Rapid Salt Exchange by Coupled Ultrafiltration and Dialysis in Anisotropic Hollow Fibers

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Abstract
Anisotropic hollow fibers allow construction of a dialyzing system that provides extremely large membrane surface in a small laboratory-sized system. Possessing the added property of high ultrafiltration flux, these fibers reduce salt exchange times from days to hours. In this system the exchange of salt by dialytic transport is largely unaffected by recirculation rate, solute type, or content, but is strongly affected by those variables which affect molecular diffusion, such as microsolute size and temperature. In contrast, diafiltration (convective salt removal by ultrafiltration), which primarily relates to solvent transport through the membrane, can be changed by operating pressure, polarizability of the macrosolute, as well as those conditions which tend to influence this latter phenomenon.