Memtec LLC

Other

Douglas L Ford

Clinton V Kopp

Eric W Anderson

Richard D Grant

Robert J Streeton

Noel Barton

A method of making a porous polymeric material by heating a mixture of a thermoplastic polymer and a cationic or non-ionic surfactant having a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance range of 4.0 to 6.0 to a temperature and for a time sufficient for the polymer and surfactant to mutually dissolve. The mixture is then cooled to a temperature so that non-equilibrium liquid-liquid phase separation takes place to form a bi-continuous matrix of the polymer and surfactant so that the polymer and surfactant form two intermingled separate phases of large interfacial surface area. The surfactant is then removed from the polymer. The porous polymeric material produced by the above method has a lacey or filamentous structure consisting of a plurality of polymer strands connected together at spaced apart locations along each strand.

Process of making a porous hollow fiber membrane

Polyphenolic substances such as food dyes, tannins, fruit juices and wine colorings are removed from a solution by adsorption onto a regeneratable adsorbent polyamide of extended surface and controlled porosity. The surface chemistry of the polyamide may be modified by a glutaraldehyde/resorcinol treatment. The polyphenolic substances are recovered by elution with water or other protonic solvent.

Removing and recovering plant polyphenols

A method of concentrating solids in a liquid suspension using a filter having a plurality of hollow, microporous, elastic fibres with a shell or housing, comprising applying the suspension to an outer surface of the fibres whereby a portion of the suspension passes through the fibre walls and at least a portion of the solids is retained on or in the fibres; and discharging the retained solids by stretching the fibre pores and washing out solids retained in the pores by application of gas under pressure.

Concentration of solids in a suspension

A process for producing a support capable of reaction with antibodies or enzymes, said process comprising the steps of:

Sulphuryl chloride/polyamide derivative support

Cleaning of hollow fibre filters

A porous membrane characterized by a morphology that is the reversed phase analogue of another porous membrane. The material which forms the reversed phase porous membrane can be a thermosetting resin, zirconia or silica. The other membrane can be polypropylene or polyamide.

Reversed phase membranes

Treatment of emulsions

Sulphuryl chloride/polyamide derivative

Cooling hollow fibre cross-flow separators

Altering pore size distributions

Variable volume filter or concentrator

A method of cleaning a filter having a plurality of elastic, porous hollow fibers with lumens within a shell or housing and in which filtration is carried out by applying a liquid suspension feedstock to the outer surface of the fibers whereby a portion of feedstock passes through the walls of the fiber to be drawn from the fiber lumens as a filtrate or permeate, and a portion of the solids in the feedstock are retained on or in the pores of the fibers, with the non-retained solids being removed from the shell or housing with the remainder of the feedstock, said method entailing introducing a pressurized gas into the fiber lumens which passes through the walls of the fibers to dislodge the retained solids, the gas being applied at a pressure which is sufficient to overcome the effect of the surface tension of the continuous phase of the feedstock within the pores of the membrane.

Growing community of inventors

Eastwood, Australia

Douglas L Ford