A plurality of membrane elements are arranged in series within a pressure vessel in which at least two of the elements exhibit different permeances or selectivities for a gas or gas pair respectively.

A transportable extracorporeal system includes a housing, a blood flow inlet, a blood flow outlet, a plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers, a gas inlet in fluid connection with inlets of the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers, a gas outlet in fluid connection with outlets of the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers, a first moving element, a concentrated oxygen generating device, a second moving element, a hollow transport conduit having a proximal opening and a distal opening and a power source configured to provide power to the first and second moving elements. The plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers comprising a gas transfer membrane. The concentrated oxygen generating device is configured to recycle waste oxygen from the gas transfer membrane to increase throughput and remove, by an adsorption/desorption process, unwanted gasses.

An internal air adjustment device (30) includes an internal-side passage (70) and an internal-side treatment unit (152). The internal-side separator (61) in the internal-side passage (70) separates return air from internal air. The composition of the return air differs from the composition of the internal air. The internal-side passage (70) supplies the return air into a storage (1). The internal-side treatment unit (152) decomposes ethylene in air that flows in the internal-side passage (70). Therefore, the concentration of ethylene of the return air is lower than the concentration of ethylene of the internal air.

A hollow fiber membrane module that increases a ratio of a membrane area contributing to membrane separation effect. On an inner wall surface of a case 100, at least one flow-straightening projection 130 and at least one flow-disturbing projection 140 are provided. The flow-straightening projection 130 projects toward an outer circumferential surface of a hollow fiber membrane bundle 300 to secure a gap between the inner wall surface of the case 100 and the hollow fiber membrane bundle 300 and extends from one end side toward the other end side of the case 100 and straightens a flow of fluid. The flow-disturbing projection 140 extends along a circumferential direction of the case 100 and disturbs the flow of the fluid.

An asymmetric hollow fiber (CMS) carbon molecular sieve is made by providing a dope solution comprised of a polvimide and a solvent, at a temperature greater than 250° C. that is less than the storage modulus at a temperature of 250° C., but no more than ten times less as measured using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis from 250° C. to a temperature where the polyimide carbonizes. The polvimide is shaped into a hollow polvimide fiber, the solvent removed and the polyimide hollow fiber is heated to pyroiyze the polvimide and form the asymmetric hollow carbon molecular sieve. The asymmetric hollow fiber carbon molecular sieve has a wall that is defined by an inner surface and outer surface of said fiber and the wall has an inner porous support region extending from the inner surface to an outer raicroporous separation region that extends from the inner porous support region to the outer surface. Surprisingly, when the polyimide has the particular storage modulus characteristics, the method allows for the hollow fiber CMS to be made without any pre-treatmenis or additives to inhibit stractural collapse of the inner microporous region.

A low cost, high selectivity asymmetric polyimide/polyethersulfone (PES) blend hollow fiber membrane, a method of making the membrane and its use for a variety of liquid, gas, and vapor separations such as deep desulfurization of gasoline and diesel fuels, ethanol/water separations, pervaporation dehydration of aqueous/organic mixtures, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, O.sub.2/N.sub.2, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, olefin/paraffin, iso/normal paraffins separations, and other light gas mixture separations. The polyimide/PES blend hollow fiber membrane is fabricated from a blend of a polyimide polymer and PES and showed surprisingly unique gas separation property with higher selectivities than either the polyimide hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer or the PES hollow fiber membrane without PES polymer for gas separations such as for H.sub.2/CH.sub.4, He/CH.sub.4, H.sub.2S/CH.sub.4, CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4 separations.

A radioactive noble gas removal filter, a filter unit, and a nuclear reactor containment vessel vent system with improved durability are provided. The radioactive noble gas removal filter according to the present invention includes a polyimide film including a structural unit represented by general formula (1).

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A membrane gas separator with a built-in valve along with a method of open and closing the membrane gas separator are disclosed herein. The membrane separator contains an an inlet chamber, hollow selective fibres, an outlet chamber, a central core element and a flushing space. The membrane separator contains a built-in combined valve in the outlet chamber and a the central space and a check valve at an inlet manifold. The built-in valve contains a throttling section to ensure a reduced backflow of a final product from the outlet manifold to the inner space of hollow fibres, and the sealing section to stop the flow of the flushing medium from the outlet chamber to the flushing space when no inlet medium flows through the separator. The method of opening of the membrane separator includes opening of the sealing section and subsequent opening and deactivation of the throttling section. The method of closing of the membrane separator includes closing and activation of the throttling section and closing of the sealing section.

A CMS membrane module includes plurality of hollow fiber CMS membranes that are enclosed within an open cylindrical shell whose ends are embedded in tubesheets. The shell is concentrically disposed within an open cylindrical pressure vessel whose open ends are covered by and secured by end caps. The shell includes a feed fluid inlet formed therein between the tubesheets and a retentate outlet in between one of the tubesheets and an adjacent end cap. A retentate seal is formed between the shell and the pressure vessel at a position between the tubesheets. A permeate seal is formed between the pressure vessel and the tubesheet that is adjacent a permeate port of the module. A structure made up of the CMS membranes, shell, tubesheets, and seals is slidable within the pressure vessel and not fixed in place in relation to the pressure vessel and end caps.

A cartridge for non-cryogenically separating a gas into components includes a plurality of hollow polymeric fibers, the fibers being anchored by a pair of tubesheets, each tubesheet being adjacent to a head, the tubesheet and head being joined by a clamshell retainer. The cartridge does not have a core tube. The fibers are enclosed within a sleeve, the sleeve being sufficiently thin so as to be a non-structural element. The cartridge may be inserted within a larger pressure vessel. The cartridge of the present invention can accommodate more fibers than comparable cartridges of the prior art, and therefore has greater throughput.