Product History:
- Liqui-Cel Membrane Contactors were the result of forward integration of hollow fiber membrane sold to medical device manufacturers for blood oxygenators. The hollow fiber membrane was first integrated into small parallel flow membrane contactors for debubbling and degassing small liquid flow rates in the 1980's.
- The Kirkpatrick Achievement Award was given to the Liqui-Cel product line in 1991 by Chemical Engineering Magazine for its innovative technology.
- In 1993, a new patented cross-flow contactor was developed and commercialized with higher gas transfer efficiencies than the previous parallel-flow design. These innovative membrane deaeration contactors could also handle larger-scale flow rates up to 30 gpm in one device.
- In 1995, large capacity contactors (>250 gpm) were commercialized. These contactors are effective for degassing many liquids, with a primarily focus on oxygen removal from water and carbon dioxide removal from water. These early contactors were also accepted into the beverage industry for carbonation, deaeration, and nitrogenation. These larger Liqui-Cel Contactors have displaced vacuum towers and forced draft deaerators in many industries.
- In 1999, a lighter weight PVDF inner surface housing was introduced for 10-inch Liqui-Cel Membrane Contactors. This allowed 10-inch contactors to be used in ultrapure water polishing loops for Oxygen removal from water to less than 1 ppb and CO2 removal from water to less than 1 ppm.
- In 2000, small capacity parallel flow devices were brought back into the product line to address debubbling issues in lab scale analytical and laboratory systems as well as small process loops.
- SuperPhobic® devices were also introduced in 2000 for degassing low surface tension fluids such as photo resist solutions, developer solutions, transformer oil and ink jet inks.
- In 2001, 6-inch NB and Extra-Flow contactors were commercialized to address low cost CO2 removal from water and vacuum only O2 removal from water applications. This product has been used extensively for corrosion control where oxygen and carbon dioxide negatively impact piping and equipment.
- Auxiliary products including eductors and vacuum pumps were also introduced to the product offering in 2001 to compliment Liqui-Cel degassing products.
- Oxygen Analyzers were brought into the product mix in 2002.
- The Quality Management System of the Charlotte, NC, manufacturing facility was ISO Registered to ISO 9001:2000 in 2002.
- On March 1, 2002, the parent company of Celgard LLC purchased Membrana GmbH in Wuppertal, Germany. With this purchase, Membrana was combined with the Liqui-Cel® Membrane Contactor and Hollow Fiber businesses of Celgard LLC. On August 1, 2002, the Liqui-Cel® business line adopted the new company name of Membrana.
- In 2003, the 10-inch Industrial contactor was commercialized. It was designed to address low cost degassing needs primarily for corrosion control and carbon dioxide removal from water applications where FDA compliance was not a requirement.
- In 2003, the Liqui-Cel website was completely overhauled to include degassing technical references, and technical briefs on key applications such as Oxygen removal from water and carbon dioxide removal from water. An animated product tour was also developed and launched on the website to illustrate the mechanics of how degassing takes place on the inside of a Membrane Contactor.
- 1 x 5.5 and 1.7 x 5.5 MiniModules with NPT connections were added to the product line to better address debubbling applications.
- In 2004, 14-inch Extra-Flow contactors were commercialized to address low cost CO2 removal and deoxygenation requirements in large-flow applications.
- Flaretek® fittings were introduced on the 2.5 x 8-inch product line in 2004 to better meet the degassing requirements in high purity and semiconductor applications.
- 2 x 6 SuperPhobic products were commercialized in 2005. These contactors meet the requirements for low surface tension solutions such as deaerating ink jet inks, degassing transformer oils, and debubbling other solutions such as developers, liquids containing surfactants, and photoresists.
- As of September 2006 Liqui-Cel Contactors are utilized on systems processing over 233 million liters per hour of liquids.
Liqui-Cel® Membrane Contactors are distributed worldwide.
