Membrane & Separation Technology News articles from May 2002

Membrane & Separation Technology News archives from May 2002

MATERIALS: Nanoscale Ceramics Flexible, Yet Strong.
May 1, 2002... Researchers at Cornell University have developed a class of nanoscale hybrid materials they describe as flexible ceramics that illustrate a long theorized, yet previously unmanifested, molecular configuration, a cubic bicontinuous structure....

'Spacers' Make Polymer Permeable.
May 1, 2002... A collaboration of North Carolina State University, Research Triangle Institute (RTI), and industry scientists has discovered a method of making highly efficient, highly selective membranes through which large molecules permeate faster than...

ULTRAFILTRATION: Ultrasound Cleans without Chemicals.
May 1, 2002... Engineers at Ohio State University have developed a method to clean ceramic drinking water membranes at a low cost using low frequency ultrasound vibrations in place of harsh chemicals, while the membranes are in place and in use. Although...

Home Water Pressure Removes Microbes.
May 1, 2002... Zenon Environmental has launched a point-of-entry system based on ZeeWeed immersed ultrafiltration membranes that, using the homes water line pressure, successfully removes bacteria including E. coli (> than 99.9999%), viruses such as Coliphage...

System Turns Sewage to Snow.
May 1, 2002... An Australian ski resort has successfully completed trials using an ultrafiltration membrane system to turn treated wastewater into manmade snow at the Mount Buller Resort in Victoria. Engineers from Monash University and Environmental...

BIOMEDICAL & BIOMEMBRANE: Polyetherimide Optimized for Biohybrid Organs.
May 1, 2002... Scientists at GKSS Research Center have found that polyetherimide (PEI) is a suitable, biocompatible membrane- forming polymer for use in biohybrid organs. The PEI membranes opposing surfaces may be rapidly modified (less than 10 min) with...

Chitosan/Collagen Make Better Dental Dressing.
May 1, 2002... A collagen/chitosan membrane recently developed at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT, India) can be used as an artificial skin for burn and wound treatment and for dental applications. Compared to traditional materials...

Clot Plugs Stable After Six Months.
May 1, 2002... Recently completed trials of the PLAATO (percutaneous left atrial appendage transcatheter occlusion) procedure indicate an experimental medical membrane device has the potential to prevent strokes resulting from blood clots that form in the...

NON-SEPARATING: Polypropylene Film Puncture Resistant.
May 1, 2002... Celgard, Inc. inventors have developed an improved polypropylene membrane, made from a beta-nucleated precursor, designed for use as a battery separator. The microporous film has an electrical resistance of less than 30 ohms-in. per mil and,...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Renal Device Exceeds Expectations.
May 1, 2002... The University of Michigans Renal Assist Device (RAD), a bioartificial kidney composed of hollow fiber membranes and living human cells, has performed better than expected in early clinical trials. In the hybrid bio/synthetic organ, living...

Membrane Advances Oilfield Gas Processing.
May 1, 2002... NATCO Group reports that advances in membrane technology during the past 20 yr have led to greater gas production and reduced CO2 content in produced gas at the SACROC processing unit in Snyder, Texas. Cynara, a NATCO subsidiary, designed,...

Briefly Noted:.
May 1, 2002... * USFilter (Palm Desert, CA) has submitted the winning bid to provide microfiltration equipment to Orange Countys Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System. The winning proposal for $27,327,808 came in under budget by 16%, a savings of more than...

CALENDAR.
May 1, 2002... September 28-October 2, 2002. WEFTEC 2002, The Water Environment Federations 75th Technical Exhibition & Conference, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL. Contact: Water Environment Federation, 601 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; Tel: 800/666-0206 or...

INDUSTRY INSIGHT: Nanocomposites and Nanoporous Materials for Membrane Applications.
May 1, 2002... By Ronald Cook, Brian Elliot, Dave Stokowski, and Carolina Wilson, TDA Research, Inc., 12345 W. 52nd Ave., Wheat Ridge, CO 80033. The growth of methods for producing nanoparticles and the impressive results obtained from incorporating s...

Introduction.
May 1, 2002... The ongoing development of materials with features on the nanometer scale (e.g., between 1 and 100 nm) will result in the development of better composite materials, micromachines, sensors, and processes. The development of nanomaterials and...

Nanocomposite Tubesheets.
May 1, 2002... Hollow fiber membranes are made from polymers that have good thermal stability and chemical stability along with high permselectivities and permeabilities. In commercial modules, the fibers are potted into an empty epoxy tubesheet and the...

Membrane Selectivity.
May 1, 2002... In recent years, there has been considerable interest in polymer nanocomposites. The materials consist of a glassy or amorphous host polymer and plate-like or flake-like inorganic nanofillers. For nanomaterials with high aspect ratios (~1,000),...

Fabrication of Separation Membranes.
May 1, 2002... Separation processes are an integral part of chemical and refinery operations and are generally quite intensive. Forty- five percent of all the process energy used by the chemical and refining industries is used for separations, and the...

Acknowledgments.
May 1, 2002... The work described in this paper is funded, in part, by a DOE Industrial Technology grant (DE-FG03-98ER82691), a DOE SBIR grant (DE-FG03-00ER83103), and an internal TDA R&D grant.