A composite ion conducting tube is made by wrapping a support material or ion conducting sheet to from a tube having overlaps of layers that are bonded. The ion conducting sheet or tape used to make the tube may be very thin and the tube may be formed in situ by wrapping the support material and then coating with ion conducting polymer. The ion conducting tubes may be used in a pervaporation module or desalination system. The ion conducting tubes may be spirally wrapped or longitudinally wrapped and may be very thin having a tube wall thickness of no more than 25 microns.

The present invention relates to a filtration device being adapted for continuous vibration and pressure driven filtration. Said filtration device comprises a filter module which comprises at least one tubular semipermeable membrane element, said module further comprises a drain area for permeate, an outlet for permeate, an inlet for feed fluid and an outlet for retentate; said module further comprises one or more flexible volume chambers being filled with gas and in close contact with but separated from the internal module of the filter module through a flexible wall; said filtration device comprises a vibration motor being adapted to provide a vibrating motion to the device.

The present invention relates to a tangential flow separator element for separating a fluid medium for treatment into a filtrate and a retentate, said separator element having a monolithic rigid porous support (2) of rectilinear structure and having a single channel (3) arranged therein for passing the flow of the fluid medium for treatment, the outside surface (5) of the support presenting a profile that is constant. According to the invention, the monolithic rigid porous support (2) defines obstacles (9) to the flow of the fluid for filtering, which obstacles extend from the inside wall (3.sub.1) of said channel (3), are identical in material and porous texture to the support, and present continuity of material and of porous texture with the support, said obstacles (9) generating variations in the flow section of the channel.

A tubular membrane includes a support tube made out of one or more flexible tapes of porous support material which have been helically wound into a tube shape with overlapping tape edges which have been sealed to each other, and a semi-permeable membrane layer made of membrane forming material on an inner wall of the support tube. At least one inwardly projecting helical ridge is provided on the inner wall of the support tube, which helical ridge is covered with or forms part of the membrane layer.

The invention relates to a method for producing a membrane module, comprising a plurality of elongated filter elements disposed in parallel adjacent to one another, each element comprising a longitudinal channel, a housing enclosing the filter elements, and a collector chamber between the housing and the filter elements.

The invention relates to a monolithic tangential flow separator element for separating a fluid medium for treatment, the element comprising a rectilinear rigid porous support (2) of three-dimensional structure having formed therein at least one channel (3) for passing a flow of the fluid medium for treatment in order to recover a filtrate at the peripheral surface of the support. The monolithic rigid porous support (2) includes obstacles (9) to the flow of the fluid for filtering on or in the inside wall(s)) of the channel(s), the obstacles presenting identity of material and of porous texture with the support, and also presenting continuity of material and of porous texture with the support.

The invention relates to a method for producing a membrane module, comprising a plurality of elongated filter elements disposed in parallel adjacent to one another, each element comprising a longitudinal channel, a housing enclosing the filter elements, and a collector chamber between the housing and the filter elements.

The monolithic separation membrane structure includes a monolithic base, an intermediate layer and a separation membrane. The monolithic base has a plurality of filtration cells extending from a first end face to a second end face. The intermediate layer is formed on an inner surface of the filtration cells. The separation membrane is formed on an inner surface of the intermediate layer. An inner diameter not including the intermediate layer and the separation membrane of the plurality of respective filtration cells is greater than or equal to 1.0 mm to less than or equal to 2.0 mm. A partition wall thickness not including the intermediate layer and the separation membrane of the shortest portion of two adjacent filtration cells of the plurality of filtration cells is greater than or equal to 0.05 mm to less than 0.2 mm. A thickness of the intermediate layer is greater than or equal to 20 ?m to less than 100 ?m.

The present invention relates to a tangential flow separator element for separating a fluid medium for treatment into a filtrate and a retentate, said separator element comprising a monolithic rigid porous support (2) of rectilinear structure with a plurality of channels (3) formed therein for passing a flow of the fluid medium for treatment between an inlet (6) and an outlet (7) for the retentate, in order to recover a filtrate from the outside surface (5) of the support. According to the invention, the monolithic rigid porous support (2) defines obstacles (9) to the flow of the fluid for treatment, which obstacles extend from the inside walls (31) of said channels, are identical in material and porous texture to the support, and present continuity of material and of porous texture with the support, the obstacles (9) generating variations in the flow sections of the channels.

Reactor/separator elements for performing the generation and/or separation of hydrogen gas with improved efficiency have a central core and a separation layer that, in combination, define at least one spiral gas flow channel extending from one end of the central core to the opposite end of the central core. In use, the reactor/separator element may be placed in a housing which constrains gas on the outside of the reactor/separator element into the spiral channel defined by the outside of the separation layer.