A carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane is made by pyrolyzing, to a peak pyrolysis temperature T.sub.P, a hollow fiber membrane having a polymeric sheath surrounding a polymeric core, anti-substructure collapse particles present in pores formed in the polymeric core help prevent collapse of pores formed in the hollow fiber membrane before pyrolysis. The anti-substructure collapse particles are made of a material or materials that either: i) have a glass transition temperature T.sub.G higher than T.sub.P, ii) have a melting point higher than T.sub.P, or ii) are completely thermally decomposed during said pyrolysis step at a temperature less than T.sub.P. The anti-substructure collapse particles are not soluble in a solvent used for dissolution of the polymeric material of the core.

One or more polymeric hollow fiber membranes are pyrolyzed to form one or more hollow fiber CMS membranes by directing a flow of pyrolysis gas through a polymeric membrane cartridge (including a porous center tube around which one or more green, polymeric, hollow fiber membranes is arranged) or a bundle of polymeric membranes (including a plurality of green, polymeric hollow fiber membranes oriented so that their ends are disposed with ends of the bundle) in a direction perpendicular to a length direction of the cartridge or bundle in order to sweep away off-gases that are formed during pyrolysis.

A membrane contactor includes: a cap has an internally beveled surface and a cap port; a cup body has an externally beveled surface in sealing engagement with the internally beveled surface, a side port on a side of the cup body and an end port located on an end of the cup body; and a membrane cartridge is located within the cup body, is sealed to an open end of the cup body, and is in sealed fluid communication with the end port. A method of making a membrane contactor includes the steps of: sealingly mating a perforated center of a membrane contactor with the end port of a cup body; sealingly joining an end of the membrane cartridge adjacent an open end of the cup body; and sealingly joining a beveled surface of the cap to a beveled external surface of the cup body.

A method of forming a plurality of hollow fibers includes the step of providing an elongated flexible substantially continuous fiber and coating an outer surface of the fiber with a hollow fiber material. The hollow fiber material is cured or hardened. A gap is created between the outer surface of the support fiber and the inner surface of the coating layer defined thereon. The coated support fiber is cut into a plurality of fiber segments each having exposed ends. The support fiber segments are removed from the coating layer so as to provide a plurality of hollow fibers.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of easily controlling the permeation rate and the selectivity of gas molecules, in a hollow fiber carbon membrane which can be used as a gas separation membrane. The present invention provides a method of producing a hollow fiber carbon membrane, the method including: a preparation step of preparing a precursor made of an organic polymer compound in the form of a hollow fiber; a preheating step of heating the precursor to a temperature of 150 C. to 400 C. in an atmosphere containing an oxygen gas; and a carbonization step of heating the precursor which has been subjected to the preheating step to a temperature of 450 C. to 850 C., thereby carbonizing the precursor; wherein the carbonization step includes heating the precursor in the presence of a hydrocarbon gas which may contain a nitrogen atom and which has from 1 to 8 carbon atoms. This method allows for easily controlling the permeation rate and the selectivity of gas molecules, in the resulting hollow fiber carbon membrane.

An Oxygenator as a medical instrument includes at least one first hollow fiber membrane layer comprised of a plurality of integrated first hollow fiber membranes, and forms a shape of a cylindrical body as a whole, and at least one second hollow fiber membrane layer disposed at the outer circumferential side of the first hollow fiber membrane layer in a state of being concentric with the first hollow fiber membrane layer, has a plurality of integrated second hollow fiber membranes, and forms a shape of a cylindrical body as a whole. Moreover, each of the first hollow fiber membranes is wound around a central axis, and each of the second hollow fiber membranes is wound around a central axis. The number of times the second hollow fiber membranes are wound is smaller than the number of times the first hollow fiber membranes are wound.

A production method for a medical instrument includes a plurality of integrated hollow fiber membrane producing a base material forming a cylindrically-shaped body. Each of the hollow fiber membranes sequentially passes through a first point, a second point, a third point, a fourth point, and a fifth point that are set on a core member. In an outward path heading toward the third point from the second point, the hollow fiber membrane reaches the third point from the second point at the shortest distance while being wound in the circumferential direction of the core member. Moreover, in a homeward path heading toward the fifth point from the fourth point, the hollow fiber membrane reaches the fifth point from the fourth point at the shortest distance while being wound in the circumferential direction of the core member in the same direction as in the case of the outward path.

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for a hollow fiber membrane sheet comprising: accepting a hollow fiber membrane bundle, which is in a sheet state, of a length set in advance in which a plurality of hollow fiber membranes are aligned using one or more accepting means containing a drive roll; forming fixing parts at which the hollow fiber membranes are fixed in a widthwise direction of the hollow fiber membrane bundle using a fixing means after accepting the hollow fiber membrane bundle of the length set in advance; and cutting the hollow fiber membrane bundle at the fixing parts or on the vicinity thereof.

A degassing module includes: a pipe including an in-pipe flow path having a liquid supply port and a liquid discharge port, the pipe having a plurality of holes that allow the in-pipe flow path to be open; a hollow fiber membrane group formed by winding hollow fiber membrane fabric around an outer circumferential side of the pipe, the hollow fiber membrane fabric having a plurality of hollow fiber membranes serving as wefts, and warps; a housing connected to an outer circumferential surface of the pipe and configured to store the hollow fiber membrane group; a partition unit configured to partition a region in the housing into an internal region including an inner circumferential side space of each of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes, and an external region including an inter-membrane space between the plurality of hollow fiber membranes; an air intake port of the housing.

A blood processing apparatus includes an optional heat exchanger and a gas exchanger disposed within a housing. In some instances, the gas exchanger can include a screen filter spirally wound into the gas exchanger such that blood passing through the gas exchanger passes through the screen filter and is filtered by the spirally wound screen filter a plurality of times.