ABSTRACT
Hollow œber dialyzers, that is, artiœcial kidney systems, are widely used in the therapy of hemodialysis, which is a method for removing waste products such as creatinine and urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure. In this dialyzer, a bundle of hollow œbers of ultraœltration membranes are used so as to remove metabolic end products from the human body. Mass diffusion and ultraœltration processes through such membranes are most commonly described by the Kedem-Katchalsky model (1958), which estimates the volume and solute “ows of nonelectrolyte solutions across membranes. In this 1D model, the total solute “ux vector perpendicular to the membranes is evaluated in consideration of the solute diffusion rate through the membranes due to the difference of the concentration as well as the ultraœltration “ow induced by the transmembrane pressure and osmotic pressure.
