Transmembrane Pressure Research Articles

Analysis of the Effect of High-Dose Segmental Citrate Anticoagulation in High Flux Hemodialysis

Objective: To analyze the clinical effect of high-dose citrate in segmental extracorporeal anticoagulation for high-throughput hemodialysis. Methods: The subjects included in this study were admitted to the hospital for maintenance hemodialysis treatment from January 2021 to January 2023. All patients had a high risk of bleeding and received 4% trisodium citrate anticoagulant treatment, administered at a rate of 200 mL/h before and after the dialyzer. The anticoagulant effects achieved by the patients were observed and analyzed. Results: The total number of patients who received high-dose segmented citrate extracorporeal anticoagulation dialysis treatment was 50, with each patient undergoing 100 treatments. During the treatment, 2 patients had to end the treatment early due to transmembrane pressure exceeding 30 mmHg and an increase in venous pressure exceeding 250 mmHg; the treatment times for these patients were 20 minutes and 200 minutes, respectively. The remaining patients successfully completed the 4-hour treatment. Blood pH and calcium ion concentration in the venous pot were monitored. It was observed that before dialysis, after 2 hours of dialysis, and at the end of dialysis, the blood pH of the patients remained within a relatively normal range. Although some patient levels changed after dialysis, they remained within the normal range. No adverse reactions (such as numbness of the limbs or convulsions) were observed during the anticoagulant treatment. Conclusion: Administering 4% trisodium citrate at a rate of 200 mL/h before and after the dialyzer achieves a good anticoagulant effect, maintains the patient’s blood gas levels within the normal range at the end of dialysis, and causes no adverse reactions.

Electro-responsive OCNT/PPy membrane for efficient irreversible-fouling control through electroregulation of electrostatic and fluid interaction forces

Membrane-based separation process has been proven to be a powerful strategy for low-energy-consumption and high-efficiency water purification. However, the practical application is still subjected to serious membrane fouling. In this study, an impressive approach to alleviate membrane fouling is proposed using an electro-conductive oxygenated carbon nanotube/polypyrrole (OCNT/PPy) membrane combining electrically-regulated electrostatic and fluid forces. Benefiting from the negative potential (−1.18 V vs. SCE) applied on the membrane, the electric polarization effects significantly enhance the repulsive electrostatic force on contaminant. The transmembrane pressure increases at an ignorable rate during the filtration process. Meanwhile, for accumulated irreversible membrane fouling after multi-cycle filtrations, the positive potential (+1.19 V vs. SCE) exerted on OCNT/PPy membrane can decrease the fluid resistances of backwash flow. As a result, the electrically-regulated hydraulic backwash achieves a thorough recovery rate of permeance at 99.1 %. The numerical analysis of the antifouling mechanism reveals that the mitigation of irreversible membrane fouling is mainly attributed to rapid formation of a loose cake layer under electrical assistance. Moreover, the computational fluid dynamics verifies that the reduction of water-channel resistance enhances the elimination of foulants in membrane pores. This work motivates a new thought for membrane fouling control through electroregulation of electrostatic and fluid forces at the membrane-water interface.

Separation performance of cationic and anionic dyes from water using polyvinylidene fluoride-based ultrafiltration membrane incorporating polyethylene glycol

Membrane separation shows high performance in the dye’s removal at nanofiltration conditions. Pinpointing the problems accompanying using high pressure in the nanofiltration process sparks increased interest among investigators to tackle this important point. This work tackles the problem of using the nanofiltration process to remove intermediate molecular weight dyes by decorating new functionalized membranes working at ultrafiltration conditions. Flat sheet ultrafiltration membranes were successfully prepared by the phase inversion technique from polymeric solutions containing 16, 18, and 20 wt% of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and N, N-dimethyl formamide as a solvent. The prepared membranes were tested using rhodamine B (RhB) dye as a model pollutant at different transmembrane pressures of 1, 2, 3, and 4 bar. Optimistic permeability, permeate flux, and dye removal were obtained using 18 wt% of PVDF. This membrane was developed with different polyethylene glycol (PEG) contents of 3, 6, and 9 wt% to improve the hydrophilicity and permeability of the membrane surface at low pressure. The morphology analysis, elemental composition, and surface functional groups of the pure and modified membranes were examined. The effect of dye concentration and pH of the feed solution on the permeate flux and RhB removal was studied using an 18 wt% PVDF membrane containing 6 wt% of PEG. The results showed that incorporating 6 wt% of PEG in the 18 wt% PVDF casting solution reduced the CA from 78.85° for pure PVDF to 62.08° and enhanced the permeability from 7.16 L/m2.h for pure PVDF to 74.72 L/m2.h at 1 bar and initial RhB concentration of 10 mg/L. While RhB dye removal slightly decreased from 93.08 % for pure PVDF to 91.26 %. The results showcased the potential efficiency of the (6 wt%)PEG/(18 wt%)PVDF membrane for dye separation from water. Also, molecular weight cut-off was evaluated using RhB as a cationic dye, acid orange 10, and congo red as anionic dyes and it was 478 Da.

A new ceramic microfiltration membrane based on olive seeds: development and characterization

ABSTRACT The development of low-cost methods for wastewater treatment and the separation of oil-in-water emulsions is of considerable significance. Recently, natural material-based, inexpensive membranes have become a hot area of research. In this work, natural olive seeds were used to develop a novel ceramic membrane support. With the oil filtration process in place, the choice was reached to utilize the olive kernels’ beneficial qualities best. The process involved blending plastic paste with water and organic ingredients, followed by extruding the resulting paste into a porous tubular. After firing at 200 °C/2 h, the membrane's water permeability and porosity were 1,852 L/h m2 bar and 45%, respectively, and its average pore width varied from 2 to 15 μm. The efficiency of the microfiltration membrane in separating oil-in-water emulsions was assessed using two test solutions containing oil concentrations of 500 and 1,000 mg/L. Under a transmembrane pressure of 1 bar, the membrane exhibited exceptional permeate flux exceeding 200 L/m2 h, along with a high oil rejection rate of over 96% across all feed concentrations.

Engineering of ceramic membranes with superhydrophobic pores for different size water droplets removal from water-in-oil emulsions

Superhydrophobic (SHB) ceramic membrane surfaces have proved their superiority in water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion separation. However, the construction of ceramic membranes with SHB pores remains challenging and the interaction between the SHB pores and water droplets is still unclear. Herein, by growing uniform ZnO nanoclusters (NCs) onto the SiC grains of a symmetric SiC ceramic membrane and then grafting with triethoxy(octyl)silane, a series of ZnO NCs@SiC membranes with SHB pores were prepared. Prior to secondary hydrothermal synthesis ZnO NCs, the small-sized ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were grown onto the SiC grains via a sol–gel process. All the ZnO NCs@SiC membranes with SHB pores showed improved water removal performance from W/O emulsions compared with that of the pristine membrane. The optimal membrane with SHB pores displayed a pore size of 0.19 μm with a water contact angle of 163.96°. The smaller water droplets in W/O emulsions, the membrane pores are easier to be polluted. When separating a 1000 ppm W/O emulsion with a water droplet size of 500 nm at a transmembrane pressure of 0.5 bar, the water rejection reached 98.90 %, and the steady-state oil flux was 92.99 L·m−2·h−1. Based on the separation experiments, the separation mechanism was revealed. This work provides significant perceptions into constructing SHB pores of ceramic membranes, which might be useful for other possible applications.

Lignin Purification from Mild Alkaline Sugarcane Extract via Membrane Filtration

In this study, the separation of lignin from a mild alkaline sugarcane bagasse extract was studied, and the impacts of different parameters on the filtration performance were evaluated. The tested parameters included transmembrane pressure (0.5–3.0 bar), shear rates (2831–22,696 s−1), temperature (20 and 40 °C), membrane molecular weight cut-off (5 and 10 kDa), and membrane material (polyethersulfone and polysulfone). During the filtration process, the permeate flux and all the main components of the extract were analyzed, including lignins (acid insoluble lignin and acid soluble lignin), sugars (xylose, arabinose, glucose, and galactose), total phenolic compounds, and phenolic acids (p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, vanillin, and 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde). It was proved that the tested conditions had a great impact on the permeate flux and molecule retention rate. Increasing the temperature from 20 to 40 °C resulted in a much higher permeate flux for the 5 kDa PES membrane, and the impact of shear rate was greater at 40 °C for this membrane. Although the 5 kDa PES membrane could retain slightly more large molecules, i.e., acid-insoluble lignin and xylose, the 10 kDa membrane afforded greater phenolic acid removal capacity, leading to higher purity. For the 10 kDa PS membrane, the polarization layer began to form at TMP below 0.5 bar. This membrane had a lower retention rate for all molecules than the 10 kDa PES membrane.

Dual‐Wing Ligand Constructed Metal–Organic Framework Membranes with Finely Tuned Apertures for Natural Gas Separation

AbstractMetal–organic framework (MOF) membranes with apparent molecular sieving effects have great potential for gas separation. However, their application in light‐gas separation (e.g., CO2/CH4 and H2/CH4) remains challenging due to their enlarged pore structures under transmembrane pressure. In this work, a series of MOF membranes constructed from dual‐wing (DW) ligands including 2‐chloromethylbenzimidazole, 2‐methylbenzimidazole, 2‐ethylbenzimidazole, and 2‐phenylbenzimidazole are reported, to finely tune apertures and enhance molecule sieving property for small‐size gases. These DW‐ligands provide steric resistance in two directions perpendicular to the coordination bond, leading to a much finer pore structure. The introduction of the DW‐ligands endows the DW/ZIF‐8 membranes with an adjustable bottleneck door for regulating gas diffusion, blocking the transport of large‐sized CH4 while allowing small‐sized H2 and CO2 to permeate. The membranes show significantly improved molecular sieving property with a CO2/CH4 mixed‐gas selectivity of 58.6 in the case of 2‐chloromethylbenzimidazole23/ZIF‐8, which represents the highest value among the reported ZIF membranes. This membrane also exhibits exceptional separation performance for H2/CH4 and H2/C3H8 with separation factors of 430 and 34341, which are the highest values among the reported MOF membranes. This study presents a facile and efficient strategy for regulating MOF aperture and constructing high‐performance membranes for natural gas separation.

The effect of temperature on fouling in anaerobic membrane bioreactor: SMP- and EPS-membrane interactions

Biofouling is the main challenge in the operation of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs). Biofouling strongly depends on temperature; therefore, we hypothesize that the interactions and viscoelastic properties of soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) vary with temperature, consequently influencing membrane permeability. This study compares the performance of an AnMBR operated at a similar permeate flux at two temperatures. The transmembrane pressure (TMP) rose rapidly after 5 ± 2 days at 25 °C but only after 18 ± 2 days at 35 °C, although the reactor's biological performance was similar at both temperatures, in terms of the efficiency of dissolved organic carbon removal and biogas composition, which were obtained by changing the hydraulic retention time. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), a higher biofilm amount was detected at 25 °C than at 35 °C, while quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) showed a more adhesive, but less viscous and elastic EPS layer. In situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) of an ultra-filtration membrane, fed with the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) at the two temperatures, revealed that while a higher rate of TMP increase was obtained at 25 °C, the attachment of biomass from MLSS was markedly less. Increased EPS adhesion to the membrane can accelerate TMP increase during the operation of both the AnMBR and the OCT filtration cell. EPS's reduced viscoelasticity at 25 °C suggests reduced floc integrity and possible increased EPS penetration into the membrane pores. Analysis of the structures of the microbial communities constituting the AnMBR flocs and membrane biofilms reveals temperature's effects on microbial richness, diversity, and abundance, which likely influence the observed EPS properties and consequent AnMBR fouling.

Green nanoparticles blending with polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration membrane for antifouling oily wastewater treatment

This work prepares novel polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membranes by incorporating eggplant waste (EGW) as eco-friendly green nanoparticles (NPs) with PAN membranes to enhance the antifouling of PAN membranes to separate oil from oily wastewater (OWW). The modified PAN membranes are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and measurements of the contact angle, porosity, and mechanical properties. The effect of EGW NPs content on membrane properties and morphology, its entire performance, and its antifouling characteristics is investigated. The performance of the PAN-EGW membranes is evaluated by pure water flux and oil rejection. The PAN membrane incorporated with 0.1 wt% EGW NPs enhances a pure water flux to 204.71 L/m2 h, exceeding that of the pristine PAN membrane (136.51 L/m2 h). This can be attributed to the low contact angle (39.66◦), high surface membrane porosity (91%), and good tensile strength (8.2 MPa) for PAN-EGW membranes compared to the contact angle (68.56◦), surface membrane porosity (69%), and tensile strength (5.1 MPa) for the pristine PAN membrane. Another significant improvement noticed is the excellent oil rejection by the modified membranes (about 99.95%, 95.50%, and 90.00% at oil concentrations of 1000, 100, and 10 ppm, respectively, and a transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 2 bar); treated-wastewater oil content that complies with the World Health Organization (WHO) environmental discharge standards (< 5 ppm) is achieved. Also, the antifouling performance is improved; a higher flux recovery ratio (FRR) is obtained (about 94.43%). In addition, the oil separation efficiency remains stable with a minor decrease in permeate flux after four cycles. This study demonstrates that the novel PAN-EGW membranes have great promise and potential for purifying OWW, particularly at low oil concentrations (10 ppm) compared to pristine PAN membranes, attributable to their high separation efficiency, oil-fouling resistance, and excellent environmental durability.

Development of a new modeling framework to describe sterile filtration of mRNA-Lipid nanoparticles

Sterile filtration is one of the critical steps in the production of lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based biotherapeutics. However, LNP fouling can limit the overall capacity of the sterilizing-grade filter. Effective design and control of this unit operation enables a robust manufacturing process. The objective of this study was to examine the sterile filtration of mRNA-LNP through the dual-layer Sartopore 2 XLG membrane during both constant flux and constant transmembrane pressure (TMP) filtration experiments. The complete pore blockage model effectively described the fouling behavior at constant TMP, with the rate of pore blockage decreasing with increasing TMP. However, a novel modification of the complete pore blockage model was needed to describe the fouling behavior during constant flux operation, with the rate of pore blockage found to be a function of both the instantaneous TMP and the TMP gradient. This new model successfully describes the TMP profiles during constant flux operation at multiple fluxes and the flux profiles during constant TMP operation at multiple TMPs, all using the same model parameters. These findings establish a foundational framework that mathematically describes the fouling behavior of mRNA-LNP and can be used to design and optimize sterile filtration processes for this class of biotherapeutic.

Enhancing membrane bioreactors for dairy effluent treatment with a mixed mobile bed application.

This study examines the impact of incorporating a mobile bed into a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system on the treatment efficiency of dairy industry effluents. Initially, a conventional MBR system was operated for 60 days, followed by a modification that included a support material and ran for another 60 days under identical conditions. Performance was evaluated based on the removal efficiencies for soluble chemical oxygen demand (CODs), phenolic compounds, and oils and greases (OG), alongside measurements of solid content, dissolved oxygen, temperature, mixed liquor pH, and transmembrane pressure (TMP). The introduction of the mobile bed led to an increase in removal efficiencies for COD and phenolic compounds from 94.4 and 92.7% to 98 and 94.4%, respectively, marking statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05), while OG removal remained the same in both strategies (87.7%) (p > 0.05). Moreover, the modified system showed a more stable TMP profile, reducing the need for cleaning interventions compared to the conventional system, which experienced a notable TMP increase requiring cleaning at a 0.6 bar threshold. The findings suggest that integrating a mobile bed into MBR systems significantly enhances the treatment of dairy effluents, presenting an interesting solution for the upgrade of this type of system.

Predictive modeling and insight into protein fouling in microfiltration and ultrafiltration through one-dimensional convolutional models

Membrane fouling, a critical issue in membrane performance associated with proteins, is often difficult to analyze due to limited knowledge of contamination scenarios. This study uses a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (ODCNN) to examine the complex relationships among membrane properties, protein characteristics, and operational parameters, aiming to elucidate the dynamics of protein-related contamination. To improve the predictive performance of the deep learning model, we propose a novel strategy that learns numerical and categorical features in sequence. Compared with the other seven conventional models, our results reveal that the ODCNN model shows the best performance, which achieves impressive coefficients of determination, reaching 0.833 for flux and 0.723 for protein rejection, indicating the model’s robustness even when dealing with incomplete information on membrane fouling. To mitigate the issue of insufficient data, we applied the Synthetic Minority Over-Sampling Technique to increase the dataset’s diversity, validating this approach with experimental evidence. To improve the interpretability of the model, we used the Shapley Additive exPlanations method to assess the contribution of various features, which revealed that membrane pore size, protein concentration, transmembrane pressure, and crossflow velocity are key factors influencing both flux and protein retention. We also analyzed the causes and assessed the degree of contamination according to the degree of their influence. By leveraging machine learning techniques to analyze and predict membrane filtration performance, particularly concerning protein fouling, this study demonstrates significant potential for practical applications in environments with limited information. This innovative approach is poised to contribute to ongoing advancements in membrane filtration technology and offers a promising pathway for enhancing the understanding and management of membrane fouling.

Construction of anti-fouling ceramic tubular membranes with corrugated inner surfaces using DLP 3D printing

The challenge of membrane fouling persistently hinders the advancement of membrane technology. The construction of patterned membrane surfaces is anticipated to mitigate the effects of membrane fouling significantly. In this study, ceramic microfiltration membranes with corrugated patterns were fabricated by 3D printing combined with the dip-coating process. To assess the impact of surface patterning on ceramic membrane performance, we initially compared the pore size and pure water flux between straight and corrugated membrane tubes. Both configurations exhibited similar parameters: a support pore size of approximately 1 μm, a membrane layer pore size of about 110 nm, and a pure water permeance of around 950 L m−2 h−1·bar−1. The corrugated ceramic membranes demonstrated superior anti-fouling properties compared to their straight counterparts during the filtration of nanoparticle suspensions, oil-in-water emulsions, and bacterial suspensions. Specifically, under a nanoparticle suspension concentration of 2000 ppm, a transmembrane pressure of 0.2 MPa, and a flow rate of 1.0 m s−1, the corrugated membrane achieved a stable flux of approximately 1.7 times greater than that of the straight membrane. Furthermore, we explored the effects of surface patterning on fluid dynamics through numerical simulations. The enhanced turbulence dissipation rate in the patterned membrane tubes suggests increased surface turbulence and an improved capacity to remove contaminants. This research offers novel insights into the development of ceramic membranes with enhanced anti-fouling capabilities for water treatment.

Application of hollow fiber membranes for producing an ultrafiltration permeate from colostrum whey enriched in bioactive compounds

Bovine colostrum whey, despite being a source of bioactive peptides and prebiotic oligosaccharides with dietary and nutraceutical applications, presents significant processing challenges due to its high viscosity, making hollow fiber membranes, with their superior ability to control membrane fouling, well-suited for handling such fluids. The objective of this work was to determine optimal ultrafiltration conditions of a 10 kDa hollow fiber membrane to increase efficiency (i.e., permeate flux), selectively retain whey proteins, and facilitate the permeation of peptides (< 10,000 Da) and oligosaccharides (∼600 Da) from bovine colostrum whey. The impact of feed flow rate (3, 6, 9 L min-1) and transmembrane pressure (1, 2, 3 bar) were evaluated on permeate flux, protein retention, and non-protein nitrogen permeation. Higher permeate fluxes were observed at higher feed flows and moderate transmembrane pressure, demonstrating the ability of turbulence to disrupt the concentration polarization layer at the membrane surface and decrease fouling, as exhibited in the resistance analyses. Higher feed flow significantly increased the cumulative permeate flux during colostrum whey concentration (64.6 ± 0.1 L h-1m-2 at 9 L min-1 vs. 12.5 ± 5.9 L h-1m-2 at 3 L min-1, at continuous diafiltration mode and 2 bar), with continuous diafiltration experiments yielding similar permeate fluxes to the ones achieved in discontinuous mode. Processing scale at 12.7 L (2 bar, 9 L min-1, and continuous diafiltration) enabled 97% protein retention and 95% peptide and oligosaccharide permeation, producing a permeate with 1.3 g L-1 peptide and 0.42 g L-1 oligosaccharide. The results of this study highlight the impact of key ultrafiltration conditions of bovine colostrum whey using a hollow fiber membrane for the effective recovery of peptides and oligosaccharides for subsequent evaluation of their biological properties and commercial applications.

Enhancing CO2 transport with plasma-functionalized ionic liquid membranes

The ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate treated with radiofrequency plasma is proposed for functionalization and immobilization on polyethersulfone supports to form supported ionic liquid membranes for CO2 separation. The effects of treatment time and transmembrane pressure difference on CO2 permeance were evaluated. The best gas permeation performance was obtained with a treatment time of 10 min and the transmembrane pressure difference was 0.25 MPa. Characterization of the materials by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrates that the IL is grafted with carboxyl groups and deprotonated through plasma treatment. A preliminary mechanism for the plasma treatment and facilitated transport of CO2 has been proposed on this basis.

Coke oven wastewater treatment using polymeric and ceramic membranes.

This research is aimed to investigate the efficacy of membrane separation technology in treating coke oven wastewater (COW). A comparative study was conducted using three types of membranes: commercial polymeric (CP) membrane, commercial ceramic (CC) membrane, and synthesized ceramic (SC) membrane. The potential of the SC membrane in COW treatment was assessed in comparison to the CC membrane, which had a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 1 Kilo-Dalton. The experiments were conducted under various trans-membrane pressure (TMP) conditions ranging from 1 to 4bar. Additionally, the effect of the CP membrane on COW treatment was examined at TMP levels ranging from 5 to 25bar. The research findings revealed that the SC membrane exhibited promising results in terms of permeability and flux compared to the CC membrane. Also, a significant reduction was observed in various water parameters such as TSS decreased by 89.74%, chlorides by 8.24%, nitrogen by 10%, and hardness by 22%. Moreover, the study was carried out by implementing an anti-fouling mechanism to mitigate fouling effects on membrane performance.

#2107 Therapeutic apheresis for the management of lipid disorders: a case series

Abstract Background and Aims Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is defined as the plasmatic concentration of triglycerides above 150 mg/dl. With a current prevalence ranging from 15% to 20% in clinical practice, it's a prevalent condition that´s increasing alongside other cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, obesity and hypertension. In most patients HTG is asymptomatic, except in certain circumstances such as hereditary HTG, which can present with skin lesions such as eruptive xanthomas and xanthelasmas. Another exception is severe HTG, which can manifest with pancreatitis. Pharmacological treatment for HTG is typically initiated when serum triglyceride levels exceed 885 mg/dl or when patients with a previous episode of pancreatitis. However, in cases of severe HTG (triglycerides &amp;gt; 1000 mg/dl), conventional pharmacological therapies become less effective. Therefore, alternative therapeutic interventions, such as apheresis, become increasingly relevant for the management of severe HTG. Current guidelines from the American Society of Apheresis (ASFA) consider the use of therapeutic plasmapheresis in patients with acute pancreatitis secondary to severe hypertriglyceridemia as a category III/grade 1C recommendation and that in most cases it is an adjunct to medical treatment. Case series Below, we describe a series of cases in which we used this technique to control metabolic in our center during the last year. Case 1 A 30-year-old man with familial primary hypertriglyceridemia, schizophrenia, and sporadic drinking, was admitted from the Emergency Department with a 24h long severe abdominal pain with difficult management and vomiting. After complementary analysis, acute edematous pancreatitis without necrosis was diagnosed. Given the analytical values (Table 1), therapeutic plasmapheresis was decided, with a plasma volume of 3.5 liters calculated with the patient's weight and hematocrit and using albumin as the replacement fluid. As a complication, and despite administration of heparin, the filter required replacement halfway through the session due to problems with transmembrane pressure. Two sessions were completed on consecutive days until clinical and analytical control of triglycerides was achieved. Case 2 A 55-year-old man with a history of mild dyslipidemia controlled with diet and hypertension, was admitted from the Emergency Department with abdominal pain of 12 hours duration. After completing the study and diagnosis of acute pancreatitis of probable HTG origin, a plasmapheresis session was completed with a volume of 3 liters, albumin replacement fluid and heparinization during the technique, without complications, along with triglyceride control after the procedure maintaining medical treatment. Case 3 A 62-year-old man with a history of familial HTG, bronchial hyperreactivity, and occasional drinking, was admitted with abdominal pain of 72 hours duration accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Complementary studies confirmed acute severe pancreatitis with hemodynamic and respiratory failure. Given the analytical findings, a plasmapheresis session was performed with a volume of 2.5 liters per weight and hematocrit, with albumin replacement and heparin as per protocol. Subsequent HTG control with medical treatment was achieved without the need for further apheresis sessions. Conclusion Cardiovascular disease is responsible for the death of more than 4 million people in Europe each year, 2.2 million women (55%) and 1.8 million men (45%). Lipoprotein apheresis has preventive effects on the progression of atherosclerosis in addition to being an effective technique for reducing LDL, so its indication in groups of patients with severe and primarily familial hypercholesterolemia is well established. In our center, the recent start of the control of apheresis techniques from Nephrology in metabolic diseases, although still with limited experience and a limited number of patients, may constitute a new field of work in the specialty itself and collaboration with the different hospital specialties to improve the prevention, control, and treatment of patients with a high cardiovascular risk.

#336 Early detection of vascular access complication in pediatric CKD hemodialysis patients

Abstract Background and Aims Vascular access (VA) dysfunction is a major clinical complication in the hemodialysis (HD) population and has a direct effect on dialysis outcome. Where in patients undergoing HD, neointimal hyperplasia results in vascular stenosis and subsequent thrombosis, which lead to vascular access failure. Interleukin-10 (IL-10), hs CRP, and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF–α) are inflammatory markers which are proved to be involved in the process neointimal hyperplasia &amp; subsequent complications. We aimed to evaluate the value of these inflammatory markers in early detection of arterio-venous fistula (AVF) failure, in pediatric patients on regular HD, together with the clinical &amp; radiological diagnoses, for proper intervention for correcting AVF failure according to guidelines. Method It was an prospective cohort study, where we included 59 pediatric chronic kidney disease patients’ stage 5, on regular HD (CKD5d), who were following up regularly with us for 1 year. Patients with nonfunctioning AVFs due to complications as thrombus occluding fistula, infections, or large aneurysm, were excluded from the beginning of the study. Monitoring of VA by pre-cannulation physical examination was performed to detect the physical signs of dysfunction, at least once per month according to KDOQI guidelines. Venous pressure (VP) and trans-membrane pressure (TMP) were recorded at each HD session, to detect any abnormalities and to record the pressure changes with the appearance of any AVF complications. Doppler ultrasound (DUS) was performed routinely every 3 months for all HD patients, &amp; at the time of development AVF complications. Blood samples for measuring IL10, TNF, hs CRP were collected from the patients every 2 weeks for 12 months, prior to HD sessions, where we included the most recent samples prior to, and at the time of development complications, which were clinically and radiologically confirmed. Results The mean (±SD) age of our patients was 13.97 (±2.65) years, where we had 39 (56.5%) males, and 30 (43.5%) females, with a median (IQR) HD duration of 4.0 (5.0) years. On assessing the AVF complications, 33 patients (55.9%) had experienced complications, where thrombosis was the most common reported one (17 patients, 28.8%), followed by aneurysm formation in 14 patients (23.7%), while 6 patients (10%) had stenosed AVF, early VA failure in 2 patients (3.4%),1 patient (1.7%) had pseudoaneurysm, and another patient (1.7%) had perivascular hematoma. Mean serum levels of Hs-CRP, TNF-α, IL-10 were elevated at timing of early development of complication, in comparison to their baseline levels, meanwhile serum IL10, and TNF alpha were significantly higher among patients who developed AVF stenosis. The baseline hs-CRP had related positively with AVF diameter at the time of the development of the complications. Conclusion The inflammatory markers have no clinically applied role in early detection of AVF abnormalities, therefore, physical examination and DUS are deemed sufficient.

Optimization and predictive modeling of membrane based produced water treatment using machine learning models

Membrane technology has become a crucial solution for treating produced water, playing a vital role in resource recovery and environmental preservation. The use of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique such as Machine Learning (ML) has introduced an innovative approach to define and model these treatment procedures such as trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and total membrane resistance. The research focuses specifically on the utilization of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model to improve the precision and effectiveness of produced water treatment using membrane technology. Also, the study presented explores how the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) framework excels in predictive insights and process modeling, optimizing operational parameters in membrane-based treatment setups. Furthermore, integrating the Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model highlights its ability to enhance system performance, providing accurate predictions and better control in complex treatment processes. It presents comprehensive research of combining Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model with membrane technology for produced water treatment, emphasizing their potential to improve optimization techniques and modeling approaches, ultimately enhancing water treatment efficiency and sustainability. Both the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models achieved an impressive R-squared (R2) scores of 0.754, and 0.97 for Transmembrane Pressure (TMP), and 0.95 and 0.81 for Total Resistance prediction respectively.

In situ cleaning of foulants by gas scouring on the membrane-electrode in an electro-membrane bioreactor

Low-maintenance membrane cleaning is essential for the stable operation of membrane bioreactors. This work proposes an in-situ electrical-cleaning method using an electro-MBR. When the applied bias was transiently increased, the membrane flux recovered rapidly because of the scouring effect from gas evolution reactions. The exfoliation of the cake layer induced by gas scouring played a major role in mitigating membrane fouling, recovering the transmembrane pressure (TMP) by 88.6 % under optimal conditions. Membrane modules did not require replacement during the operation period due to the efficacy of electrical cleaning, with the TMP varying between 37.5 % and 62.5 % of the ultimate pressure requiring change of the membrane modules. Despite the increase in power consumption of 0.66 Wh·m−3 due to the additional applied bias, there was no need for chemical additives or manual maintenance. Therefore, the electrical cleaning method enhanced the service life and reduced the maintenance costs of the electro-MBR.