Membrane business acquired by Dutch company

News and Views a n d p r e s e n t e d s o m e unique p r o c e s s e s u s i n g novel separation technology. Dr. Bret Berner of Ciba-Geigy Corp. p r e s e n t e d a talk on t r a n s d e r m a l d r u g delivery. In addition to these outside s p e a k e r s s o m e of the faculty at the w o r k s h o p gave short s e p a r a t i o n s - r e l a t e d p r e s e n t a t i o n s on specific topics of interest. A d a y in i n d u s t r y for the faculty w a s hosted b y UOP at its Tarrytown Technical Center, Tarrytown, New York. A series of s e m i n a r s a n d laboratory/pilot plant touts w a s a r r a n g e d for the visiting faculty. Michael Mitariten p r e s e n t e d s e m i n a r s on gas separation m e m b r a n e p r o c e s s e s a n d p r e s s u r e swing adsorption (PSA). Laboratory tours helped to reinforce the technical p r e s e n t a t i o n s a n d d e m o n s t r a t e the technology involved. Faculty were also exposed to a d v a n c e d s e p a r a t i o n p r o c e s s e s b y conducting e x p e r i m e n t s in M a n h a t t a n College's N S F / I n d u s t r y - S p o n s o r e d Advanced Separation Process Laboratory a n d Biochemical Engineering Laboratory. E x p e r i m e n t s were conducted in reverse osmosis, supercritical fluid extraction, ultrafiltration, m e m b r a n e gas permeation, s p r a y drying, a n d wet s c r u b b i n g of gases. Both a pilot-scale a n d a h a n d - h e l d reverse o s m o s i s s y s t e m were utilized so t h a t faculty could see the range of experiments capable for instruction. Various separation-oriented c o m p u t e r software p a c k a g e s were examined by the faculty for u s e at their h o m e institutions. The w o r k s h o p concluded with Dr. Slater a d d r e s s i n g the issue of integration of the lecture a n d laboratory c o m p o n e n t s of advanced separation p r o c e s s e s into the u n d e r g r a d u a t e curriculum. These concluding sessions were extremely interactive. Workshop p a r t i c i p a n t s agreed on the importance of incorporating a d v a n c e d separation p r o c e s s e s into the u n d e r g r a d u a t e c u r r i c u l u m a n d proposed to do this through new e x p e r i m e n t s a n d c o u r s e / c u r r i c u l u m modifications. Further tnformatlon from: Dr C. Stewart Slater or Ronald N. Occhlogrosso, Chemlcal Engineering Department, Manhattan College, Rlverdale, NY 10471-4099, USA. Tel: +I 718 920 0185. Fax: +I 718 796 9812.

Membrane business acquired by Dutch company

Aquilo will continue the gas s e p a r a t i o n activities of Delair Droogtechniek e n Luchtbehandeling B.V. (Delair). Over the last ten y e a r s Delair h a s developed new gas separation technologies, in particular u s i n g m e m b r a n e s , which will n o w b e m a r k e t e d b y Aquilo. The c o m p a n y ' s m e m b r a n e technology h a s resulted in several p a t e n t s for the m e m b r a n e itself a n d for p r o c e s s e s where the m e m b r a n e is u s e d to solve difficult c u s t o m e r problems. Aquilo is concentrating on several specific applications of m e m b r a n e s e p a r a t i o n s u c h as c o m p r e s s e d - a i r drying, controlled a n d modified a t m o s p h e r e for fruit storage a n d the packaging of foodstuff, a n d nitrogen generators for various industrial applications. Further Information from: Aqullo Gas Separation B.V., P.O. Box 258, 4 8 7 0 A G Etten-Leur, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 1608 85300. Fax: +31 1608 85333.

Mini-cartridges for sterile drug product processing G e l m a n Sciences new SuporFlow@ 200 MC Series mini-cartridge filters are designed for small to m e d i u m volume aseptic processing of sterile d r u g products. This p h a r m a c e u t l c a l - g r a d e filter, p r o d u c e d u n d e r cGMP conditions, is validated a n d p r o d u c e s sterile effluents w h e n challenged with P. dlmlnuta following HIMA methodology, says the company. The SuporFlow 200 MC Series cartridge filter contains two layers of G e l m a n Sciences patented, 0.2 pm Supor@ m e m b r a n e . Supor m e m b r a n e is a n advanced, inherently hydrophilic polyethersulfone media; its e n h a n c e d porosity p r o d u c e s exceptionally high flow rates, greater t h r o u g h p u t a n d reduced processing times, s a y s Gelman. Every MC Series cartridge filter is individually integrity tested to a s s u r e p r o d u c t performance. They are available in two styles to retrofit m o s t competitive mini-cartridge h o u s i n g assemblies. Further information from: Gelman Sciences Customer Service Department, 600 South Wagner Road, Ann Arbor, M148103-9019, USA. Tel: +I 313 665 0651.

In J u l y 1994 TBI Holdings B.V. of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, acquired a new subsidiary, Aquilo Gas Separation B.V., a c o m p a n y which specializes in gas separation techniques.

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M e m b r a n e T e c h n o l o g y No. 53