The present invention is concerned with a fibre membrane for use in a Membrane Supported Biofilm Reactor (MSBR) or the like, the fibre membrane comprising a substantially cylindrical sidewall defining an internal lumen from which gas can permeate through the sidewall, and characterised in that at least a part of an outer surface of the fibre membrane is engineered to define at least one biofilm retaining region which acts to retain a quantity of biofilm therein, in particular when the fibre membrane is subjected to a high sheer biofilm control event, such as experienced during a reactor cleaning cycle, for removing excess biofilm in order to prevent clogging of the reactor.

A rotary filter system includes a drive device and a rotary filter device including a filter housing and a filter unit, the filter housing having an inlet and first and second outlets. The filter unit is in the filter housing and completely enclosed by the filter housing. The filter unit has a filter element delimiting a fluid space from a filtrate space, filtrate is discharged from the filtrate space through the first outlet. The filter unit includes a magnetically effective core in a disk-shaped or ring-shaped manner. The drive device has a drive housing in which a stator is disposed to drive the rotation of the filter unit. The stator is a bearing and drive stator which interacts with the magnetically effective core as an electromagnetic rotary drive, so that the filter unit is capable of being magnetically driven without contact and magnetically levitated with respect to the stator.

The invention concerns a frame (1) for holding a plurality of filtration assemblies (100) and a testing unit (10) for microbiological testing. The frame (1) for holding the plurality of filtration assemblies (100) comprises an array of supports (5) each configured to receive and support one of the filtration assemblies (100) on a common support plane (2), and connection means (6) provided on the periphery (7) of the frame (1) and configured to releasably connect, by a form-locking engagement, a further frame (1) such that the common support planes (2) of the connected frames (1) are contiguous. Further, the testing unit (10) comprises at least one frame (1) packed in a bag (20) in pre-sterilized condition.

A biological reactor system treats concentrated contaminated water with a combination of upflow and downflow bioreactors that are downstream from a reverse osmosis or other concentrator. The system may have a fail safe configuration where flush water may be introduced to the reactors in the event of a power failure or when taking the reactors offline. Many reverse osmosis systems introduce antiscalant treatments upstream so that the reverse osmosis filters do not scale. However, such treatments result in superconcentrated conditions of the antiscalants in the contaminated water processed by the bioreactors. A flushing system may deconcentrate the bioreactors to prevent the antiscalants from precipitating and fouling the bioreactors.

A biological reactor system treats concentrated contaminated water with a combination of upflow and downflow bioreactors that are downstream from a reverse osmosis or other concentrator. The system may have a fail safe configuration where flush water may be introduced to the reactors in the event of a power failure or when taking the reactors offline. Many reverse osmosis systems introduce antiscalant treatments upstream so that the reverse osmosis filters do not scale. However, such treatments result in superconcentrated conditions of the antiscalants in the contaminated water processed by the bioreactors. A flushing system may deconcentrate the bioreactors to prevent the antiscalants from precipitating and fouling the bioreactors.

The present disclosure relates to a dialysis apparatus comprising a membrane having at least one protein from the lipocalin family bound thereon. The disclosure further relates to methods of removing non-polar, hydrophobic and/or protein bound uremic toxins from a target subject utilizing the dialysis apparatus described herein as well as methods of extracorporeal detoxification.

Method of desalination and wastewater treatment in a microbial desalination cell reactor is provided, the microbial desalination cell reactor has three compartments, an anodic compartment, a cathodic compartment and a saline compartment, the method is carried out by (a) adding electrically conductive particles or electrically conductive material in the anodic compartment and cathodic compartment, (b) adding bacteria species of the genus Geobacter in the anodic compartment and several solutions in the compartments (c) replacing the solutions in the cathodic compartment and in the saline compartment and (d) oxidizing organic matter present in wastewater by bacteria from the genus Geobacter in the anodic compartment and desalinating the solution in the saline compartment and (e)after 20 to 30 operation cycles, replacing the solution in the saline compartment by a solution of hypochlorite salt.

Provided is a method for manufacturing a long-life brewed alcoholic beverage by a filtration process with the use of a porous membrane involving a washing step, whereby a high tolerance (chemical tolerance) to a washing solution (a chemical solution) and a good filtration performance are achieved. A method for ma manufacturing a second brewed alcoholic beverage which includes: a filtration step for passing a first brewed alcoholic beverage, which contains a yeast and a high-molecular substance or sediment component produced through fermentation by the yeast, through a porous membrane, which is formed of a resin having a three-dimensional network structure, to thereby separate the second brewed alcoholic beverage from the yeast; and a washing step for passing a washing solution through the porous membrane or immersing the porous membrane in the washing solution to thereby wash the inside of the porous membrane.

Algae harvesting and cultivating systems and methods for producing high concentrations of algae product with minimal energy. In an embodiment, an algae harvesting method is provided for performing dead-end filtration in an algae harvesting system having at least one treatment tank defining a plurality of filtration stages including at least a first filtration stage and a second filtration stage. An algae medium is pulled through the hollow fiber membranes such that a retentate and a permeate are produced.

Algae harvesting and cultivating systems and methods for producing high concentrations of algae product with minimal energy. In an embodiment, an algae harvesting method is provided for performing dead-end filtration in an algae harvesting system having at least one treatment tank defining a plurality of filtration stages including at least a first filtration stage and a second filtration stage. An algae medium is pulled through the hollow fiber membranes such that a retentate and a permeate are produced.