Page 44 - Search ""

North American Membrane Society (NAMS) annual meeting was held in Bellevue, WA, during the last week of May. Due to the great collective interest shown by the membrane research community, only 40% of the abstracts submitted to the meeting could be accepted for podium presentation, which made up to about 140 talks! In addition, about 140 posters were presented in 5 parallel poster sessions. As a comparison, there were about 144 talks and 160 posters in NAMS 2015 meeting at Boston. Conference attendees were primarily researchers from industry and academia.   Research was focused on the following topics:

• Membrane Distillation (MD)
• Biomimetic membranes
• Desalination and potable water production
• Gas separation
• Design and processing of polymeric and inorganic membranes
• Designs and processing of composite and hybrid membranes
• Novel membrane materials

Other topics of interest included:

• Pervaporation
• Membrane transport: theory and characterization tools
• Water treatment, reclamation, and reuse
• Energy

Sterlitech’s polycarbonate and polyester track-etch membrane filters are a unique product that find use in numerous applications. They possess clean cylindrical pores that transverse the membrane surface from one side to the other. As a result of this unique feature, the pore density must be much lower compared to almost all other standard thin-film membranes such as Nylon, PTFE, PVDF, and more. Particulates either pass through the pores in track-etch filters, or remain on the surface. Almost never do they become embedded within the pore’s interior. But what happens when these filters are needed for your project and the particles being filtered occlude the opening of the pores? This effect is called pore blinding; and you may ask “But what can be done?”

Fear not brave scientist! In most applications, the track-etch filters will work fine on their own. But if a difficult particulate is clogging up your filter too soon, consider use of our Polyester Drain Discs. These discs act as a pre-filter

They’re back! Last year, Sterlitech discontinued offering the economical Rocker vacuum pump series due to supply issues. We’re happy to report the issues are worked out and they’re now back to our product lineup! These pumps complement a family of durable and economical lab products designed to help your filtration needs.

The Rocker pumps include the models 300, 400, and 600 in both 110V/60Hz and 220V/50Hz units. These pumps are outstanding economical resources for wide ranging lab applications based on simple aqueous solutions. In addition to the Rocker pumps, we also offer the Rocker repair kits, when needed, to rebuild the pumps after they go past the extra mile.

The Rocker pumps are now online at Sterlitech.com and Amazon.com, but you can always contact us directly for a quote or tech support if needed prior to ordering. If your requirements are for more chemically harsh or demanding environments, consider our heavier duty TLD or Gast vacuum pumps; available here.

Nanostone flat sheet membranes are being discontinued by the manufacturer. Limited quantities of Nanostone flat sheet membranes is available at the moment, for more information or if you need assistance finding a suitable replacement product, please contact Sterlitech at [email protected].  

Nanostone™ Discontinued Nanofiltration Membranes

Nanostone™ Discontinued Ultrafiltration Membranes

Please send us an email or complete this form if you would like a hard copy of our new catalog! Here is a link to the web based catalog - 2016 Catalog!

Nanostone 1812 Elements are being discontinued by the manufacturer. If you need assistance finding a suitable replacement product, please contact Sterlitech.   You can browse other 1812 elements that Sterlitech offers at the moment by clicking here.   Limited quantities of Nanostone Flat Sheet Membranes are still available; please contact us for more information.

Filtering difficult biological solutions? Normally, using a thin membrane filter can pose serious questions:

• “How much liquid can I get through the filter?”
• “When will it clog?”
• “What if my solution is very critical to the project?"

Sterlitech Polyethersulfone (PES) membrane filters have a unique asymmetric pore structure that allows the user to take advantage of this feature; PES can be its own pre-filter and dynamically increase throughput!

Hold a sample piece of this material up to the light at an oblique angle, and you will see a glossy/shiny side, and a more matte/dull side. This sided-ness feature (see Figure 1) is helpful in that the more open area (matte side) has larger entry pores compared to the glossy side; and it should face into the incoming liquid stream for the best results with particulate-heavy liquids. If you were to view an SEM image of the matte side, you may quickly notice the pores seem much larger than the stated pore size, this is normal! Each pore’s ability to

Forward Osmosis has been known and exploited as a separation process for a variety of applications including water and wastewater treatment, food processing, and power generation since the early 1960’s. Can this process also be applied for air de-humidification? Recent publications and patents have demonstrated that combining capillary condensation with osmosis separation through a semi-permeable membrane, introduced as Osmotic Membrane Dehumidification process, can be an efficient de-humidification method.

In the Osmotic Membrane Dehumidification process, a humid air stream is brought into contact with a semi-permeable membrane, which separates the air stream from an osmotic solution, i.e. draw solution (draw solution is generally a salt solution). Water vapors in the air stream condense by capillary condensation in the pores of the membrane and the condensed water is transferred into the draw solution by osmosis.

Unlike the conventional de-humidification processes, in this process there

Q: What is membrane pre-conditioning and why is it recommended to pre-condition new flat sheet membranes prior to use in the bench scale filtration cells?

A: Membrane pre-conditioning is a filtration step generally done at a pressure equal to or higher than the test pressure using deionized water as the feed. During this process membrane pores are wetted and the membrane structure may go though compaction or swelling. These changes in the membrane affect both the permeate flux and the rejection values. Therefore, it is recommended to pre-condition the membranes prior to use in the bench scale filtration cells to ensure the membrane performs according to the specs provided by the manufacturer, in terms of both permeate flux and rejection values.

Q: How do you know if membrane is pre-conditioned?

A: It is recommended to filter deionized water through the membrane until the permeate flux reaches a relatively steady value. At this point deionized water can be replaced with feed solution and

Sterlitech is launching new flat sheet membranes from Microdyn Nadir: NP010 and NP030. Both NF membranes have a Polyethersulfone (PES) active layer and Polyethylene/Polypropylene (PE/PP) support layer. NP010 and NP030 are chemically resistant and can be used at high temperatures, which makes them suitable for applications such as acid/caustic preparation, and for the metal and chemical industry.  

¹ LMH stands for Liter per Meter Square Membrane Active Area per Hour These new additions are available in large sheets, as well as in precut coupons for use in the Sepa CF, CF042, and CF016 filtration cells, and most stirred cells. Custom membrane