Electrokinetic, structural and surface chemical characterizations of both active and porous sublayers of a composite (polyamide/polysulfone) reverse osmosis membrane were carried out by different techniques: (i) electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) allows both electrical and geometrical characterizations using equivalent circuits as models; (ii) surface chemical composition of the activ...

the effect of membrane molecular weight cut off (mwco) at three levels (10, 20 & 50 kd) on dynamic behavior of permeate flux (jp), hydraulic resistances (total hydraulic resistance, rt; reversible fouling resistance, rrf; irreversible fouling resistance, rif and membrane hydraulic resistance, rm) and milk solutes rejection (protein, rp; fat, rf; lactose, rl; minerals, rm and total solids, r...

USE OF HIGH-FLUX, preformed ultrafiltration membranes (Diaflo; Amicon Corp., Lexington, Mass.) for separating microand macromolecular constituents of biological fluids has been adequately documented (1-3). A class of these membranes has been formulated into a cone configuration (Centriflo; Amicon Corp.) amenable for use in a laboratory centrifuge. These membranes, highly retentive for the serum...

Ultrafiltration membrane modules suffer from a permeate flow decrease arising during filtration and caused by concentration polarization fouling in, e.g., fermentation broth purification. Such performance losses are frequently mitigated manipulating the hydrodynamic conditions at membrane-fluid interface using, mesh spacers acting as static mixers. This additional element increases manufacturin...

Protein contaminants in carmine can cause dyspnea and anaphylactic reactions in users and consumers of products containing this pigment. The method generally used for detection of proteins in carmine has low reproducibility and is time-consuming. In this study, a rapid, simple, and highly reproducible method was developed for the detection of protein contaminants in carmine. This method incorpo...

Bio-fouling is a serious problem in many membrane-based separation processes for water and wastewater treatment. Current state of the art methods to overcome this are to modify the membranes with either hydrophilic additives or with an antibacterial compound. In this study, we propose and practise a novel concept to prevent bio-fouling by developing a killing and self-cleaning membrane surface ...