Applications

Desalination or desalinization is a process that removes minerals from saline water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals, as in soil desalination, which also happens to be a major issue for agricultural production. PMI Porosity characterization instruments have been installed at various research centers working in the field of water desalination.

Capillary Flow Porometers , Liquid Liquid Porometers, All Membrane Test Cell, Membrane Bio-reactor, Membrane Distillaton Apparatus

Nanofiltration is a relatively recent membrane filtration process used most often with low total dissolved solids water such as surface water and fresh groundwater, with the purpose of softening (polyvalent cation removal) and removal of disinfection by-product precursors such as natural and/ or synthetic organic matter. Nanofiltration is also becoming more widely used in food processing applications such as dairy, for simultaneous concentration and partial (monovalent ion) demineralization. Whereas Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces like pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the so-called retentate, while water and low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane in the permeate. This separation process is used in industry and research for purifying and concentrating macromolecular (103 – 106 Da) solutions, especially protein solutions. Ultrafiltration is not fundamentally different from microfiltration. Both of these separate based on size exclusion or particle capture. It is fundamentally different from membrane gas separation, which separates based on different amounts of absorption and different rates of diffusion. Ultrafiltration membranes are defined by the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the membrane used. Ultrafiltration is applied in cross-flow or dead-end mode. PMI’s Liquid Liquid Porometer provides pore size measurement for as low as 2nm , while the Capillary Flow Porometers provide pore size measurement capability as low as 13 nm and up to 500 microns on the higher side.

Capillary Flow Porometers, Liquid Liquid Porometers , UltraNanoPorometer

Petroleum consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure.

Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. This comes after the studies of structural geology (at the reservoir scale), sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterization (mainly in terms of the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures). It is refined and separated, most easily by distillation, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline (petrol) and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals. Permeability and Porosity of rock cores is an important part of well development and these parameters also help researchers identify sites with high rate of recovery of oil and gas. PMI manufactures various products for porosity and permeability measurement for both conventional and unconventional sources.

Rock Core Tester, Pulse Decay Permeameter, Gas Permeameter, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, Liquid Permeameter, Confining Pressure Permeameters, Core Saturators, Capillary Pressure Tester

Ceramics have interesting design properties. They have excellent mechanical properties in compression, but are terrible when tensile loads are applied to them, and are typically very brittle. Porous ceramics are used in filtration, diffusion, separation and purification applications. Uniquely porous, this ceramic material contains open-cell structure that allows the free flow of liquid or gas to an opposing structure allowing fluidic communication. Porous ceramic can be used in place of metals, plastics or fibers providing equal or higher levels of performance and extending the useful life under harsh conditions.

Porous ceramics have a wide range of uses in manufacturing across industries such as medical, mining, oil & gas exploration, alternative energy, emissions control, metal refinement, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, printing, wine making and other industries. Specific applications include instrumentation, analytical sensors, semiconductor components, alternative energy assemblies, battery separators, emissions monitoring sensors, among many others. As with most filtration methods, water is carefully introduced to one side of the filter, which acts to block the passage of anything larger than the pore size. Typically bacteria, protozoa, and microbial cysts are removed but the filters are not effective against viruses since they are small enough to pass through to the other “clean” side of the filter. Ceramic water filters (CWF) may be treated with silver in a form that will not leach away. The silver helps to kill or incapacitate bacteria and prevent the growth of mold and algae in the body of the filter.

Ceramic filtration does not remove chemical contaminants per se. However, some manufacturers (especially of ceramic candle filters) incorporate a high-performance activated carbon core inside the ceramic filter cartridge that reduces organic & metallic contaminants. The active carbon absorbs compounds such as chlorine. Filters with active carbon need to be replaced periodically because the carbon becomes clogged with foreign material.

Capillary Flow Porometers, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, BET Sorptometer, Liquid Liquid Porometers

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)

Capillary flow porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)

One of the critical factors which determine the performance of fuel cells is the pore structure characteristic of many of the fuel cell components such as membranes, GDLs, separators, and electrodes. Pore structure governs the flow and the kinetics of the physio-chemical processes which occur in the fuel cell. The pore structure characteristics, important and relevant for fuel cell components are pore diameter, pore throat diameter, pore volume, pore distribution, graded pore structure, surface area, external surface area, total porosity, hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature of pores in a mixture, liquid and gas permeability, and diffusional flow. In a working fuel cell, the chemical environment, the operating temperature, the humidity, and the stresses generated during the operation can considerably alter the pore structure. Therefore, not only the determination of pore structure characteristics is important, evaluation of the influence of stress, temperature, and chemical environments on structural characteristics is also relevant.

Fuel Cell Porometer , Capillary Flow Porometers, Pycnometer, Gas Diffusion Permeameter, Aquapore Water Instrusion Porosimeter

Capillary Flow Porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)