[Porous tarflen as a possible membrane material for membrane blood oxygenators. III. O2 and CO2 transport in the system modeling an artificial lung].

Diffusional examinations of tarflen porous barriers of home make and porous teflon membranes of American make as well as selected nonporous membranes were performed in a system: O2--barrier--water + CO2, in order to evaluate the influence of aqueous phase on O2 and CO2 transport rate through barriers listed above. It was found that the effectiveness of O2 and CO2 exchange through the porous barriers in the examined system is controlled by O2 transport through the boundary water layer in contradistinction to the nonporous membranes. The effect of reduction of O2 and CO2 transport through the porous barriers, caused by the aqueous phase was noted. The higher the water pressure on a barrier the larger the effect is. Considerable water permeability of porous barriers as compared to that of nonporous membranes was stated. The results of the performed examinations indicate the usefulness of porous tarflen materials as a membrane material in membrane oxygenators of blood.