Natural gas produced at high pressure (50-70 bar) is the only industrial source of helium (He). A membrane separation process may offer a more efficient production system with smaller footprint and lower operational cost than conventional cryogenic system. Inorganic membranes with high mechanical strength are known to exhibit good stability at high pressure. In this work, two inorganic membrane...

Current commercial polymer membranes have shown high performance and durability in water treatment, converting poor quality waters to higher quality suitable for drinking, agriculture and recycling. However, to extend the treatment into more challenging water sources containing abrasive particles, micro and ultrafiltration membranes with enhanced physical durability are highly desirable. This r...

The humoral arm of the mucosal immune system is principally composed of locally synthesized polymeric IgA, whose Fc portion is adapted for binding to the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor that is expressed on the basolateral surface of mucosal epithelial cells, including enterocytes. This receptor mediates the endocytosis and transcytosis of polymeric IgA, which allows IgA to function in host d...

A thermodynamic model of quaternary polymeric solution was developed for membrane formation. It incorporates two mixed solventsN-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and tetrahydrofuran (THF), and two high molecular weight polymers cellulose acetate (CA) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Also, another polymeric solution was modeled by replacing (CA) with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The developed model depend...

Micropatterned composite membranes of polymerized and fluid lipid bilayers were constructed on solid substrates. Lithographic photopolymerization of a diacetylene-containing phospholipid, 1,2-bis(10,12-tricosadiynoyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DiynePC), and subsequent removal of nonreacted monomers by a detergent solution (0.1 M sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) yielded a patterned polymeric bil...