An ambient water condenser system is described having a condensation chamber which at least partially contains or surrounds a fluid reservoir which contains a volume or mass of an aqueous hygroscopic solution for condensing water from ambient air and a distillation process for extracting the water from the solution. The fluid reservoir has a heat source, a lower porous hydrophobic membrane, and an upper porous hydrophobic membrane. The heat source causes the hygroscopic solution near the top of reservoir to have a higher temperature which causes it to have a higher water vapor pressure, whereby the water vapor passing through the upper porous hydrophobic membrane and into the condensation chamber condenses into liquid water.

A separation system includes first and second separation parts each having a separation membrane and provided with a fluid supply port, a permeate fluid exhaust port, and a non-permeate fluid exhaust port, an intermediate connecting part for connecting the permeate fluid exhaust port of the first separation part and the fluid supply port of the second separation part, a supply pipe connected to the fluid supply port of the first separation part, in which a mixed fluid flows at a pressure higher than an atmospheric pressure, and a pressure reducing part connected to the permeate fluid exhaust port of the second separation part, for reducing a pressure inside the permeate fluid exhaust port to a pressure lower than the atmospheric pressure. A pressure inside the intermediate connecting part is lower than a pressure inside the supply pipe and not lower than the atmospheric pressure.

A water filtration system with power generating capability includes a membrane that receives relatively hot water on a dirty side, purifies the hot water, and transmits it to a clean side having relatively cold purified water. The system further includes at least one thermoelectric element coupled to the membrane that absorbs thermal energy from the dirty side and emits thermal energy into the clean side to generate electrical power. The system further includes at least one conductor electrically coupled to the at least one thermoelectric element that channels generated electrical power away from the at least one thermoelectric element.

A membrane module includes a housing. The housing includes a housing, comprising: a first plurality of porous hollow fiber membranes, and a second plurality of porous hollow fiber membranes different from the first plurality of porous hollow fiber membranes. The first plurality of porous hollow fiber membranes has a first length, and the second plurality of porous hollow fiber membranes has a second length that is at least 1.1 times greater than the first length. The membrane module can be used in separation methods, such as membrane distillation methods.

A membrane distillation apparatus includes a housing and an impeller. The housing includes a hot medium compartment, a cold medium compartment, an air gap compartment, a membrane, and a thermally conductive plate. The hot medium compartment includes a hot medium inlet configured to receive a hot medium stream including water. The cold medium compartment includes a cold medium inlet configured to receive a cold medium stream. The membrane defines pores that are sized to allow water vapor originating from the hot medium stream to pass from the hot medium compartment through the membrane to the air gap compartment. The thermally conductive plate and the cold medium stream are cooperatively configured to condense the water vapor from the hot medium stream. The air gap compartment is substantially filled with air and includes a permeate outlet configured to discharge the condensed water vapor. The impeller is disposed within the air gap compartment.

A process for continuous purification of high-purity trimethylaluminum is provided. The process includes preparing a membrane separator, which is placed vertically for use, and arranging a condenser tube inside of the membrane separator and a heating tube outside of the membrane separator, and a disperser at the top of the membrane separator for dispersing a liquid. The liquid naturally flows down along the inner wall of the heating tube by gravity to form a membrane. The process further includes concentrating liquid components having a low boiling point which are collected by the condenser at different stages and concentrating liquid components having a high boiling point which are collected by the heating wall.

A membrane for membrane distillation processing includes a heating element configured to generate heat when an electrical current is applied to the heating element; a polymeric matrix having pores that allow a vapor to pass through, but not a liquid; and electrical contacts electrically connected to the heating element. The entire heating element is covered by an insulating material to prevent the heating element to directly interact with the liquid processed by the membrane.

The hybrid desalination system is a desalination system for seawater which uses both filtering and treatment from a reverse osmosis filter system as well as evaporative distillation for the production of potable water. The hybrid desalination system includes a recovery system, which may be a reverse osmosis system, a forward osmosis system, or a combination thereof, for at least partially desalinating a volume of saltwater and outputting a treated fluid. A boiler is in fluid communication with the recovery system for receiving the treated fluid and producing pure water by evaporative desalination. The boiler includes an internal heating coil for passing a heated working fluid therethrough. A collection tank is in communication with to the boiler for receiving the pure water. At least one solar parabolic trough is in fluid communication with the internal heating coil of the boiler for heating the heated working fluid.

A system may be configured to use heat energy to produce power and potable water. The system may include an organic rankine cycle (ORC) subsystem configured to receive heat energy from one or more sources and convert that heat energy into usable power. The system may also include an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) subsystem configured to receive heat energy from the ORC subsystem and use the heat energy to convert impure water into potable water.

A water purifier includes a hot water tank for receiving and heating received water by induction heating, a water outlet portion that is at least partially exposed to an outside of the water purifier for discharging hot water, a hot water line that is connected to the water outlet portion to communicate the hot water from the hot water tank to the water outlet portion, a hot water outlet valve that is located at the hot water line and that opens or closes the hot water line based on a control command, a connector that includes a hot water inlet connected to a water outlet pipe of the hot water tank and a hot water outlet connected to the hot water line, and a temperature sensor that is connected to the connector and that is configured to measure a temperature of the hot water that passes through the connector.