the hollow fiber the shell side also known as the external side is defined in part by the external surface of the hollow fiber the ink travels through the shell or external side while the vacuum or vacuum and sweep gas is applied to the lumen or internal side thereby entrained gases from the ink pass from the shell side through the membrane to the lumen side the contactor 14 is made of components that are inert to or non reactive with the ink or other liquid preferably these components are plastic but metals may be used the membrane is preferably a semi permeable gas selective heterogeneous integrally asymmetric and liquid impermeable membrane the membrane has a permeability of less than 100 barrers 10 u2212 8 standard cm 3 cm sec cm 2 cm hg the membrane preferably has an active surface area of 0 1 to 20 meters 2 the membrane is preferably a skinned membrane and the skin is on the shell side the membrane is preferably a single layer membrane e g not a composite or multi layered membrane and is made from a homopolymer of polymethylpentene for example see u s pat no 4 664 681 incorporated herein by reference referring to fig2 ink 22 enters contactor 14 via ink inlet 24 of core tube 26 core tube 26 includes a perforated 28 area immediately ahead of block 30 ink 22 travels through the inlet 24 of core tube 26 and.