A humidifier for transferring water vapor from a first gas stream to a second gas stream in a fuel cell system has a stack of thin plates joined together at their edges by planar sealing surfaces, with water permeable membranes between the plates. Each plate defines a gas flow passage along its top and bottom surfaces, with an inlet and outlet defined along edges of the plate, and a flow field extending between the inlet and outlet openings. Inlet and outlet passages connect the inlet and outlet openings to the flow field, with the planar sealing surfaces including bridging portions extending across these passages. Support structures are provided throughout the flow field to support the membrane and diffusion medium layer(s). Each support structure comprises a porous material which is sufficiently porous to permit gas flow through the flow field.

A water purification system (1) includes a composite filter cartridge (100) that includes a pretreatment filter cartridge (110) and a filtration membrane assembly (120), and is provided with a raw water inlet (130), a pretreatment water outlet (140), a pressurizing pretreatment water inlet (150), a pure water outlet (160) and a condensed water outlet (170); a raw water inlet pipe (200) connected with the raw water inlet (130); a pure water outlet pipe (300) connected with the pure water outlet (160); a condensed water outlet pipe (400) connected with the condensed water outlet (170); a pretreatment water outlet pipe (500) connected with the pretreatment water outlet (140); a pressurizing pretreatment water inlet pipe (600) connected with the pressurizing pretreatment water inlet (150) and the pretreatment water outlet pipe (500) respectively; and a booster pump (900) disposed on the pretreatment water outlet pipe (500).

A method for treating water including intaking a first amount of water into a plurality of treatment blocks, treating the first amount of water, outputting aqueous treated water streams from each of the plurality of treatment blocks, separating the aqueous treated water streams from each of the plurality of treatment blocks into aqueous permeate streams and concentrate reject streams, monitoring each of the aqueous permeate streams, controlling the operation of at least one of the plurality of treatment blocks based on predefined water-characteristic tolerances that fall within a predetermined concentration range based on the different qualities of the aqueous permeate streams, combining the aqueous permeate streams of at least two of the plurality of treatment blocks based on the identified characteristics and the predefined water-characteristic tolerances, and outputting the product water stream and the at least one concentrate reject stream.

A method for treating water including intaking a first amount of water from a first source into a plurality of treatment blocks, treating the first amount of water, outputting aqueous treated water streams from each of the plurality of treatment blocks, separating the aqueous treated water streams from each of the plurality of treatment blocks into aqueous permeate streams and concentrate reject streams, monitoring each of the aqueous permeate streams, controlling the operation of at least one of the plurality of treatment blocks based on predefined water-characteristic tolerances that fall within a predetermined concentration range based on the different qualities of the aqueous permeate streams, outputting a product water stream into an injection water reservoir or blend point, the product water stream including the aqueous permeate stream, intaking a second amount of water from a second source, treating the second amount of water, and discharging the dischargeable water stream.

Process for reducing CO2 and membrane separation arrangement. A process/arrangement for reducing the CO2 content of a gas mixture using four membrane separation steps, two of the separation steps using glassy membrane and two using rubbery membrane. A first retentate is withdrawn from the first separation step at a first withdrawal pressure and temperature and is supplied to the second separation step, a second retentate is withdrawn from the second separation step at a second withdrawal pressure and temperature and is supplied to the third separation step, a third retentate is withdrawn from the third separation step at a third withdrawal pressure and temperature and is supplied to the fourth separation step, permeates of the separation steps using the glassy membrane are combined to form a first combined permeate stream, and permeates of the separation steps using the rubbery membrane are combined to form a second combined permeate stream.

A device for separating a gas, such as air, into components, includes a plurality of modules, each module having one or more polymeric membranes capable of gas separation. A set of valves, pipes, and manifolds together arrange the modules in one of two possible configurations. In a first configuration, the modules are arranged in parallel. In a second configuration, the modules are divided into two groups which are arranged in series. The device can be switched from parallel to series, or from series to parallel, simply by changing the positions of a small number of valves, typically three valves. The device can therefore produce gas either of higher purity, or moderate purity, depending on the settings of the valves.

An apparatus for treating water or liquids in general, including a reverse osmosis filtration device provided with at least one inlet associated with a line for supplying the liquid to be treated, at least one outlet of the permeate associated with a line for dispensing the treated liquid and at least one concentrate outlet associated with a line for discharging the waste. The particularity of the present invention resides in that it includes, downstream of the filtration device, at least one tank that forms inside it two adjacent chambers with a mutually variable volume, in which one chamber is connected to the delivery line while the other chamber is connected to the discharge line.

A treatment system for performing a treatment on a patient may include a treatment fluid preparation device having a pump connected by a fluid channel to a reservoir of a source fluid, the pump conveying the source fluid from the reservoir, through a filter, and combining the source fluid with a concentrate by pumping the source fluid with the concentrate to form a treatment fluid in a batch container. The treatment fluid preparation device may have a controller that controls a heater, the pump, and a memory. The controller starts the heater to warm the treatment fluid in the batch container at a time that is responsive to the treatment time stored in the memory. The controller also detects a pressure property of the filter to determine its integrity and outputs an indication of a failed batch if the pressure property indicates the integrity of the filter is insufficient.

Filter module and filter unit with an inlet for medium that is to be filtered, and with an outlet for the permeate, with at least one filter sheet, a first spacer adjacent to the media side and a second spacer adjacent to the permeate side, the spacers being designed with a draining action, and the first spacer being connected to an inlet and the second spacer to an outlet, wherein the at least one filter sheet forms a first filter unit together with the two adjacent spacers, the filter sheet is designed as a single filter or a filter stack, the first spacer is designed to be impermeable to liquid on its outer face directed away from the filter sheet and is sealed off at its boundary to the outlet end, and the second spacer is designed to be impermeable to liquid on its outer face directed away from the filter sheet and is sealed off at its boundary to the inlet end.

A treatment system for performing a treatment on a patient may include a treatment fluid preparation device having a pump connected by a fluid channel to a reservoir of a source fluid, the pump conveying the source fluid from the reservoir, through a filter, and combining the source fluid with a concentrate by pumping the source fluid with the concentrate to form a treatment fluid in a batch container. The treatment fluid preparation device may have a controller that controls a heater, the pump, and a memory. The controller starts the heater to warm the treatment fluid in the batch container at a time that is responsive to the treatment time stored in the memory. The controller also detects a pressure property of the filter to determine its integrity and outputs an indication of a failed batch if the pressure property indicates the integrity of the filter is insufficient.