Agfa Gevaert Nv

Vito Nv

Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderzoek (vito)

De Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderrzoek (vito) N.v.

Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologish Onderzoek N.v. (vito)

De Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderzoek (vito) N.v.

Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologies Onderzoek (vito)

Vito

Vlaamse Instelling Voor Technologisch Onderzoek

Wim Doyen

Willem Mues

Walter Adriansens

Bart Cobben

Bart Molenberghs

Herman Beckers

Roger Leysen

Chris Dotremont

Marc Verbeke

Rob Muyshondt

Thomas Melin

A method of manufacturing a reinforced tubular membrane comprises the steps of manufacturing the tubular support from monofilament thread, impregnating the support with membrane dope and adjusting the inner and the outer diameter of the membrane. A coating apparatus comprises a casting bob and an orifice to adjust respectively the inner and outer diameter of the membrane. A tubular reinforced polymeric membrane comprises a tubular support and membrane substance. The tubular support is made of monofilament thread and has a sufficiently open structure (openings larger than 0.1 mm). Touching and/or engaging parts of the thread may be linked prior to impregnating the support with membrane dope. The support may comprise loops of the monofilament thread, which are also linked.

Knitted support for tubular membranes

A process comprising a duplex type impregnating apparatus providing the steps of: (i) providing an elongated porous web, said elongated porous web comprising two outermost surfaces; (ii) transporting said elongated porous web downwards between two impregnating heads comprising two slots each with substantially vertical upper and lower slot faces substantially parallel to said elongated porous web providing simultaneously to both surfaces of said elongated porous web metered substantially identical quantities of a dope, comprising at least one membrane polymer and at least one solvent therefor; (iii) thereby impregnating said elongated porous web completely with said dope and providing substantially equally thick dope layers on each surface of said outermost surfaces of said elongated porous web with a thickness independent of the gap between one of said lower slot faces and the surface of said elongated porous web nearest thereto; (iv) subjecting said dope associated with said elongated porous web to symmetric phase inversion with at least one non-solvent thereby forming a membrane, and (v) removing residues of said at least one solvent for said at least one membrane.

Process for producing an ion-permeable web-reinforced separator

Process comprising the steps of: (i) providing an elongated porous web, said elongated porous web comprising two outermost surfaces; (ii) transporting said elongated porous web downwards between two impregnating heads comprising two slots each with substantially vertical upper and lower slot faces substantially parallel to said elongated porous web providing simultaneously to both surfaces of said elongated porous web metered substantially identical quantities of a dope, comprising at least one membrane polymer and at least one solvent therefor; (iii) thereby impregnating said elongated porous web completely with said dope and providing substantially equally thick dope layers on each surface of said outermost surfaces of said elongated porous web with a thickness independent of the gap between one of said lower slot faces and the surface of said elongated porous web nearest thereto; (iv) subjecting said dope associated with said elongated porous web immediately after dope-impregnation to symmetric phase inversion with at least one non-solvent thereby forming a membrane; and (v) removing residues of said at least one solvent for said at least one membrane polymer from said membrane thereby producing an ion-permeable web-reinforced separator, wherein said dope is shear-thinning, and the separator obtainable therewith.

A membrane bag comprising a volume for permeate collection, wherein the volume is completely enclosed in seamless membrane substance; a filtration unit comprising at least one above-described seamless membrane bag; the use of at least one above-described seamless membrane bag in a membrane bioreactor; the use of at least one above-described seamless membrane bag in water filtration or waste water purification; and the use of at least one above-described seamless membrane bag for the filtration or separation of a mixture of fluids, vapors and particles.

Membrane bags with seamless membrane substance, uses thereof and filtration units therewith

Disclosed are seamless membrane bags, for example, a membrane bag comprising a spacer fabric and a volume for permeate collection, the spacer fabric comprising a first part and a second part that are spaced apart and tied together at a predefined distance by monofilament thread and the first and second parts are at least partially embedded with membrane substance and the volume for permeate collection is interposed between the first and second parts. The membrane substance embeds portions of the monofilament thread and fills the spacer fabric along the border of the membrane bag. The membrane substance completely enclosing the volume is seamless. Also disclosed are processes for producing such bags, a filtration unit comprising such a membrane bag, and their uses in the separation of fluids, vapors and particles.

Membrane bags with seamless membrane substance, uses thereof, filtration units therewith and manufacturing processes

A process for preparing an ion-permeable web-reinforced separator membrane includes the steps of: providing a web (A) and a suitable paste (), guiding the web (A) in a vertical position, equally coating both sides of the web with the paste to produce a paste coated web (B), and applying a symmetrical surface pore formation step and a symmetrical coagulation step to the paste coated web to produce a web-reinforced separator membrane.

Web-reinforced separator and continuous method for producing the same

A membrane has a permeate channel including a 3D spacer fabric having an upper and a lower fabric surface () spaced apart by monofilament thread () at a predefined distance, the permeate channel being interposed between two membrane layers (), wherein the membrane layers are linked at a multitude of points with the upper and lower fabric surfaces to form an integral structure with a high bonding strength suitable for backflush operations. A method provides an integrated permeate channel membrane, including the steps of: &#x2014;Providing a 3D spacer fabric having an upper and lower surface fabric () spaced apart by monofilament thread () at a predefined distance; and&#x2014;Applying a membrane layer to both the upper and the lower surface fabric.

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Wommelgem, Belgium

Wim Doyen