A submerged offshore reverse osmosis desalination apparatus and method uses product water from the apparatus and an onshore cooler or heat exchanger provide or improve the cooling of a Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) system, power plant, data center, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system, or Rankine Cycle heat engine.

Methods and apparatus provide filtration for concentrating analytes, such as bacteria or exosomes, of a biological sample, such as blood or urine. The technology may employ membrane devices that implement one or more tangential flow filtration processes such as in stages. An example membrane device may typically include a membrane having sides and ends. The membrane may selectively permit constituent(s) of the sample to pass through while retaining other constituents at one side. An input chamber of the device may include an inlet near one end and an outlet near the other end, and that may permit a tangential flow of the sample along the first side surface, and a trans-membrane passing of constituent(s). An output chamber of the device may be configured at the second side surface to receive the passing constituents. Such devices may be provided in a kit to facilitate targeting of a desired biological analyte concentration.

A method of separating material, such as foam, sludge, oil or grease, at a fluid's surface, by applying acoustic pressure shock waves to the material and the fluid's surface such that acoustic pressure shock waves are propagated in liquid medium of the fluid and in gas medium above the fluid surface.

An apparatus and a method for producing carbon, oxygen and optionally nitrogen from treated flue gases are provided. The apparatus provides a thermo-dielectric-electric field that splits molecules of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into carbon and oxygen and nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen. The carbon is recovered in a variety of solid forms, and oxygen and nitrogen are recovered as gases.

The present invention relates to a method for the at least temporary retention of charged biologically active substances such as endotoxins, viruses, and proteins from liquids, and optional later release for better determination. The object is achieved by a method for the at least temporary separation and/or detection of charged biologically active substances in a liquid by means of electrosorption and/or electrofiltration, comprising the following steps: a. providing a polymer membrane with a flat and porous metal coating at least on a first side of the polymer membrane; b. providing a counterelectrode; c. applying a voltage between the metal coating of the polymer membrane and the counterelectrode; d. bringing the polymer membrane and the counterelectrode into contact with the liquid, with the contacting being performed such that the liquid generates at least one connection between the polymer membrane and the counterelectrode.

Membranes and filtration modules for producing a concentrated feed stream and a diluted feed stream during operation in a water purification or wastewater treatment system. Filtration modules are provided that include a semipermeable membrane having a first side and a second side, the first side configured to receive a first feed solution stream from a first feed solution source and the second side configured to receive a second feed solution stream from a second feed solution source. The semipermeable membrane may be configured to operate at a hydrostatic pressure on the second side of the membrane from about 1% to about 40% of the hydrostatic pressure on the first side of the membrane, and may in some cases exhibit a salt rejection of from about 60 percent to about 90 percent during operation.

Many hand-held diagnostics are limited in their functionality due to the challenging physics associated with small dimensional systems. An example of this is capillary forces in hydrophilic systems, such as the tight retention of liquid passing through a small pore filtration membrane, or capillary force driven microfluidics where, to keep liquid flowing the dimensions of the system become so small that the flow rates are too low to be useful, or the manufacturing of such devices becomes uneconomical. This disclosure details methods to ‘reset’ the capillary force condition to avoid the requirement of transient pressure spikes associated with the breakthrough pressure of small pore membranes, and avoid the necessity of extremely small microfluidic channels, which can be useful in applications such as filtration of whole blood to plasma using only suction pressure or passive capillary pressure.

A turbocharger includes a turbocharger housing having an impeller housing comprising a circular cross-section. A main nozzle is disposed within the turbocharger housing communicating a first portion of a fluid stream to a first volute. A first auxiliary channel and a first auxiliary nozzle communicating a second portion of the fluid stream to the first volute. The first auxiliary nozzle is downstream of the main nozzle. A second auxiliary channel and a second auxiliary nozzle communicate a third portion of the fluid stream to the first volute. The second auxiliary nozzle is downstream of the first auxiliary nozzle. A valve assembly is selectively coupling the first auxiliary channel to the first auxiliary nozzle and the second auxiliary channel to the second auxiliary nozzle.

Membranes and filtration modules for producing a concentrated feed stream and a diluted feed stream during operation in a water purification or wastewater treatment system. Filtration modules are provided that include a semipermeable membrane having a first side and a second side, the first side configured to receive a first feed solution stream from a first feed solution source and the second side configured to receive a second feed solution stream from a second feed solution source. The semipermeable membrane may be configured to operate at a hydrostatic pressure on the second side of the membrane from about 1% to about 40% of the hydrostatic pressure on the first side of the membrane, and may in some cases exhibit a salt rejection of from about 60 percent to about 90 percent during operation.

A filtration base for vacuum membrane filtration applications comprises a membrane bearing area on the upper side of the filtration base, which has a bearing structure and a supporting contour surrounding the bearing structure for a membrane filter placed in the membrane bearing area. The supporting contour has at least one notch which is in flow connection with the bottom side of the membrane bearing area and which is arranged such that it is adapted to be selectively covered by a membrane filter placed in the membrane bearing area.