Diffusion apparatus for separating and/or combining liquid or gaseous materials, e.g. replacing carbon dioxide in fermentation media by oxygen, based on polymer-coated hollow bodies of sintered metal

摘要

Diffusion apparatus, for removing a first liquid or gaseous material (M1) from a second liquid or gaseous material (M2) and/or introducing (M1) into (M2), comprises a housing (1) with inlets (2, 4) and/or outlet (3, 5) for (M1) and (M2) and an arrangement of hollow bodies (6) of sintered metal, having a polymer coating selectively permeable to (M1) and (M2). Independent claims are also included for producing the polymer-coated sintered metal hollow body arrangement, involving: (a) applying the polymer coating to the sintered metal hollow body arrangement by a wet chemical method; or (b) applying the polymer coating to the sintered metal hollow body arrangement by electrostatic powder spraying, followed by melting the polymer coating by heating.