A desalination system that can comprise an inlet, an optional preheating stage, multiple evaporation chambers and optional demisters, product condensers, a waste outlet, one or more product outlets, a nested configuration that facilitates heat transfer and recovery and a control system. The control system can permit operation of the purification system continuously with minimal user intervention or cleaning. The desalination system can operate with any number of pre-treatment methods for descaling, and with degassing systems to eliminate or reduce hydrocarbons and dissolved gases. The system is capable of removing, from a contaminated water sample, a plurality of contaminant types including microbiological contaminants, radiological contaminants, metals, and salts.

A biochar-derived adsorbent preferably from Sargassum boveanum, macroalgae can be used for removing phenolic compounds, such as 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,4-dimethylphenol, from aqueous solutions. The carbonization can improve the removal capability of the macroalgae adsorbent for such phenolic compounds with removal efficiencies of 60% or more from high salinity seawater and 100% from distilled water. The adsorption may occur through a mixed mechanism dominated by physisorption following pseudo second-order kinetics. The adsorption of the phenolic molecules may be spontaneous, endothermic and thermodynamically favorable.

A liquid reagent composition for detecting phenol or phenol derivatives includes a reagent capable of generating a stained product by forming a bond with phenol, an oxidant compound or mixture of oxidant compounds, a basic compound or mixture of basic compounds. The ratio of [stained reagent]:[oxidant compound] is 1:2 to 50:1, having a pH greater than 7. Also disclosed is a kit for the use of the composition and liquid-phase method for analysing a fluid potentially containing phenol or a phenol derivatives.

A method and apparatus break down organic materials, typically contaminants, through oxidation. The method for the treatment of a volume of material, provides: a) introducing at least two electrodes into a location, the location containing the volume of material and the volume of material containing one or more species for treatment; b) providing connections between a voltage source and the at least two electrodes; c) applying a voltage of a first polarity to the connections for a first period of time, under the control of a voltage controller; d) applying a voltage of a second, reversed, polarity to the connections for a second period of time, under the control of the voltage controller; e) repeating steps c) and d) a plurality of times; preferably with steps c), d) and e) promoting oxidation of one or more of the one or more species for treatment.

The invention relates to a material consisting of hard fibers on which nanoparticles of metals or metal oxides, preferably period IV transition metal oxides, are deposited, using different techniques, said material being used in the degradation and removal of contaminants found in liquid matrices. The invention also relates to a method for the in situ synthesis thereof.

A biochar-derived adsorbent preferably from Sargassum boveanum, macroalgae can be used for removing phenolic compounds, such as 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,4-dimethylphenol, from aqueous solutions. The carbonization can improve the removal capability of the macroalgae adsorbent for such phenolic compounds with removal efficiencies of 60% or more from high salinity seawater and 100% from distilled water. The adsorption may occur through a mixed mechanism dominated by physisorption following pseudo second-order kinetics. The adsorption of the phenolic molecules may be spontaneous, endothermic and thermodynamically favorable.

A method for producing a nanocomposite sorbent comprising carbon nanotube-grafted acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymer which involves copolymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide in the presence of an aqueous dispersion of carbon nanotubes. The method yields a nanocomposite sorbent material having a reversible adsorption capacity phenol of 5 to 2500 μg of phenol per mg of nanocomposite sorbent. Also disclosed is a method for removing organic pollutants from water using the nanocomposite sorbent.

A system for treatment of a polluted effluent, includes an outer chamber configured to treat the polluted effluent in mixture with a purification slurry including particles of one or more catalysts and/or organoclays, or a mixture thereof. The outer chamber includes (i) a stirring unit consisting of an engine and a stirrer, configured to mix the polluted effluent and the purification slurry to prevent the particles from sinking without causing a turbulence, (ii) a membrane located at the top of the outer chamber through which a treated effluent passes, while preventing the particles of one or more catalysts and/or organoclays from exiting the outer chamber together with the treated effluent, (iii) a membrane cleaning system configured to remove and collect the particles of one or more catalysts and/or organoclays accumulated on the membrane, and re-introducing the particles back to the bottom of the outer chamber.

A method of remediating groundwater by injection a first aqueous solution and then a second aqueous solution into a well situated within the area of the groundwater to be remediated. The first aqueous solution comprises an iron ligand while the second aqueous solution comprises an oxidizing agent. It is envisioned that the ppm ratio of the iron ligand to oxidizing agent ranges from about 0.0005 to about 0.1.

A process for treating sour water includes combining the sour water with an alkali or alkaline metal hydroxide to produce a sour water mixture, the sour water comprising sulfides, passing an electric current through the sour water mixture, where passing the electric current through the sour water mixture causes at least a portion of the sulfides to react to produce a treated sour water comprising sulfates and having a pH of 7.1 to 9.8, saturating the at least a portion of the sulfates in an aqueous sulfate solution, and separating at least a portion of saturated sulfates from a saturated aqueous sulfate solution.