Membrane & Separation Technology News articles from October 2001

Membrane & Separation Technology News archives from October 2001

MATERIALS: Protein Gel, Greener Whey to Up Efficiency.
October 1, 2001... University of Arkansas chemists have developed membranes fabricated from whey protein isolates (WPI), a dairy industry by- product usually filtered out through membrane processes. The renewable proteinaceous material may be used to manufacture...

Tailored Tubesheets Improve Performance.
October 1, 2001... Praxair scientists have developed a method of potting hollow fibers in multicomponent epoxy resin tubesheets that feature a variable composition along the tubesheets' axial length. The cured resins exhibit different degrees of hardness in...

REVERSE OSMOSIS: Module Verified for Arsenic Removal.
October 1, 2001... The Environmental Technology Verification Program (ETV) has released its report on Koch Membrane Systems TFC-ULP4 reverse osmosis (RO) membrane module used for arsenic removal, verifying that the spiral wound polyamide element rejected 99% of...

Grafted Composite Improves Flux.
October 1, 2001... Dow Chemical researchers have developed and patented a low-fouling composite membrane, consisting of a porous support and a cross- linked polyamide surface with grafted polyalkylene oxide groups, which offers excellent flux and salt rejection....

ULTRAFILTRATION: Fibrous Support Improves Retention.
October 1, 2001... Sartorius scientists have invented a supported membrane in which the permselective membrane is integral with a polymeric support of nonwoven polymeric fibers. The integrally supported membranes exhibit far superior lifetimes compared with...

MICROFILTRATION: Millex Filters Small Volumes Faster.
October 1, 2001... Millipore's latest generation of sterile Millex syringe filters have larger diameters and 20% more membrane surface area to increase flow rate and throughput for fast, low-binding sterilization of small volumes of protein solutions, tissue...

GAS SEPARATION: Hollow Fibers Recover Halides.
October 1, 2001... UOP researchers have devised a process that uses sulfonated fluorinated polysulfone hollow fiber membranes to recover halides from streams containing light hydrocarbons. Compared with caustic scrubbing and adsorption for hydrogen chloride...

ED & FUEL CELL: Glass-Ceramic Solves PEM Problems.
October 1, 2001... Researchers at Iowa State University's Department of Materials Science & Engineering are in the early stages of developing nanoengineered glass-ceramic fast proton-conducting membranes that can be operated in fuel cells at higher temperatures...

Innovatek Improves Hydrogen Yields.
October 1, 2001... Innovatek is developing a portable hydrogen generator, based on catalytic steam reforming and sulfur-tolerant separation membranes, which produces pure hydrogen from multiple fuel types: methanol, gasoline, diesel fuel, or natural gas. The...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Excess Electrons Could Power RO Plants.
October 1, 2001... With California's electricity supply looming as a surplus not a shortage, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) has revived plans, once rejected as too energy-intensive and expensive, to desalinate seawater for residents in the southern part of...

Hydranautics Wins Tampa Bay Desal Project.
October 1, 2001... Hydranautics has completed negotiations for the Tampa Bay, Florida, Desalination Project, the largest potable desalination plant of its kind in the United States. The RO seawater system at Tampa Bay will incorporate design features that reduce...

El Paso Building Big Inland Desal Plant.
October 1, 2001... El Paso Water Utilities and Fort Bliss officials have concluded an agreement to build the country's largest inland desalination plant. According to the utility's water systems manager John Balliew, it is likely that the plant will use RO...

H2O Begins NF Treatability Test.
October 1, 2001... H2O Innovations has begun nanofiltration treatability tests at a Charlesbourg Canada dam as a pilot project for surface water treatment. As part of a $37,000 contract, H2O will conduct the studies at Keet Dam on Lac des Roches from late...

Potential in Pakistan for RO Desalination.
October 1, 2001... Professor Jamil Ahmed Khan, president of the Pakistan Desalination Association (PDA), says there is great potential in the country to harness RO desalination to increase potable water supplies. According to Khan, the technology has become...

Dialyzers Recalled After Deaths.
October 1, 2001... Medical device manufacturer Baxter International, Inc. has recalled two batches of its A-18 membrane dialyzers following the deaths of 15 kidney patients in Valencia and Madrid, Spain, reports the Spanish Health Ministry. There is not yet...

Whatman Hemasure Begins Leukofilter Manufacture.
October 1, 2001... Whatman HemaSure, Inc. has begun manufacture of the r/LS Prestorage Leukoreduction Filtration System for red blood cells. The product, which incorporates filtration media manufactured by Whatman using HemaSure's formulation, is being fabricated...

Briefly Noted:.
October 1, 2001... * Israel Will Build World's Largest RO Plant. Vivendi Water (Paris, France) has been awarded a 25-yr. contract to build and operate the world's largest membrane seawater desalination plant in Israel. The Build Operate Transfer plant, which will...

CALENDAR.
October 1, 2001... October 26-31, 2001. IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, The Gulf Hotel, Manama, Bahrain. Contact: International Desalination Association, P.O. Box 387, Topsfield, MA 01983; Tel: 978/887-0410, Fax: 978/887-0411; Email:...

INDUSTRY INSIGHT.
October 1, 2001... Opportunities and Constraints on Growing the Large-Scale Gas Separation Membrane Market William J. Koros, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas. Huge markets would exist for...

Contending Technologies.
October 1, 2001... A membrane can be selective by various mechanisms; these can be broadly classified into three groups as described below. "Simple" Sorption-Diffusion Membranes. These membranes are so named because transport occurs when gas molecules from...

Challenges.
October 1, 2001... The immediate challenges faced by current membrane technology can essentially be summarized into a few key areas. Achieving higher permselectivity for the relevant application with at least equivalent productivity is the first of these...

Strategies.
October 1, 2001... Two important classes of materials that lie between conventional polymers and the high-performance materials noted above have been almost completely overlooked for their potential to meet the challenges outlined in the preceding sections. These...

Conclusions.
October 1, 2001... Exciting opportunities do indeed exist for large-scale gas separations using membranes; however, new material types are likely to be needed to fully benefit from these opportunities. The so-called upper bound faced by many separations today...