Sorbent-filled hollow fibers for hemopurification.

Filled hollow fibers were prepared and evaluated for application in hemosorption. Powdered activated carbon, urease-carbon, and macroporous ion exchange resins were used as fillers in highly permeable cellulose acetate hollow fibers. The carbon-filled hollow fibers had better mass transfer properties than encapsulated carbon in solid form. Zirconium phosphate and 2 synthetic zeolites were tested for ammonium ion adsorption from buffered saline and Ringer's salt solutions. Synthetic zeolites were found to have higher specificity and capacity for ammonium ion adsorption than zirconium phosphate. Projections are that hemosorption devices utilizing urease, carbon, and zeolites could remove all nitrogenous waste metabolites currently being treated only by dialysis. Oxystarch and oxystarch derivatives were tested for direct urea adsorption and were found unsuitable for this application.