In embodiments of the present disclosure, a CMS hollow fiber membranes may be prepared to have an ultrathin (e.g. 2 microns or less) separation layer. A precursor hollow fiber may be prepared as dual layer fibers having a thin sheath layer and a core layer. During pyrolysis, the sheath layer is transformed into an ultrathin separation layer. Porosity of the core layer substrate is well-maintained during pyrolysis, thereby enabling high permeance of the CMS hollow fiber membrane. Additionally, in some embodiments, the sheath layer of the precursor hollow fibers may be hybridized prior to pyrolysis. By hybridizing the sheath layer prior to pyrolysis, a CMS hollow fiber may having an improved separation factor, including for example increased carbon dioxide/methane selectivity, may be provided.

The present invention provides a carbon membrane for fluid separation with which a high-pressure fluid can be separated and purified and which has excellent pressure resistance and is less apt to be damaged. The present invention relates to a carbon membrane for fluid separation, including: a core layer which has a co-continuous porous structure; and a skin layer which has substantially no co-continuous porous structure and is formed around the core layer.

The invention relates to a membrane and method for its manufacture, the method including the steps of (1) providing of an ultrafiltration membrane, and (2) 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 (i) exposing said ultrafiltration membrane to a first functional reagent to provide a cross-linked ultrafiltration membrane, and then (ii) exposing said cross-lined ultrafiltration membrane to a second functional reagent to introduce positive charged groups to produce an anion exchange membrane.

One aspect of the present invention concerns a porous hollow fiber membrane containing a vinylidene fluoride-based resin. The hollow fiber membrane has a gradient structure in which a pore diameter of pores in the hollow fiber membrane gradually becomes smaller at least toward one of inner and outer peripheral surface sides and is hydrophilized by containing a crosslinked body of a polyvinylpyrrolidone-based resin.

An method of making a porous asymmetric membrane involves dissolving a poly(phenylene ether), poly(phenylene ether) copolymer, polyethersulfone, polysulfone, polyphenylsulfone, polyimide, polyetherimide, polyvinylidene fluoride, or a combination thereof in a water-miscible polar aprotic solvent to provide a membrane-forming composition; and phase-inverting the membrane-forming composition in a first non-solvent composition composed of water, a water-miscible polar aprotic solvent, or a mixture thereof, and a polymer additive dissolved in the first non-solvent composition. The method can be a method of making a hollow fiber by coextrusion through a spinneret having an annulus and a bore, including coextruding the membrane-forming composition through the annulus, and the first non-solvent composition through the bore, into a second non-solvent composition composed of water, a water-miscible polar aprotic solvent, or a mixture thereof to form the hollow fiber.

A zeolite membrane complex includes a porous support and a zeolite membrane formed on the support. The zeolite membrane includes a low density layer covering the support and a dense layer covering the low density layer. The dense layer has a content percentage of zeolite crystals higher than that of the low density layer. In a cross section of the zeolite membrane complex perpendicular to a surface of the support, an average aspect ratio of zeolite crystals contained in the dense layer is not smaller than 2 and not larger than 4. When a surface of the zeolite membrane which is a surface of the dense layer is observed from a direction perpendicular to the surface, 20% or more of zeolite crystals among zeolite crystals positioned on the surface each have a triangular shape.

Conventional porous membranes have a mesh structure having a relatively large pore diameter in order to improve the removability of a relatively large component such as a virus. When a contaminative liquid to be filtered is filtered, contaminants are easily accumulated in the porous membranes, clogging or the like occurs in the porous membranes, and contamination of the porous membranes easily occurs. Accordingly, an object is to provide a porous membrane having high contamination resistance and high-precision removability. To achieve the object, provided is a porous membrane including, in at least one surface, a surface portion spanning 10 ?m in thickness from the surface, being denser than an inner portion, and having a removal rate T of dextran having a weight-average molecular weight of 40,000 Da of 60 to 95%, in which a number of surface pores per unit area observed on the surface of the surface portion is 200 pores/?m.sup.2 to 2,000 pores/?m.sup.2.

A hollow fiber membrane, hollow fiber membrane module and vesicle-containing solution that includes a hollow fiber membrane and a hollow fiber membrane module capable of efficiently removing extracellular vesicles (vesicles) from a liquid, particularly from blood. One aspect of the hollow fiber membrane for achieving the above object is a hollow fiber membrane, in which particles having a particle size of 0.15 m have a permeability of 50% or more and 100% or less, and an average pore size of an inner surface of the hollow fiber membrane is 0.50 m or more and 3.00 m or less.

A collecting filter has a filter membrane with a porous structure to filter a nanocarbon material from a dispersion medium containing the nanocarbon material, and a dense film having an opening through which the dispersion medium passes. The opening has a reverse tapered shape in which a first width at an inlet of the dispersion medium opposite to the filter membrane is smaller than a second width at a bottom side adjacent to the filter membrane.

The present invention relates to a membrane (M) comprising a sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) polymer (sP) and a non-sulfonated poly(arylene sulfone) polymer (P), to a method for the preparation of the membrane (M) and to the use of the membrane as nanofiltration membrane. Further, the present invention relates to a monolithic film (F) comprising a sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) polymer (sP) and a non-sulfonated poly(arylene sulfone) polymer (P), wherein the monolithic film has a contact angle of 63 to 77.