Ultrasound membranes

Membranes and Osmosis. Membranes based on PEI can be used for the dehydration of organic solvents such as 2-propanol, methyl ethyl ketone, and toluene (451), and for concentrating seawater (452—454). On exposure to ultrasound waves, aqueous PEI salt solutions and brominated poly(2,6-dimethylphenylene oxide) form stable emulsions from which it is possible to cast membranes in which submicrometer capsules of the salt solution ate embedded (455). The rate of release of the salt solution can be altered by surface—active substances. In membranes, PEI can act as a proton source in the generation of a photocurrent (456). The formation of a PEI coating on ion-exchange membranes modifies the transport properties and results in permanent selectivity of the membrane (457). The electrochemical testing of salts (458) is another possible appHcation of PEI. 

Ultrasound can thus be used to enhance kinetics, flow, and mass and heat transfer. The overall results are that organic synthetic reactions show increased rate (sometimes even from hours to minutes, up to 25 times faster), and/or increased yield (tens of percentages, sometimes even starting from 0% yield in nonsonicated conditions). In multiphase systems, gas-liquid and solid-liquid mass transfer has been observed to increase by 5- and 20-fold, respectively [35]. Membrane fluxes have been enhanced by up to a factor of 8 [56]. Despite these results, use of acoustics, and ultrasound in particular, in chemical industry is mainly limited to the fields of cleaning and decontamination [55]. One of the main barriers to industrial application of sonochemical processes is control and scale-up of ultrasound concepts into operable processes. Therefore, a better understanding is required of the relation between a cavitation coUapse and chemical reactivity, as weU as a better understanding and reproducibility of the influence of various design and operational parameters on the cavitation process. Also, rehable mathematical models and scale-up procedures need to be developed [35, 54, 55]. 

On the other hand stable cavitation (bubbles that oscillate in a regular fashion for many acoustic cycles) induce microstreaming in the surrounding liquid which can also induce stress in any microbiological species present [5]. This type of cavitation may well be important in a range of applications of ultrasound to biotechnology [6]. An important consequence of the fluid micro-convection induced by bubble collapse is a sharp increase in the mass transfer at liquid-solid interfaces. In microbiology there are two zones where this ultrasonic enhancement of mass transfer will be important. The first is at the membrane and/or cellular wall and the second is in the cytosol i. e. the liquid present inside the cell. 

The effects of ultrasound upon the permeability of the cell walls of the gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa toward hydrophobic compounds particularly antibiotics have been examined [8]. The penetration and distribution of 16-dosylstearic acid (16-DS) in the cell membranes of the bacteria was quantified by a spin-labeling electron spin resonance (ESR) method. The results indicated that the intracellular concentration of 16- D S was higher in insonated cells and increased linearly with the sonication power. 

ESR spectra indicated that ultrasound enhanced the penetration of 16-DS into the structurally stronger sites of the inner and outer cell membranes. The effect of ultrasound on the cell membranes was transient in that the initial membrane permeability was restored upon termination of the ultrasound treatment. These results suggested that the resistance of gram-negative bacteria to the action of hydrophobic antibiotics was caused by a low permeability of the outer cell membranes and that this resistance may be reduced by the simultaneous application of antibiotic and ultrasound. 

The irradiation of a system with sound waves (usually ultrasound). Often used to disrupt cell membranes and in early steps in protein purification, it should also be noted that sonication can increase rates of reaction as well as assist in the preparation of vesicles. 

The use of skin permeation enhancers in combination for synergistic effects has been studied in the transdermal literature (70). Such synergistic methods can be grouped in three categories (i) combination of two physical methods, e.g., ultrasound and iontophoresis (71-75) (ii) combination of a physical method with a chemical enhancer, e.g., use of ultrasound with sodium lauryl sulfate or isopropyl myristate (76-80) and (iii) combination of two chemicals, e.g., terpenes and propylene glycol (46,81-88). Numerous studies have been published on using combination of two physical methods or use of a physical method in conjunction with a chemical enhancer. Use of a physical method, by itself or in combination with another physical method, increases application cost for delivery purposes as mentioned before. In addition, there are unexplored safety and membrane recovery issues associated with these methods. A few reports have also been published on the use of a mixture of chemical enhancers for enhancing transdermal delivery. Typically, such studies use... 

External energy sources for active mixing are, for example, ultrasound [22], acoustic, bubble-induced vibrations [23,24], electrokinetic instabilities [25], periodic variation of flow rate [26-28], electrowetting induced merging of droplets [29], piezoelectric vibrating membranes [30], magneto-hydrodynamic action [31], small impellers [32], integrated micro valves/pumps [33] and many others, which are listed in detail in Section 1.2. 

The first method employs the ballistic gun (2,3), where cells are exposed to ballistic bombardment by microparticles coated with the molecules of choice (e g., DNA). The second method is based on exposing the cells to ultrasound leading to an increased transmembrane transport (4). The third approach is based on an electrically driven process (electroporation), where cells are exposed to high-electric fields for short durations of micro- to milliseconds (5). This exposure leads to induction of short-lived permeability changes in the membrane ( pores ) enabling the diffusion of molecules across the membrane along their electrochemical gradients. 

Sundaram, J., Mellein, B.R. and Mitragotri, S. (2003) An experimental and theoretical analysis of ultrasound-induced permeabilization of cell membranes. Biophys. J. 84, 3087-3101. 

Ultrasound cleaning has also been used to remove fouling from UF polysulphone and MF cellulose membranes used to treat peptone and milk aqueous solutions, respectively. The US employed had 28, 45 and 100 kHz frequency with 23 W/cm output power. With 28-kHz US, water was found to be effective for recovery from a deteriorating condition due to fouling US-enhanced permeability of membranes was also observed. It is worth noting... 

Ultrafiltration of whey is a major membrane-based process in the dairy industry however, the commercial availability of this application has been limited by membrane fouling, which has a concomitant influence on the permeation rate. Ultrasound cleaning of these fouled membranes has revealed that the effect of US energy is more significant in the absence of a surfactant, but is less markedly influenced by temperature and transmembrane pressure. The results suggest that US acts primarily by Increasing turbulence within the cleaning solution [91]. 

A comparison of the previous resuits with the cleaning effect of ultrasound irradiation at the frequencies in the kHz range, which decreases the fouling conditions of filtration and ultrafiltration membranes (see Section 2.6.1), clearly reveals that this effect does not apply to high-frequenoy US [95]. 

Ultrasound-assisted emulsification in aqueous samples is the basis for the so-called liquid membrane process (LMP). This has been used mostly for the concentration and separation of metallic elements or other species such as weak acids and bases, hydrocarbons, gas mixtures and biologically important compounds such as amino acids [61-64]. LMP has aroused much interest as an alternative to conventional LLE. An LMP involves the previous preparation of the emulsion and its addition to the aqueous liquid sample. In this way, the continuous phase acts as a membrane between both the aqueous phases viz. those constituting the droplets and the sample). The separation principle is the diffusion of the target analytes from the sample to the droplets of the dispersed phase through the continuous phase. In comparison to conventional LLE, the emulsion-based method always affords easier, faster extraction and separation of the extract — which is sometimes mandatory in order to remove interferences from the organic solvents prior to detection. The formation and destruction of o/w or w/o emulsions by sonication have proved an effective method for extracting target species. 

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