Systems for utilizing the water content in fluid from a renal replacement therapy process
AssigneeAquaporin A/S
InventorsMarianne Eleonora Spanget Larsen, Peter Holme Jensen, Michael Padkjær Abildgren
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Abstract
The present invention relates to systems, methods and uses for recycling at least a part of water lost during various renal replacement therapy processes, e.g. in the preparation of a fresh dialysate solution or fresh reconstitution fluid for kidney disease dialysis and hemofiltration by utilizing water from the spent fluids. The system of the invention is useful in hemodialysis and in peritoneal dialysis as well as in hemofiltration for reuse of water from filtrates and spent fluids. In addition, the system of the invention is useful in the development of a renal assist device or artificial kidney.
Claims26
A system for recycling at least a part of the water content in waste fluid from a hemofiltration process resulting in a flux of water from said waste fluid into a supply of electrolyte replacement concentrate or into a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration, said system comprising a forward osmosis (FO) unit comprising a forward osmosis membrane comprising nanoporous water channels, said membrane having a feed side and a draw side wherein the feed side is in fluid communication with said waste fluid being the filtrate from a patient undergoing said hemofiltration, and wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a supply of said electrolyte concentrate or wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration.
A method for recycling at least a part of the water content in waste fluid from a hemofiltration process resulting in a flux of water from said waste fluid into a supply of electrolyte replacement concentrate or into a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration, the method comprising
- providing a system comprising a forward osmosis (FO) unit comprising a forward osmosis membrane comprising nanoporous water channels, said membrane having a feed side and a draw side wherein the feed side is in fluid communication with said waste fluid being the filtrate from a patient undergoing said hemofiltration, and wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a supply of said electrolyte concentrate or wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration;
- supplying to the system the waste fluid from a patient undergoing said hemofiltration to a feed side of a forward osmosis (FO) unit comprising a forward osmosis membrane comprising nanoporous water channels;
- extracting filtrate from a draw side of the membrane of the forward osmosis (FO) unit, wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a supply of said electrolyte concentrate or wherein the draw side is in fluid communication with a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration, thereby recycling at least a part of the water content in the waste fluid from the hemofiltration process.
A forward osmosis membrane comprising nanoporous water channels for use in a method of treating a patient undergoing a hemofiltration in the course of renal replacement therapy, wherein the membrane is part of a forward osmosis (FO) unit and has a feed side and a draw side, the feed side being in fluid communication with a waste fluid which is a filtrate from the patient and the draw side being in fluid communication with a supply of said electrolyte concentrate or a stream of concentrated blood resulting from the hemofiltration, so that a part of the water content in the waste fluid from the hemofiltration is recycled, resulting in a flux of water from the waste fluid into a supply of electrolyte replacement concentrate or into a stream of concentrated blood resulting from said hemofiltration.
An artificial kidney apparatus comprising
- a) an ultrafiltration unit for the removal of solutes from blood plasma from a patient needing such treatment resulting in a stream of diluted filtrate from said plasma and a stream of concentrated blood having lost water and solutes through the ultrafiltration;
- said apparatus further comprising
- b) a forward osmosis unit having an aquaporin containing membrane having a feed side and a draw side, the membrane being substantially impenetrable to solutes and essentially allowing only water to permeate, wherein the filtrate from said ultrafiltration unit is in fluid communication with the feed side and the concentrated blood is in fluid communication with the draw side resulting in a reuptake of water, but not solutes, from the filtrate to the blood allowing the blood to be reintroduced to the patients blood stream and the simultaneously volume reduced filtrate to be discarded, and
- c) means for pumping the streams of blood and filtrates as needed in said apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.