Glycine is an organic compound that can be used in the making of a synthetic acid that obviates all the drawbacks of strong acids such as hydrochloric acid. The new compound is made by dissolving glycine in water, in a weight ratio of approximately 1:1 to 1:1.5. The solution is mixed until the glycine is essentially fully dissolved in the water. Once dissolution is complete, hydrogen chloride gas is dissolved in the solution to produce the new compound, which can be referred to as hydrogen glycine. Also disclosed is a method for adjusting the pH of a fluid, the method comprising adding an effective amount of a solution to the fluid for adjusting the pH thereof to a desired level, wherein the solution is prepared by mixing glycine in water to form a glycine solution; and adding hydrogen chloride to the glycine solution.

A high salinity water purification system and process, including a forward osmosis system and a reverse osmosis or nanofiltration system. A solids membrane separation system removes solids from the influent water being processed. A pervaporation (PV) system eliminates liquid impurities from the influent water being processed.

A technique to desalinate seawater using melanin-concentrated solar energy wherein the melanin is extracted from a local isolate Aspergillus niger. A device consists of two fixed upper and lower containers with same volume of seawater in both, with or without melanin powder dissolved in the lower container at rate of 0.17 gm of melanin powder per 10 ml of water. The device is put outdoors under direct sunlight during daytime, circular water droplets free of salt starts to appear on the external bottom of upper container. Water droplets are collected by a sterile glass rod, pH of droplets water is about 7.1. Yield of fresh water is approximately 10 ml droplets water from 600 ml seawater per hour; after 24 hours day and night incubation, seawater in the upper container dries out leaving salt crystals. Yield of 1000 m3 seawater is 100 m3 freshwater (1000 L seawater yield 100 L freshwater).

A system and method for model predictive control of a process for removing dissolved oxygen (DO) from seawater to produce treated seawater having less than a prescribed DO concentration and a prescribed pH is disclosed. The model predictive control system includes a machine learning (ML) module for calculating, based on the values of operational input parameters, a predicted DO concentration and a predicted pH of the treated seawater for a future point in time. An ML-based control module is configured to determine, based on the predicted DO concentration, predicted pH and the input parameters, settings for adjusting controllable operational input parameters that serve to change the DO concentration or pH of the treated seawater. The control system monitors DO and pH during operation to dynamically update the DO and pH predictions, and adaptively update system settings to produce treated seawater having less than the prescribed DO concentration and pH.

A method and apparatus for copper-catalyzed electrochemical water treatment are provided. The method comprises the steps of supplying an aqueous solution and electrochemically treating the aqueous solution in an electrochemical cell comprising an anode, a cathode, and the aqueous solution as an electrolyte, by applying an electric potential to said anode and said cathode, thereby producing purified water. The apparatus comprises an electrochemical cell comprising an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte, the electrolyte contacting the anode and the cathode; an inlet allowing the electrolyte in the electrochemical cell; and an outlet allowing purified water out of the electrochemical cell. In both cases, the electrolyte/aqueous solution comprises water to be treated, chloride ions in a concentration [Cl.sup.−] at least about 10 mM, and copper(II) and/or copper(I) ions in a total copper ions concentration, [CU.sup.2+] +[Cu.sup.+], of at least about 20 μM.

Methods are described for monitoring biofouling in a closed water system. For example, a method includes adding nitrate to water circulating in the closed water system, and detecting whether nitrite is present in the water after adding the nitrate. Another method includes introducing chlorite into water circulating in the closed water system, the detecting the amount of chlorite present in the water; and at least one of (i) comparing the detected amount of chlorite to an expected amount of chlorite; and (ii) observing whether the amount of chlorite in the water decreases over time.

Disclosed is a process for enriching silicate content in drinking water that includes separating raw water via reverse osmosis into a permeate comprising demineralised raw water and a retentate comprising mineral enriched raw water. The permeate is mixed with a water glass solution comprising sodium silicate and/or potassium silicate. An ion exchange process is used to reduce the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions in at least part of the mixture. At least part of the retentate is supplied to the mixture after reducing the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions to provide a silicate-enriched drinking water. Also disclosed is an apparatus for producing a drinking water enriched with silicate. The apparatus includes a reverse osmosis unit, a mixing unit, an ion exchanger, and a feed unit for feeding at least part of the retentate to the mixture after reducing the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions.

An apparatus for treating a stream of contaminated water having an elevated concentration of at least one of light metals, heavy metals, sulfates that includes at least one process fluid inlet communicating with a process conduit; at least one electrode reaction vessel in fluid communication with the process conduit, the reaction vessel having an interior chamber and at least one electrode positioned in the reaction chamber, the electrode powered by a alternating current source; and at least one magnetic field reaction vessel in fluid communication with the process conduit, the magnetic field reaction vessel having an outwardly oriented surface and an opposed inwardly oriented surface, the magnetic field reaction vessel having at least one magnet in contact with the inwardly oriented surface of the magnetic field reaction vessel.

Glycine is an organic compound that can be used in the making of a synthetic acid that obviates all the drawbacks of strong acids such as hydrochloric acid. The new compound is made by dissolving glycine in water, in a weight ratio of approximately 1:1 to 1:1.5. The solution is mixed until the glycine is essentially fully dissolved in the water. Once dissolution is complete, hydrogen chloride gas is dissolved in the solution to produce the new compound, which can be referred to as hydrogen glycine. Also disclosed is a method for adjusting the pH of a fluid, the method comprising adding an effective amount of a solution to the fluid for adjusting the pH thereof to a desired level, wherein the solution is prepared by mixing glycine in water to form a glycine solution; and adding hydrogen chloride to the glycine solution.

A method and system of providing seawater into a subterranean formation, including adding chloride salt having a metal cation to the seawater (having sulfate), precipitating sulfate salt (of the metal cation and sulfate), removing the sulfate salt as precipitated to give treated seawater having less sulfate than the seawater, and injecting the treated seawater into the subterranean formation.