Facilitated oxygen transport in liquid membranes: review and new concepts

In this paper, an overview is given on membranes with oxygen facilitated tr ansport properties to enrich the oxygen content in air. Special emphasis is paid to recent developments of oxygen carrier systems and carrier containi ng membranes. Concepts leading to a structural evolution of supported liqui d membranes are discussed in view of ion as well as gas separation processe s. As a new concept, micro-encapsulated liquid membranes are introduced, in which a mobile carrier operates in the interior of liquid droplets that ar e encapsulated and dispersed in a solid polymer matrix and routes to prepar e the new membranes described. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights re served.