A water desalination system includes a first set of ultrafiltration membranes, a second set of ultrafiltration membranes, a first backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with brine generated by a reverse osmosis process, and a second backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with one or more chemicals and reverse osmosis permeate water.

A water desalination system includes a first set of ultrafiltration membranes, a second set of ultrafiltration membranes, a first backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with brine generated by a reverse osmosis process, and a second backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with one or more chemicals and reverse osmosis permeate water.

A reverse osmosis filtering module includes: a purified water discharge pipe in which a purified water discharge path is formed, and which has a communication hole that is formed on an outer periphery thereof and communicates with the purified water discharge path; a reverse osmosis filtering part including a reverse osmosis filtering member in which a purified water flow space is formed, and which is wound around the purified water discharge pipe such that the purified water flow space communicates with the communication hole; a first flow channel formation cap provided at one side and having an inlet hole; and a second flow channel formation cap provided at the other side of the reverse osmosis filtering part and having an outlet hole.

A potable water producing system for disposition at a salt water body and methods of producing potable water are provided. The system includes a wave energy conversion system (AWECS) and a portable filtration system. The AWECS forms a floating articulated barge having an onboard desalination system including reverse osmosis membranes. The filtration system is a sand filter residing on a damping plate submerged in the salt water body and filters the adjacent salt water for providing filtered salt water to the onboard desalination system. Wave action on the articulated barge provides energy to pump and pressurize the filtered salt water from the sand filter to the reverse osmosis membranes to produce potable water. The wave action on the articulated barge effects shaking of the reverse osmosis membranes, thereby rendering them self-cleaning. The potable water can be used for various applications, e.g., bottling, replenishing aquifers, ground and/or aquifer remediation, irrigation, etc.

Provided is a field-flow-fractionation apparatus that is configured to supply a carrier fluid to a waste fluid chamber through a fluid supply flow path at a flow rate higher than a set flow rate of a flow rate adjusting part at a timing between an end of analysis of a sample and a start of analysis of a subsequent sample, thereby forming a flow of the carrier fluid from the waste fluid chamber to the separation channel. Accordingly, the sample adhering to a separation membrane is separated from the separation membrane and is discharged from the outlet port.

a filtering method, with which a fluid to be filtered is led through a filter (4), the filter (4) is back-flushed at regular time intervals and a pre-treatment agent is added to the fluid at the entry side of the filter. A process variable which describes the efficiency of the filtration is continuously computed during the filtration, and a metering quantity of the pre-treatment agent is reset on the basis of the values for the process variable or a characteristic values derived from this.

A method is disclosed for cleaning a filter module by means of a filter module having the following steps: providing a filter module having a filter head with two filter head openings; channelling fluid into the filter head via a first filter head opening; and channelling a portion of the fluid out of the filter head via a second filter head opening. The method is characterized in that, after fluid has been channelled into the filter head (210) via a first filter head opening, the fluid is partially swirled in the filter head.

The present invention relates to a tangential flow separator element for separating a fluid medium for treatment into a filtrate and a retentate, said separator element having a monolithic rigid porous support (2) of rectilinear structure and having a single channel (3) arranged therein for passing the flow of the fluid medium for treatment, the outside surface (5) of the support presenting a profile that is constant. According to the invention, the monolithic rigid porous support (2) defines obstacles (9) to the flow of the fluid for filtering, which obstacles extend from the inside wall (3.sub.1) of said channel (3), are identical in material and porous texture to the support, and present continuity of material and of porous texture with the support, said obstacles (9) generating variations in the flow section of the channel.

There is provided a method for controlling an RO system, the method being capable of reducing power consumption (that is, CO2) and the amount of waste by reducing the amount of use of chemicals and the number of times of exchanging a membrane and capable of enabling stable operation and contributing to energy saving. A method for controlling an RO system, the RO system including a plurality of RO apparatuses 41 to 44 arranged in parallel and a control unit controlling a start/stop process, the start/stop process including an operation process and a stop process for the RO apparatuses 41 to 44, wherein control is performed so that the number of times of start/stop is larger for an RO apparatus that easily recovers treatability by start/stop.

The disclosure provides tangential flow depth filtration (TFDF) systems which exhibit improved filter fluxes and process capacities and reduced fouling characteristics. The TFDF systems of the disclosure optionally utilize tubular depth filters (TDF). Methods are provided which include the passage of a non-laminar flow through at least a portion of a length of a TDF in a TFDF system.