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Tarabara group has approximately 1,000 sq. ft. of laboratory space. In addition to stationary workbenches, the laboratory has four mobile reconfigurable experimental stations. There are also four stationary fume hoods, glove box with solvent resistant windows, two cold rooms, and a biosafety cabinet.

Controlled temperature and humidity chamber is used to cast membranes by wet and vapor-induced phase inversion methods. Membranes are cast using micrometric casting knives mounted on the Elcometer automatic film applicator.

Membrane testing equipment includes:

• Four stand-alone crossflow filtration rigs:
  • NF/RO unit equipped with two high pressure SEPA CF II cells and currently used in a desalination project.
  • NF/UF/MF unit housed within a biosaftey cabinet for virus separation work. A modified version of Sterlitech CF042 cross-flow membrane filtration cell is a part of this system.
  • NF/UF/MF unit for experiments with ceramic membranes. The unit is currently used in a project on photocatalytic membrane reactors for virus removal and inactivation.
  • Rotating flow/membrane unit for oil-water separation.
• Sterlitech HP4750 high pressure normal flow stirred membrane filtration cell.
• A variety of dead-end micro- and ultrafiltration modules (Amicon 8010, 8200, 8400 stirred cells).

The group has following particle and surface characterization instruments:

• Brookhaven ZetaPALS apparatus for the determination of particle size distribution (for particles in the size range of 2 nm to 3 micron) and zeta-potential of particles ( for particles in size range of 2 nm to 30 micron)
• Malvern Mastersizer 2000 for particle size analysis of polydisperse suspensions and emulsions. This instrument also provides a limited capability for the measurement of fractal dimensions of particle aggregates.
• Brookhaven EKA electro-kinetic analyzer for the determination of zeta-potentials of macroscopic surfaces (e. g. clean and fouled membranes). The analyzer is equipped with rectangular cell and a clamp cell.

Environmental Engineering research laboratories. The Environmental Engineering research laboratories have the analytical capabilities to perform most environmental analyses. Capabilities include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, high-pressure liquid chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy, ion chromatography, most other forms of light spectroscopy (UV, visible, FTIR, fluorescence), and numerous specialty analyzers such as total organic carbon. Standard laboratory equipment including balances, centrifuges, vacuum and compressed air pumps, extraction equipment, refrigerators and freezers and a variety of meters are readily available.

Relevant facilities and equipment available at MSU. Based on the usage agreement between the PI and the NSF Center for Sensor Materials at MSU, the following microscopy and analytical instrumentation: (1) Hitachi S-4700II FE SEM and JEOL 840A SEM equipped with Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, (2) Dimension 3100 scanning probe microscope, and (3) TEM (JEOL 220 FS). An RMC 7 cryoultramicrotome is available at MSU Composite Materials and Structures Center Laboratory and will be used for the microstructural analysis of clean and fouled membranes. Other specialty laboratories available on campus include several state of the art mass spectrometers (including PerSeptive Biosystems Voyager STR and Elite MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers), an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy instrument. Machine shop and a glass shop are available.

Data acquisition and office computers. The Tarabara group utilizes a local area network in a Windows environment for data transfer and analysis. There are currently 9 laboratory PCs and 7 office PCs on the network.