A defect free semipermeable composite membrane having outstanding
integrity and high water permeability is provided. Said composite
membrane comprises an inside support layer to provide sufficient
mechanical strength, an outside barrier layer to provide selective
separation and a middle layer to provide both chemical and physical
binding between the support and the barrier layer. Two different methods
for making said defect free composite membrane are discovered. These
methods have been successfully used to produce high quality coatings and
defect free composite membranes, which are independent of chemical
composition and physical structure of said support. In the present
invention, the ultrasonic sonication is utilized to speed up the phase
inversion process of a membrane casting solution, and to produce a
composite membrane at a speed higher than that disclosed in the prior
art. Said defect free composite membranes have broad applications,
ranging from filtration of fruit juice, wine and milk to purification of
drinking water, municipal and industrial wastewater.