Provided is a compression bar apparatus for applying pressure to desired areas of a thin film composite (TFC) membrane, such as spiral wound TFC membranes and elements, including membranes and elements used for nanofiltration, reverse osmosis or forward osmosis to purify water, such as tap water, seawater, and brackish water. Application of pressure to a spiral wound element by the apparatus produces a membrane with increased sealant penetration, reduced osmotic blistering, and minimal damage to the active area of the membrane. Also provided are methods of using the apparatus.

A humidifier comprising a wound portion wrapped around a central axis and comprising enclosures, a first one the enclosures comprising a first pair of semipermeable membranes separated by a first spacer layer to form one among wet-gas channels, and a second one of the enclosures comprising a second pair of semipermeable membranes separated by a second spacer layer to form one among dry-gas channels. The dry-gas channels are configured to receive a dry gas through at least part of a first frontal area of the wound portion and in an axial direction along the dry-gas channels. The wet-gas channels are configured to receive a wet gas through at least part of a second frontal area of the wound portion and in the axial direction along the wet-gas channels, the second frontal area being opposite to the first frontal area.

The present disclosure provides a novel spiral wound membrane leaf packet with a unique substantially non-permeable polymeric resin folding area that has desirable physical and chemical resistance to strong cleaning conditions in industrial filtration applications including food or dairy processing, and the method to make and use the spiral wound membrane leaf packet, and a membrane filtration module that include the novel spiral wound membrane leaf packet.

The present invention provides a separation membrane and a separation membrane element capable of exhibiting a good water production performance even at a high temperature and also excellent handleability and quality. The separation membrane of the present invention includes a separation membrane main body having a feed-side face and a permeate-side face; and a permeate-side channel member fixed onto the permeate-side face of the separation membrane main body, and the permeate-side channel member includes polypropylene as a main component and satisfies the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) a softening point temperature is 60 C. or higher; (b) a tensile elongation in a standard state is 10% or more; and (c) a yield point stress under a wet condition at 50 C. is 2 MPa or more.

The present invention provides a spiral membrane element suitable for suppressing an increase in a pressure loss of a permeated fluid during operation, especially when a feed fluid is supplied at a high pressure. A spiral membrane element of the present invention includes a central tube and a membrane leaf. In the membrane leaf, a surface A1 of a first permeation spacer has grooves a and projections c. A surface B1 of a second permeation spacer has grooves b and projections d. In the spiral membrane element, at least one condition selected from the group consisting of condition (a) and condition (b) is satisfied.

The present invention relates to a spiral-wound filter module exhibiting almost no heavy metal leaching and a manufacturing method thereof, and specifically, to a spiral-wound filter module, which can be used as a filter for producing safe drinking water by substantially reducing the amount of a heavy metal leached when immersed in water, and a manufacturing method thereof.

Hot melt printed spacer membrane elements offer the unique advantage of applying any pattern on the membrane surface to act as the feed spacer material. This technique also eliminates damage to the active surface of the membrane by avoiding photo curing, either UV, light or other wavelengths of energy. By printing narrow features, the bending moment at the membrane surface imparted by the printed feature will be less than the bending moment imparted by a wider printed feature, thereby minimizing damage to the sensitive membrane coating.

Spiral wound water exchangers, power generators comprising the same, and methods of use thereof are provided. The methods include providing a first stream of air having a first humidity to a spiral wound water exchanger, providing a second stream of hydrogen having a second humidity to the spiral wound water exchanger, flowing the air and the hydrogen through the spiral wound water exchanger, wherein water is transported from the air to the hydrogen as the air and the hydrogen flow through the spiral wound water exchanger, expelling a third stream of air having a third humidity from the spiral wound water exchanger, and expelling a fourth stream of hydrogen having a fourth humidity from the spiral wound water exchanger, wherein the third humidity is less than the first humidity and the fourth humidity is greater than the second humidity.

The present invention provides a spiral membrane element suitable for suppressing a decrease in a permeation rate (or a permeation flux) of a permeated fluid from a separation membrane. A spiral membrane element of the present invention includes: a central tube; a membrane leaf that has a separation membrane and a permeation spacer and is wound around the central tube; and a flow passage spacer that is connected to the permeation spacer and is wound around the central tube on a side closer to the central tube than the membrane leaf is. A pressure loss of the flow passage spacer measured by a predetermined test is smaller than a pressure loss of the permeation spacer.

Photocurable compositions that have a color change during curing and methods of preparation and use of such compositions. More particularly, the present invention relates to photocurable compositions that that have a color change during curing and are useful for forming topographical features, e.g., spacer features, and/or fold protection coatings on a portion of a membrane surfaces, and particularly on membranes used in osmosis and reverse-osmosis applications, such as membrane filters.