Agarose ultrafiltration membrane composites for size based separations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018169593-A1
Application number	US-201615575596-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 12, 2016
Priority date	Aug 17, 2015
Publication date	Jun 21, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The embodiments described herein relate to agarose ultrafiltration membrane composites and methods for making and using the same.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite having a pore size less than 0.1 μm, wherein the composite comprises a porous support membrane having an agarose layer on the support membrane, wherein the agarose layer comprises a thickness ranging from 1 to 100 μm.

2 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the agarose layer infiltrates into at least a portion of thickness of the porous support membrane.

3 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the composite is highly resistant to delamination.

4 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite according to claim 1 , wherein the agarose layer comprises a thickness ranging from 1 to 20 μm.

5 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises woven or nonwoven polymer material.

6 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 5 , wherein the woven or non-woven polymer material is selected from the group consisting of polyester, polyamides, polyolefins, polyethylene (PE), polycaprolactam, poly(hexamethylene adipamide), polypropylene, aromatic polymers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyether-ether ketone (PEEK), polysulfone, polyethersulfone (PES), halogenated polymers and, fluorinated polymers.

7 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite according to claim 6 , wherein the fluorinated polymer is selected from polytetrafluoroethylene and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

8 . The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises an average thickness ranging from 20 μm to 500 μm.

9 . An agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite according to claim 2 , wherein portion of thickness of porous support membrane into which the agarose infiltrates is at least 1-15 μm.

10 . A method for making an agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite, the method comprising the steps of:
i. providing a porous support membrane having an average pore size ranging from 0.01 μm to 10 μm and an average thickness ranging from 20 μm to 150 μm, ii. providing an agarose solution, and iii. casting a layer of the agarose solution onto the porous support membrane, and iv. immersing the agarose coated porous support membrane into a water bath at a temperature below the gelling point of the agarose solution,
thereby resulting in an agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite having average pore size less than 0.1 μm.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, polypropylene, polycaprolactam, poly(hexamethylene adipamide), polyethylene terephthalate, polyether-ether ketone, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polytetrafluoroethylene, and polyvinylidene fluoridepolyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).

12 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE), polycaprolactam, poly(hexamethylene adipamide), polysulfone, and polyethersulfone.

13 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the agarose solution in (ii) comprises agarose at a concentration ranging from 1-12 wt.-%, or from 5-11 wt.-%.

14 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the agarose solution in (ii) further comprises ZnCl 2 at a concentration equal to or less than 15 wt.-%.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the agarose solution in (ii) comprises a crosslinker at a concentration ranging from 0.01 wt.-% to 1 wt.-%.

16 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the agarose solution in (ii) comprises ZnCl 2 at a concentration equal to or less than 15 wt.-% and divinylsulfone (DVS) as crosslinker.

17 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein agarose solution in step (ii) is heated to a temperature ranging from 20 to 90° C. or ranging from 45 to 75° C.

18 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the porous support membrane in step (iii) is heated to a temperature ranging from 20 to 90° C. or ranging from 45 to 75° C.

19 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein in step iv) the agarose coated porous support membrane is immersed in a water bath at a temperature ranging from 5-60° C., or ranging from 10-40° C.

20 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein in step i) a porous support membrane is provided having an average thickness between 100 μm-200 μm and an average pore size of 0.2 μm.

Assignees

• Emd Millipore Corp

Inventors

• Jaber Jad
• Moya Wilson
• Kozlov Mikhail

Classifications

• B01D2325/02

  Details relating to pores or porosity of the membranes · CPC title

• B01D67/0013

  Casting processes · CPC title

• B01D69/02

  characterised by their properties · CPC title

• B01D69/125

  In situ manufacturing by polymerisation, polycondensation, cross-linking or chemical reaction · CPC title

• B01D61/145

  Ultrafiltration · CPC title