A hydrogen permeation membrane is provided that can include a carbon-based material (C) and a ceramic material (BZCYT) mixed together. The carbon-based material can include graphene, graphite, carbon nanotubes, or a combination thereof. The ceramic material can have the formula BaZr.sub.1-x-y-zCe.sub.xY.sub.yT.sub.zO.sub.3-, where 0x0.5, 0y0.5, 0z0.5, (x+y+z)>0; 00.5, and T is Yb, Sc, Ti, Nb, Ta, Mo, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, In, or a combination thereof. In addition, the BZYCT can be present in the C-BZCYT mixture in an amount ranging from about 40% by volume to about 80% by volume. Further, a method of forming such a membrane is also provided. A method is also provided for extracting hydrogen from a feed stream.

Described are porous sintered bodies and methods of making porous sintered bodies by steps that include an injection molding step.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for treatment of produced water that combine a separation technique using an inorganic membrane (Al.sub.2O.sub.3) with an adsorption process using activated carbon in the membrane. In one embodiment, a water tank includes an inlet and an outlet, and the membrane is in fluid communication with the inlet. The tank is configured to receive a spent water stream that includes a contaminant. In operation, the spent water stream is contacted with the membrane so as to strip at least a portion of the contaminant from the spent water stream.

A base material for a membrane filter contains 90% by mass or more of aluminum oxide and 0.1% by mass or more and 10% by mass or less of titanium oxide. In a pore distribution curve measured by a mercury porosimeter, the base material has a first peak and a second peak which is higher than the first peak and is located at a pore size larger than that of the first peak, and the volume of pores with a pore size of 7 m or more is 0.02 cm.sup.3/g or more.

A separator element comprising a porous rigid single-piece substrate (2) made of a single porous material, and including internally at least one channel (3) for passing a flow of the fluid medium, which channel opens out in one end of the porous substrate for inlet of the fluid medium for treatment and in another end of the porous substrate for outlet of the retentate. At least one empty space (10) is arranged in the porous substrate so as to be surrounded by a portion of the material constituting the single-piece substrate (2) either completely so as to form a closed cavity or partially so as to form a cavity (10.sub.1) that opens out locally through the peripheral envelope (2.sub.2) of the substrate via a passage (10.sub.2) of section smaller than the section of the cavity (10.sub.1).

A thin micro-porous membrane sheet and filtering device using it is presented. The membrane sheet includes a thin porous metal sheet of thickness between 20 and 200 m with a porous ceramic coating of thickness less than 25 m on at least one of its surfaces. The porous metal sheet has mean pore sizes at micro and sub-micrometer level and has a surface substantially free of pores greater than 10 micrometers. The ceramic coating layer may be made of particles with a mean particle size in a range of 10 to 300 nm and contains certain sintering promoters. The ceramic coating is sintered with the metal sheet in non-oxidizing environment at lower temperatures than typical ceramic membranes. The thin membrane sheet is used to filter fine particulates from micrometers to nanometers from a liquid or gas stream. The thin membrane sheet may be assembled into a filter device having high surface area packing density and straight mini-flow channels.

The present invention relates to a method for the production of a porous ceramic body, the method comprises the following steps: (i) selecting a ceramic powder; (ii) selecting a binder comprising a pre-ceramic polymer; (iii) mixing the ceramic powder from step (i) with the binder from step (ii) providing a ceramic composition; (iv) coating a porous support with the ceramic composition providing a ceramic coated porous support; (v) heating the ceramic coated porous support to a temperature between 500 C.-1500 C. producing the porous ceramic body.

A high-flux silicon carbide ceramic filter membrane and a preparation method thereof are provided. In the preparation method, a separation layer is directly coated at a time on the basis of a support, that is, after the support is sintered, the separation layer is directly coated and then sintered for carbon removal. In the present disclosure, a sintering process and a coating formula are optimized to prevent fine silicon carbide particles from entering micropores of a support due to capillary filtration and film formation during coating, such that a separation layer with an average pore size of 0.2 m or less can be directly coated on a silicon carbide support with an average pore size of 10 m or more, and fine silicon carbide particles can be effectively prevented from entering micropores of the support during the coating.

An evaporative cooling system includes a porous ceramic body with a plurality of dry channels and a plurality of wet channels. The plurality of dry channels are configured to inhibit transfer of water vapor into the dry channels and include a barrier layer that includes a roughened layer with a features size less than 1000 nm and a hydrophobic chemical modification disposed on the roughened layer. The plurality of wet channels are configured to allow transfer of water vapor.

A whole blood hollow fiber membrane filter medium is provided with a ceramic material having pores of a pore size that ensures permeability to blood plasma or serum and its molecular components while blood cells are retained. The whole blood hollow fiber membrane filter medium is used for separating blood plasma from whole blood, wherein the blood plasma preferably shows no hemolysis.