Researchers develop nanomachine

.JI ill

I

!1

_

Ill

I

An I n t e r n a t i o n a l N e w s l e t t e r

1997/5

I

ISSN 0958-2118 IIII

Number

85

Membrane Technology CONTENTS News and Views

1

•

Researchers

•

Memtec earnings

develop nanomachine

•

M I T p r o f e s s o r e l e c t e d to I o n i c s b o a r d

•

Pall w i n s Q u e e n ' s

•

RO/UF

•

M e m t e c p a y U S S 3 M for V e s s e l s r l

•

Ceramic membranes liquid tuels

•

F u e l cell d e v e l o p m e n t and financial support

•

T h i n film c o m p o s i t e

•

PCI d e v e l o p h y d r o p h i l i c m e m b r a n e

•

Osmonics aids electronics manufacturer, cleans up groundwater

•

Appointments

up USS2.2M award

membranes

for m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c s convert natural

gas into

gains research

alliance

RO cartridge and

6

Feature •

Liquid Membranes -- academic industrial separation process?

exercise or

I0

Patents •

Computer

•

Nitrogen oxides abatement

*

Dialysis cleaning system

•

Polymer li-actionation

•

Membrane

production

•

Membrane

cleaning by air bubbles

Events

Copyright

disk drive aid

method

12

Calendar

© 1997

Elsevier

Researchers develop nanomachine

Science

Ltd, England/97/$17.00

A u s l r a l i a n r e s e a r c h e r s h a v e b u i l t a slablt~, h i g h l y s e n s i l i v e b i o s e n s o r w i t h m o v i n K p a r l s 1liaI a r e of m o l e c u l a r size - - a n a n o m a c h i n e . T h i s s i f { n i l i c a n t b r e a k t h r o u f { h w a s r e p o r t e d i n a r e c e n l i s s u e of N a t u r e (387, 5 5 5 - - 5 5 7 ) b y a t e a m l r o m t h e C o o p e r a t i v e Research Centre lot Molecular Engineering and T e e h n o l o K y (CRC MET), w h i c h is a j o i n t v e n t u r e b e i w e e n t h e C S I R O , t h e U n i v e r s i t y of S y d n e y a n d lhe Australian Membrane Bioteehnolo~v Research Institute. D r B r u c e C o r n e l l w h o w a s p a r t of l h e o f ( S I R O l e a l n w h o d e v e l o p e d t h e d e v i c e c o m m e n t e d : "'this b i o s e n s o r is a u n i q u e b l e n d of t h e ; l h i l i t v o f b i o l o g y to i d e n t i f y i n d i v i d u a l t y p e s o f m o l e c u l e in c o m p l e x m i x t u r e s , w i t h t h e s p e e d , c o n v e n i e n c e a n d l o w c o s l o|m i c r o e l e c t r o n i c s . It c o n s i s t s of a s y n t h e t i c m e m b r a n e I h a t w e m a k e o u r s e l v e s , c h e m i c a l l y t e t h e r e d to a t h i n m e t a l film c o a t e d o n t o a p i e c e of plastic. T h i s m e m b r a n e b e h a v e s like t h e o u t e r s k i n of t h e c e l l s ~1 t h e h u m a n b o d y i n i t s a b i l i t y to s e n s e o t h e r m o l e c u l e s " . T h e b i o s e n s o r s ' c e n t r a l COlllponent i:~ a i n i c r o s c o p i c e l e c t r i c a l s w i t c h , a n i o n c h a n n e l , 1.5 b i l l i o n t h s of a m e t r e in size. T h e d e v i c e o p e r a t e s b y ,~,witching t h e s e ion c h a n n e l s i n a l i p i d m e m b r a n e . T h e i o n c h a n n e l s a r e f o r m e d b v t w o K r a m i c i d i n (an a n t i b i o l i e ) m o l e c u l e s , o n e l i n k e d to a g o l d e l e c t r o d e in l h e l o w e r l a y e r o f t h e m e m b r a n e , t h e o t h e r a t t a c h e d to a n a ! ~ t i b o d y i n t h e u p p e r layer, W h e n a d e s i r e d m o l e c u l e is b o u n d to t h e a n t i b o d y , a n d a t t a c h e d to a s e c o n d a n ! i b o d y e l s e w h e r e (lhe recognition event), the gramicidin molecules are pulled apart and the conductivity drops as the channel is b r o k e n . E s s e n t i a l l y , t h e b i o s e n s o r o m l b i n e s a biological recognition mechanism with a physical i r a n s d u c t i o n t e c h n i q u e , t u r n i n g c u r r e n t s o n o r offb y o p e n i n g m o l e c u l a r c h a n n e l s t h a i p~tss t h r o u g h an otherwise insulating membrane. The new stable biosensor can be used with receptors s u c h a s a n t i b o d i e s a n d n u c l e o t i d e s , il is v e r y f l e x i b l e a n d e v e n i n it's s i m p l e s t f o r m it is s e n s i t i v e to p i c o m o l a r concentrations of proteins. The dew~lopers claim that il h a s d e m o n s t r a t e d s e n s i t i v i t i e s u p io 1 0 0 0 t i m e s greater than previous biosensors which use enzymes to i n d u c e a m e a s u r a b l e c h a n g e in plq. Referrinf{ to i t s

per item.

No p~rl ol this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any form or by ~ny means, electronic. ul~-chmlical, iIhol:)col)yin~, recordill~ or oiheI~vise, witholll tile prior permission of the publishers. (Readers in tile I.'SA please ~ee special Ie'tl/li;ti{il)llN lisI¢'
News & Views

s u b - p i c o m o l a r sensitivity, Dr Cornell equated it to "detecting the s u g a r c o n t e n t of S y d n e y H a r b o u r after throwing a s u g a r cube from a felTy". Additionally, in t e r m s of compatibility with microelectronics, the CRCMET t e a m indicate t h a t the direct electrical o u t p u t offered by the new device h a s significant a d v a n t a g e s over the optical o u t p u t of previous biosensors. The b i o s e n s o r h a s a large n u m b e r of potential a p p l i c a t i o n s which can be applied to complex m e d i a s u c h as blood. Applications include the detection of viruses, DNA (gene sequences), drugs, h o r m o n e s , a n t i b o d i e s a n d pesticides. According to the CRC-MET t e a m the b i o s e n s o r h a s been o p e r a t i n g s u c c e s s f u l l y for several m o n t h s in the l a b o r a t o r y a n d the first commercial p r o d u c t s are expected to be l a u n c h e d within the next two years.

For further information contact: Dr Bruce Cornell, CSIRO, The University of Sydney, NSW, S y d n e y 2052, Australia. Tel: +61 2 9422 3195; lnternet: http: / / www.ambri.com.au.

M e m t e c third quarter earnings US$2.2M Memtec have r e p o r t e d t h a t e a r n i n g s for the third q u a r t e r of fiscal 1997 were US$2.2 million or US80.22 p e r s h a r e - - in line with m a r k e t expectations. Net sales for the three months ended March 31, 1997 i n c r e a s e d 40% to US$59.0 million c o m p a r e d with US$42.0 million for the third q u a r t e r of fiscal 1996. Net sales for the nine m o n t h s ended 31 March, 1997 i n c r e a s e d 50% to US8176.0 million c o m p a r e d with US$117.0 million for the first three quarters of fiscal 1996. Operating profit for the three months ended March 31, 1997 increased 60% to US$11.5 million compared with US$7.2 million for the first three quarters of fiscal 1996. Income before taxes for the three m o n t h s ended March 31, 1997 i n c r e a s e d 10% to US$3.1 million c o m p a r e d with US$2.8 million for the third q u a r t e r of fiscal 1996. Income before taxes for the nine m o n t h s ended March 31, 1997 increased 52% to US$8.0 million compared,with US$5.2 million for the first three quarters of fiscal 1996. The net income of US$2.2 million for the first three m o n t h s ended March 31, 1997 was c o m p a r a b l e to the n e t income of US$2.3 million for the s a m e period in 1996. Net income for the nine m o n t h s ended March 31, 1997 was US$6.8 million (US$0.66 per share) c o m p a r e d with USS8.0 million (US$0.88 per share) for the nine m o n t h s ended March 31 1996. This c o m p a r i s o n h a s b e e n affected by a USS0.47 tax benefit b o o k e d in the second q u a r t e r of fiscal 1996. Backlog at March 31, 1997 i n c r e a s e d 3% to US$67 million c o m p a r e d with March 31, 1996. Filterite b a c k l o g i n c r e a s e d 6% to USS6 million, Fluid d y n a m i c s b a c k l o g d e c r e a s e d 34% to US824 million, Memcor backlog i n c r e a s e d 34% to US833 million a n d Seitz backlog w a s USS5 million.

2

For further information contact: Memtec Ltd, 1 Memtec Parkway, Windsor, N S W 2756, Australia. Tel: +61 45 77 6800;fax: +61 45 77 6804. Internet: http: / / www.memtec.com.

MIT professor e l e c t e d to Ionics board Ionics s h a r e h o l d e r s elected Dr Daniel I.C. Wang to the b o a r d of directors at the c o m p a n y ' s r e c e n t a n n u a l meeting. Dr Wang is Institute Professor at the M a s s a c h u s e t t s Institute of Technology as well as Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering a n d Director of the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center. A r t h u r L. Goldstein, Ionics' C h a i r m a n a n d Chief Executive Officer, c o m m e n t e d "we are delighted with Dr Wang's election. He b r i n g s a u n i q u e c o m b i n a t i o n of technology a n d b u s i n e s s experience to Ionics. In addition to his chemical engineering expertise which c o m p l e m e n t s the C o m p a n y ' s work in s e p a r a t i o n s technology, Dr Wang brings extensive knowledge of the F a r East, p a r t i c u l a r l y in a p p l i c a t i o n s a n d m a r k e t s in which the C o m p a n y h a s recently b e c o m e engaged."

For further information contact: Ionics Inc., P.O. Box 9131, Watertown, MA 02272-9131, USA. Tel: +1 617 926 2500;fax: +1 617 926 4304. http: / / w w w . ionics, com.

Pall wins Queen's award It was recently a n n o u n c e d t h a t Pall E u r o p e Ltd, the P o r t s m o u t h (UK) b a s e d m a n u f a c t u r e r of high technology filters a n d filtration e q u i p m e n t , h a s again been awarded the Queen's Award for Export Achievement. The C o m p a n y won the Award in 1987 a n d in 1992. Pall E u r o p e h a s won the Award, which is conferred a n n u a l l y on only a small n u m b e r of British companies, as a r e s u l t of its consistently high level of export achievement. During the l a s t ten y e a r s , export sales, as a p e r c e n t a g e of total turnover, averaged 71%, whilst total export sales have grown 375% since 1987. The Company' s m a i n export m a r k e t s are W e s t e r n a n d E a s t e r n Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, P a k i s t a n a n d A u s t r a l a s i a . In its overseas m a r k e t s , Pall h a s e s t a b l i s h e d s u c c e s s f u l selling c o m p a n i e s in Austria, France, G e r m a n y , Italy, Poland, S p a i n a n d Switzerland, and new J o i n t Ventures in India a n d Russia. Combined with local sales offices in other countries, Pall c u r r e n t l y employs over 900 people who are r e s i d e n t in its overseas m a r k e t s .

M e m b r a n e T e c h n o l o g y No. 8 5