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Hollow Fiber Membranes: History
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Contributor: Jack Zhong

Hollow fiber membranes are self-supporting tubes with a porous wall, in which the lumen carries one stream and the outer surface the other, so the two are separated by a thin selective skin [1]. The wall is asymmetric: a dense or finely porous layer sits on a sponge-like support with finger voids, and the support carries the pressure load while the skin sets selectivity [1]. Fibers are spun from a polymer dope by phase inversion, and the bore fluid composition, the air gap and the coagulation bath fix the wall structure and the skin thickness [1]. Because the wall is thin, the permeance per unit driving force is high, and a module packs a large area into a small volume [2]. The same geometry is reproduced in chitosan and in conductive diamond, where the wall chemistry rather than the polymer sets the surface interaction [3].

  • tubular membrane
  • lumen
  • sponge-like support
  • phase inversion spinning
  • module packing density

References

  1. Moattari, R.M.; Mohammadi, T.; Rajabzadeh, S.; Dabiryan, H.; Matsuyama, H.; Reinforced hollow fiber membranes: A comprehensive review. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 2021, 122, 284-310, 10.1016/j.jtice.2021.04.052.
  2. Modrzejewska, Z.; Eckstein, W.; Chitosan hollow fiber membranes. Biopolymers 2004, 73, 61-68, 10.1002/bip.10510.
  3. Kondo, T.; Lee, S.; Honda, K.; Kawai, T.; Conductive diamond hollow fiber membranes. Electrochemistry Communications 2009, 11, 1688-1691, 10.1016/j.elecom.2009.06.027.
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