Liquid purification or separation – Processes – Liquid/liquid solvent or colloidal extraction or diffusing...
Patent
1986-08-19
1989-12-12
Spear, Frank
Liquid purification or separation
Processes
Liquid/liquid solvent or colloidal extraction or diffusing...
210490, 427245, B01D 1300
Patent
active
048866040
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention is concerned with a method for altering the effective passage width of the pores of a structure particularly suitable for an ultrafiltration membrane, which structure has at least one membrane with continuous pores or is formed of at least one such membrane, wherein the membrane or membranes which extend along plane, curved, cylindrical or vesicular surfaces, are in each case constituted of at least one layer of contiguous molecules that are joined together and in addition are arranged along a crystal lattice, namely protein molecules or protein containing molecules, with continuous pores arranged according to a lattice remaining free between the molecules in said layers, wherein these membranes are appropriately linked to or embedded in an appropriately porous carrier or are appropriately joined into an unsupported film, and wherein the protein molecules or protein containing molecules are cross-linked--through foreign molecules, if applicable--intra- and/or intermolecularly and/or to the carrier. The invention is furthermore concerned with an advantageous application of this method, a method suitable for producing such a structure, as well as advantageous applications of the structure thusly produced.
STATE OF THE ART
A structure of the aforementioned type is known from European Patent No. 2-0154620. The membranes used for the construction of this structure are constituted advantageously of protein molecules or protein containing molecules which have been obtained particularly from cell-envelopes of prokaryotic cells, by a recrystallization process called self-assembly, and thereafter deposited on and/or in a porous carrier and finally submitted to chemical cross-linking. The effective pore size at the membrane of this structure is then particularly within a diameter range of 1 to 200 nm (nanometer), but preferably within the range cf 1 to 8 nm.
In using this structure as an ultrafiltration membrane, sharp separations between molecules with small differences in molecular weight are attained, as well as higher flow rates than with previously known ultrafiltration membranes. Essentially, the desired pore diameter is obtained through the selection of the micro-organism used for producing the membrane, whose cell-envelopes have outer layers, so-called S-layers (surface layers) with pores having approximately the pore diameter aimed at. This pore diameter can be varied further by binding foreign molecules to the protein molecules or protein-containing molecules, which reach into the pore zones.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention has the initial object of indicating a method for altering the effective pore size of membranes of the aforementioned structure, which method then will permit a wider range of application of a certain structure.
In the method according to the invention for altering the effective pore size of the membranes of the aforesaid structure, the problem is solved in that through altering the medium conditions a change is effected in the conformation of the membrane molecules determining the pore form and pore size, and/or a change is effecting in the charges at the molecules within the pore zone of the membrane, and thereby a change of the effective passage width of the membrane pores. The change of the conformation and/or charge can advantageously be effected by a change of the pH-value, of the ionic strength and/or of the ion composition or the structure of the medium surrounding the structure and/or advantageously also by a change of the type of the liquid phase.
The invention is furthermore concerned with an advantageous application of this method of the invention for altering the effective passage width of the pores of a structure suitable particularly for an ultrafiltration membrane, characterized in that it is used to include in this structure substances of value, such as enzymes, active pharmaceutical substances, pesticides or similar, and/or remove these value substances from this structure.
According to an advantageous development of this application of th
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patent: 3736204 (1973-05-01), Meriwemer
patent: 3892665 (1975-07-01), Steigelmann et al.
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patent: 4012324 (1977-03-01), Gregor
patent: 4239714 (1980-12-01), Sparks
patent: 4634530 (1987-01-01), Kuder et al.
patent: 4661526 (1987-04-01), Ford
Sara Margit
Sleytr Uwe
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