Durable asymmetric composite membranes comprising of a film of cross-linked poly(ether ether ketone) adhered to a sheet of hydrophilicitized microporous polyolefin are disclosed. The membranes are suitable for use in the recovery or removal of water from feed streams where repeated clean-in-place protocols are required such as in the processing of dairy products. The membranes are also suitable for use in the preparation of durable asymmetric composite membranes with improved rejection characteristics.

The invention relates to a highly aligned and closely packed electrospun fiber assembly, wherein the fibers have at least an extension part or pore on the surface thereof. The invention also relates to a microtube array membrane (MTAM), comprising fiber assembly of the present disclosure. The invention also relates to the applications of these electrospun fiber assemblies in biological applications, and method of manufacturing these electrospun fiber assemblies.

A low cost, high selectivity asymmetric polyimide/polyethersulfone (PES) blend hollow fiber membrane, a method of making the membrane and its use for a variety of liquid, gas, and vapor separations such as deep desulfurization of gasoline and diesel fuels, ethanol/water separations, pervaporation dehydration of aqueous/organic mixtures, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, O.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, olefin/paraffin, iso/normal paraffins separations, and other light gas mixture separations. The polyimide/PES blend hollow fiber membrane is fabricated from a blend of a polyimide polymer and PES and showed surprisingly unique gas separation property with higher selectivities than either the polyimide hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer or the PES hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer for gas separations such as for H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4 separations.

The disclosure relates to a membrane and method for its manufacture, the method including the steps of providing of an ultrafiltration membrane, and modification of the resultant ultrafiltration membrane to provide an asymmetric porous ion exchange membrane. The modification of the ultrafiltration membrane is typically carried out by exposing said ultrafiltration membrane to a first functional reagent to provide a cross-linked ultrafiltration membrane, and then exposing said cross-lined ultrafiltration membrane to a second functional reagent to introduce positive charged groups to produce an anion exchange membrane.

The present disclosure relates to a dialyzer comprising a bundle of semipermeable hollow fiber membranes which is suitable for blood purification, wherein the dialyzer has an increased ability to remove larger molecules while at the same time it is able to effectively remove small uremic toxins and efficiently retain albumin and larger proteins. The invention also relates to using said dialyzer in hemodialysis.

A flat ceramic membrane 1 has a plate-shaped porous support 21 made of ceramics and a filtration membrane 22 formed on an outer surface of the porous support 21. A plurality of water collection channels 2 where filtrate water obtained by permeation of water-to-be-treated through the filtration membrane 22 flows are formed inside the porous support 21. Further, a region where a thickness between a membrane surface 20 of the filtration membrane 22 and the water collection passage 2 is different is ensured inside the porous support 21.

The present disclosure relates to semipermeable membranes which are suitable for blood purification, e.g. by hemodialysis, which have an increased ability to remove larger molecules while at the same time effectively retaining albumin. The membranes are characterized by a molecular retention onset (MWRO) of between 9.0 kD and 14.5 kD and a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of between 55 kD and 130 kD as determined by dextran sieving curves and can be prepared by industrially feasible processes excluding a treatment with salt before drying. The invention therefore also relates to a process for the production of the membranes and to their use in medical applications.

The present disclosure relates to a dialyzer comprising a bundle of semipermeable hollow fiber membranes which is suitable for blood purification, wherein the dialyzer has an increased ability to remove larger molecules while at the same time it is able to effectively remove small uremic toxins and efficiently retain albumin and larger proteins. The invention also relates to using said dialyzer in hemodialysis.

A method providing direct access to porous three-dimensionally (3D) continuous polymer network structures and shapes by combining BCP-resol co-assembly with CO.sub.2 laser-induced transient heating. The CO.sub.2 laser source transiently heats the BCP-directed resol hybrid films to high temperatures at the beam position, inducing locally controlled resol thermopolymerization and BCP decomposition in ambient conditions. This enables shaping of BCP-directed porous resin structures with tunable 3D interconnected pores in a single process. Pore size can be varied from 10 nm to about 600 nm.

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe polyimide blend compositions, methods of making polyimide blend compositions, methods of using polyimides, membranes including polyimide blends, methods of making membranes including polyimide blends, methods of separating mixtures using the membranes including polyimide blends, and the like.