Patent ID: 7341663

Claim:
A device for separating chemicals comprising: a) a permeate collection tube, consisting of a hollow cylinder provided with at least one row of perforations oriented along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder; b) at least one membrane sandwich spirally wound around the permeate collection tube wherein the membrane sandwich comprises: (1) a permeate spacer formed by a sheet of mesh; (2) a plurality of approximately rectangular pervaporation membranes, each composed of a porous support layer and a relatively thinner, nonporous perm-selective layer; (3) a plurality of solvent spacers, each composed of a sheet of mesh; and; (4) a plurality of supported liquid membranes, each consisting of a sheet of solvent, containing microporous hydrophobic membrane with a hydrophilic skin layer; c) feed spacers interleaved with said membrane sandwich; and d) means to prevent direct mixing of feed retentate, permeate, and solvent.