Detect and remove an element by passing an aqueous solution over a selectively permeable membrane.
Organism: Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Function: Detect and transport toxins
Membrane to recycle shower water or other household graywater
Membrane for filtering an unwanted element out of blood
Membrane to desalinate seawater
Device to produce ultrapure water for academic or industrial laboratories
Membrane for treating water at water treatment plants
Membrane for household (countertop or sink-attached) water treatment
Device for detecting a pollutant or an element of interest in surface waters (lakes, rivers, streams, etc.)
Mototrized device with a membrane that "swims" through a body of water, collecting and concentrating an element of interest (either because it is valuable or dangerous)
Device to detect illegal or prescription drugs in one's blood
Membrane for a microbial fuel cell that allows only hydrogen ions to pass through
Water treatment system on a cruise ship
Membrane for an industry to recover and recycle a valuable (expensive) ingredient in their production process.
Membrane for controlling chemical reactions that require the influx or outflux of a particular element
Device for mining valuable metals from wastewater, which is known to contain significant quantities of precious metals
Membrane for filtering rainwater
Device with a series of membranes, each one tuned to remove a specific element, for the separation of elements in a fluid
Devices for conducting tracer studies, where the devices would be tuned for a particular tracer element, and then placed at the beginning and end of the length of a channel, reactor, or system to calculate flowrate and hydraulic retention time
Adapted for elements in gas, the membrane could remove airborne contaminants in building ventilation systems
Device for detecting and signaling the occurrence of combined sewer overflows in a sewer system, where the device would be triggered by the flow of wastewater (and the passage of a common wastewater element) through the membrane
Pregnancy test
If adapted for the gas phase, a device for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, where CO2 is removed and O2 added to blood outside of the body
Device using multiple selective membranes for detecting disease (e.g. cystic fibrosis)
Nitrate-detecting sensor in soils to prevent the application of excess fertilizer
Sensor containing a selective membrane to activate the cleaning of a system when a particular element is detected
To remove contaminants or unwanted elements from beverages (food industry)
Membrane for removing arsenic from water extracted from wells
Device to measure pH