Membranes
A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Biological membranes include cell membranes (outer coverings of cells or organelles that allow passage of certain constituents); nuclear membranes, which cover a cell nucleus; and tissue membranes, such as mucosae and serosae. Synthetic membranes are made by humans for use in laboratories and industry (such as chemical plants). This concept of a membrane has been known since the eighteenth century but was used little outside of the laboratory until the end of World War II. Drinking water supplies in Europe had been compromised by The War and membrane filters were used to test for water safety. However, due to the lack of reliability, slow operation, reduced selectivity and elevated costs, membranes were not widely exploited. The first use ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cell Membrane
The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extracellular space). The cell membrane consists of a lipid bilayer, made up of two layers of phospholipids with cholesterols (a lipid component) interspersed between them, maintaining appropriate membrane fluidity at various temperatures. The membrane also contains membrane proteins, including integral proteins that span the membrane and serve as membrane transporters, and peripheral proteins that loosely attach to the outer (peripheral) side of the cell membrane, acting as enzymes to facilitate interaction with the cell's environment. Glycolipids embedded in the outer lipid layer serve a similar purpose. The cell membrane controls the movement of substances in and out of a cell, being selectively permeable to ions and organic mole ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Microfiltration
Microfiltration is a type of physical filtration process where a contaminated fluid is passed through a special porosity, pore-sized membrane filter to separate microorganisms and suspended particles from process fluid, liquid. It is commonly used in conjunction with various other separation processes such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to provide a product stream which is free of undesired contamination, contaminants. General principles Microfiltration usually serves as a pre-treatment for other separation processes such as ultrafiltration, and a post-treatment for Sand filter, granular media filtration. The typical particle size used for microfiltration ranges from about 0.1 to 10 micrometre, μm.Baker, R 2012, ''Microfiltration, in Membrane Technology and Applications'', 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, California. p. 303 In terms of approximate molecular weight these Synthetic membrane, membranes can separate macromolecules of molecular weights generally less than 100,0 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Reverse Osmosis
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distributions. RO can remove dissolved or suspended chemical species as well as biological substances (principally bacteria), and is used in industrial processes and the production of potable water. RO retains the solute on the pressurized side of the membrane and the purified solvent passes to the other side. The relative sizes of the various molecules determines what passes through. "Selective" membranes reject large molecules, while accepting smaller molecules (such as solvent molecules, e.g., water). Reverse osmosis is most commonly known for its use in drinking water purification from seawater, removing the salt and other effluent materials from the water molecules. As of 2013 the world's largest RO desalination plant was in Nahal Sorek, So ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biological Membrane
A biological membrane, biomembrane or cell membrane is a selectively permeable membrane that separates the interior of a cell from the external environment or creates intracellular compartments by serving as a boundary between one part of the cell and another. Biological membranes, in the form of eukaryotic cell membranes, consist of a phospholipid bilayer with embedded, integral and peripheral proteins used in communication and transportation of chemicals and ions. The bulk of lipids in a cell membrane provides a fluid matrix for proteins to rotate and laterally diffuse for physiological functioning. Proteins are adapted to high membrane fluidity environment of the lipid bilayer with the presence of an annular lipid shell, consisting of lipid molecules bound tightly to the surface of integral membrane proteins. The cell membranes are different from the isolating tissues formed by layers of cells, such as mucous membranes, basement membranes, and serous membranes. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nanofiltration
Nanofiltration is a Membrane technology, membrane filtration process that uses nanometer sized pores through which particles smaller than about 1–10 nanometers pass through the membrane. Nanofiltration membranes have pore sizes of about 1–10 nanometers, smaller than those used in microfiltration and ultrafiltration, but a slightly bigger than those in reverse osmosis. Membranes used are predominantly polymer thin films. It is used to soften, disinfect, and remove impurities from water, and to purify or separate chemicals such as pharmaceuticals. Membranes Membrane materials that are commonly used are polymer thin films such as polyethylene terephthalate or metals such as aluminium. Pore dimensions are controlled by pH, temperature and time during development with pore densities ranging from 1 to 106 pores per cm2. Membranes made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other similar materials, are referred to as "track-etch" membranes, named after the way the pores on the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nanotube Membrane
Nanotube membranes are either a single, open-ended nanotube (CNT) or a film composed of an array of nanotubes that are oriented perpendicularly to the surface of an impermeable film matrix like the cells of a honeycomb. 'Impermeable' is essential here to distinguish nanotube membrane with traditional, well known porous membranes. Fluids and gas molecules may pass through the membrane en masse but only through the nanotubes. For instance, water molecules form ordered hydrogen bonds that act like chains as they pass through the CNTs. This results in an almost frictionless or atomically smooth interface between the nanotubes and water which relate to a "slip length" of the hydrophobic interface. Properties like the slip length that describe the non-continuum behavior of the water within the pore walls are disregarded in simple hydrodynamic systems and absent from the Hagen–Poiseuille equation. Molecular dynamic simulations better characterize the flow of water molecules through the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Membrane Bioreactor
Membrane bioreactors are combinations of membrane processes like microfiltration or ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment process, the activated sludge process. These technologies are now widely used for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.S. Judd, The MBR book (2006) Principles and applications of membrane bioreactors in water and wastewater treatment, Elsevier, Oxford The two basic membrane bioreactor configurations are the submerged membrane bioreactor and the side stream membrane bioreactor. In the submerged configuration, the membrane is located inside the biological reactor and submerged in the wastewater, while in a side stream membrane bioreactor, the membrane is located outside the reactor as an additional step after biological treatment. Overview Water scarcity has prompted efforts to reuse waste water once it has been properly treated, known as " water reclamation" (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse, or water recycling). Among the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hollow Fiber Membrane
Hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) are a class of synthetic membrane, artificial membranes containing a Membrane, semi-permeable barrier in the form of a hollow fiber. Originally developed in the 1960s for reverse osmosis applications, hollow fiber membranes have since become prevalent in water treatment, desalination, cell culture, medicine, and tissue engineering. Most commercial hollow fiber membranes are packed into cartridges which can be used for a variety of liquid and gaseous separations. Manufacturing HFMs are commonly produced using list of synthetic polymers, artificial polymers. The specific production methods involved are heavily dependent on the type of polymer used as well as its molecular weight. HFM production, commonly referred to as "spinning", can be divided into four general types: * Melt Spinning, in which a thermoplastic polymer is melted and extruded through a Spinneret (polymers), spinneret into air and subsequently cooled. * Dry Spinning, in which a poly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electrodialysis
Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis cell. The cell consists of a feed (dilute) compartment and a concentrate ( brine) compartment formed by an anion exchange membrane and a cation exchange membrane placed between two electrodes. In almost all practical electrodialysis processes, multiple electrodialysis cells are arranged into a configuration called an electrodialysis stack, with alternating anion and cation-exchange membranes forming the multiple electrodialysis cells. Electrodialysis processes are different from distillation techniques and other membrane based processes (such as reverse osmosis (RO)) in that dissolved species are moved away from the feed stream, whereas other processes move away the water from the remaining substances. Because the quantity of dissolve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Membrane Fouling
Membrane fouling is a process whereby a solution or a particle is deposited on a membrane surface or in membrane pores in a processes such as in a membrane bioreactor, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, membrane distillation, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, or nanofiltration so that the membrane's performance is degraded. It is a major obstacle to the widespread use of this technology. Membrane fouling can cause severe flux decline and affect the quality of the water produced. Severe fouling may require intense chemical cleaning or membrane replacement. This increases the operating costs of a treatment plant. There are various types of foulants: colloidal (clays, flocs), biological (bacteria, fungi), organic (oils, polyelectrolytes, humics) and scaling (mineral precipitates). Fouling can be divided into reversible and irreversible fouling based on the attachment strength of particles to the membrane surface. Reversible fouling can be removed by a strong shear force or backwashi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nuclear Membrane
The nuclear envelope, also known as the nuclear membrane, is made up of two lipid bilayer polar membrane, membranes that in eukaryotic cells surround the Cell nucleus, nucleus, which encloses the genome, genetic material. The nuclear envelope consists of two lipid bilayer membranes: an inner nuclear membrane and an outer nuclear membrane. The space between the membranes is called the perinuclear space. It is usually about 10–50 Nanometre, nm wide. The outer nuclear membrane is continuous with the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. The nuclear envelope has many nuclear pores that allow materials to move between the cytosol and the nucleus. Intermediate filament proteins called lamins form a structure called the nuclear lamina on the inner aspect of the inner nuclear membrane and give structural support to the nucleus. Structure The nuclear envelope is made up of two lipid bilayer membranes, an inner nuclear membrane and an outer nuclear membrane. These membranes are connected t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Serous Membrane
The serous membrane (or serosa) is a smooth epithelial membrane of mesothelium lining the contents and inner walls of body cavity, body cavities, which secrete serous fluid to allow lubricated sliding (motion), sliding movements between opposing surfaces. The serous membrane that covers Viscera, internal organs (viscera) is called ''visceral'', while the one that covers the cavity wall is called ''parietal''. For instance the peritoneum, parietal peritoneum is attached to the abdominal wall and the pelvic walls. The peritoneum, visceral peritoneum is wrapped around the visceral organs. For the heart, the layers of the serous membrane are called parietal and visceral pericardium. For the lungs they are called parietal and visceral pleura. The visceral serosa of the uterus is called the perimetrium. The potential space between two opposing serosal surfaces is mostly empty except for the small amount of serous fluid. The Latin anatomical name is Tunica (biology)#Anatomy usages, tu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |