3M Liqui-Cel | 3M Australia

Advanced Dissolved Gas Control

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors provide efficient dissolved gas control in a compact design. Capable of adding gases to or removing dissolved gases and bubbles from compatible liquid streams, these membrane contactors utilise hollow fibre membrane technology that may help facilities around the world improve operating efficiency, performance and protect product quality. They have displaced vacuum towers, forced draft deaerators, and oxygen scavengers around the world for over 20 years. 3M supports your projects with deep technical support and service by working collaboratively to ensure solutions meet requirements and expectations.

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Videos

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Product Categories

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ EXF Series Membrane Contactors

Our 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ EXF Series Membrane Contactors utilise a microporous hollow fibre membrane inside a device designed to enhance flow dynamics and take full advantage of the large membrane surface area for efficiently adding or stripping dissolved gases. With proper system design, ultra-low levels of dissolved gas can be achieved.
3M™ Liqui-Cel™ SP Series Membrane Contactors

Commonly used to remove bubbles and degas liquids with low surface tensions, our 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ SP Series membrane degassers use a non-porous, gas-permeable hollow fibre. This membrane-based technology makes it possible to degas and debubble compatible solutions containing surfactants or organic solvents.
3M™ Liqui-Cel™ MM Series Membrane Contactors

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ MM Series Membrane Contactors are our smallest degassing (debubbling) devices. These devices pack a high membrane surface area into a minimal footprint. Used primarily in laboratory and analytical applications, degassing with these small point of use membrane degassers/debubblers may help (a) improve measurement reliability, (b) reduce rework and (c) improve product quality.

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Technology Serves Many Industries

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors are used for degassing liquids around the world. They are widely used for removing oxygen and carbon dioxide from water. They have displaced the vacuum tower, forced draft deaerator, and oxygen scavengers around the world for over 20 years.

Beverage Production

Capable of both adding and removing dissolved gases to liquids, 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors provide a versatile, compact, in-line solution that delivers rapid deoxygenation, decarbonation, carbonation, or nitrogenation of liquids to precise concentration levels. Alcohol adjustment with low impact on flavour components and aroma is also possible in some applications.

Applying this advanced membrane-based science in your production processes can help increase operating efficiency while maintaining or improving process consistency and stability.
Power & Steam Generation

Power plants generating steam balance cost, efficiency and reliability with environmental considerations while supplying energy to the world. Degassing water systems plays a critical role in the process that generates the energy used to heat and cool homes and businesses while protecting vital capital equipment. 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors remove dissolved O₂, CO₂, and volatile gases to industry-leading levels at low temperature and without requiring steam. With their chemical-free membrane technology, Liqui-Cel membrane contactors can help enhance the performance of water treatment systems and reduce the risk of downtime. They offer a cost-effective, easy-to-use and efficient degassing solution for power plants and other plants with boiler water systems for producing steam.
Oil & Gas

3M brings its proven reliability and performance to refineries, offshore platforms, FPSOs (Floating production storage and offloading) and other areas in the Oil & Gas industry. Oil & Gas customers are quickly learning about and adopting membrane gas transfer technology to take advantage of the same benefits that other industries have been realising for years. Common applications include boiler feedwater deoxygenation, CO₂ removal in ion exchange, and water flooding in offshore environments.
Ink Jet Printing, Inks & Coatings

Removing gasses and bubbles from inks and other compatible fluids can improve yields, prevent defects and enhance operational performance. Inkjet printers often degas inks to reduce imperfections in print quality and prevent nozzle misfires or jet-outs.

3M™ Liqui-Cel™ SP Series Membrane Contactors are widely used for removing bubbles and dissolved gases from inks, coatings and other fluids with low surface tensions where gasses in production lines negatively impact the process.

Pharmaceutical

The pharmaceutical industry requires a continuous source of purified water with a conductivity of < 1.3 µS/cm. To achieve this level of purity, RO followed by EDI technology is commonly employed. However, the presence of free CO₂ may reduce EDI efficiency.

Historically, chemical dosing with NaOH or forced draft technology was used to reduce the CO₂ load. Today, 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors can be used as a compact, chemical-free alternative that operates in closed systems which may help reduce the risk of contaminants from entering the purified water stream.
Laboratory & Analytical

Dissolved gases can interfere with instrument readings and could alter the composition of solutions for analysis. With 3M™ Liqui-Cel™ Membrane Contactors, water used in laboratory settings can be effectively degassed, improving measurement reliability and overall lab efficiency. Optical sensors in quality control systems can also read bubbles as defects resulting in product waste.

The small footprint of MM Series membrane contactors makes it easy to integrate them into analytical devices or laboratory DI water supply systems. EXF and SP series can be used for larger flow rates or compatible solutions with low surface tensions containing surfactants, organics or other solvents.