chiral amine from the reaction mixture promotes the further transformation of the amino acceptor into the product chiral amine.

Microstructure separation filters are provided herein, as well as chromatography and other separation devices. An exemplary filter device includes a microstructure filter has a plurality of layers of alternating sacrificial and/or structural material which have been etched to create inlet channels and outlet channels. Adjacent ones of the inlet channels and the outlet channels are spaced apart from one another by cross channels that filter a fluid from the inlet channels to the outlet channels. The cross channels include filter features formed by etching away of a portion of the layers. The device also includes a housing configured to receive the microstructure filter.

Provided are monolithic structures comprising one or more suspended, nanoporous membranes that are in contact with one or more fluidic cavities, methods of making same, and exemplary uses of same. The monolithic structures can be formed using a transmembrane etch. The monolithic structures can be used, as examples, as filters and filtration modules in microfluidic devices, dialysis devices, and concentration devices in laboratory, industrial, and medical processes.

A microporous structure includes an array of nano wires and a coating about the nano wires of the array. The coating defines pores between the nano wires.

Microdialysis sampling is an essential tool for in vivo neuro-chemical monitoring. Conventional dialysis probes are over 220 ?m in diameter and have limited flexibility in design because they are made by assembly using preformed membranes. The probe size constrains spatial resolution and governs the amount of tissue damaged caused by probe insertion. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a method to microfabricate probes in Si that are 45 ?m thick 180 ?m wide. The probes contain a buried, U-shaped channel that is 30 ?m deep 60 ?m wide and terminates in ports for external connection. A 4 mm length of the probe is covered with a 5 ?m thick nanoporous membrane. The membrane was microfabricated by deep reactive ion etching through a porous aluminum oxide layer. The microfabricated probe has cross-sectional area that is 79% less than that of the smallest conventional microdialysis probes. The probes yield 2-7% relative recovery at 100 nL/min perfusion rate for a variety of small molecules. The probe was successfully tested in vivo by sampling from the striatum of live rats. Fractions were collected at 20 min intervals (2 ?L) before and after an injection of 5 mg/kg, i.p amphetamine. Analysis of fractions by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed reliable detection of 13 neurochemicals, including dopamine and acetylcholine, at basal conditions. Amphetamine evoked a 43-fold rise in dopamine, a result nearly identical to a conventional dialysis probe in the same animal. The microfabricated probes have potential for sampling with higher spatial resolution and less tissue disruption than conventional probes. It may also be possible to add functionality to the probes by integrating other components, such as electrodes, optics, and additional channels.

A permeable microcapsule embedded fabric acts as a sorbent that creates mold-able, variable geometry fabrics for static or dynamic use. The fabric is composed of micro encapsulated solvent spheres held together by structural members. The fabric provides an excellent means to absorb and separate gases and/or liquids, particularly to separate carbon dioxide from flue gases.