A system and method for increasing the water production efficiency of a desalination plant and producing concentrated calcium and magnesium is provided. A saline source water is preferably subjected to a first treatment such a passage through a first desalination unit, followed by dual treatment of the first treatment reject stream using physicochemical adsorption and electrodialysis to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium. The reject stream from the dual treatment may then be received by a second desalination unit. Due to the removal of the majority of the saline source water's scale-forming minerals, the second desalination unit may be operated at higher operating limits than in conventional desalination units without significant concern for fouling due to scaling. The approach of the present system and method efficiently increases the fresh water production ratio from the source saline water while generating commercially attractive concentrated calcium and magnesium products.

Recovering heat from a Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) fractionation plant via a waste heat recovery heat exchanger network including heating a buffer fluid in a heat exchanger with a stream from the NGL fractionation plant and discharging the heated buffer fluid to an integrated triple cycle system. Generating cooling capacity for the NGL fractionation plant via the integrated triple cycle system with heat from the buffer fluid.

A method of recovering heat from a Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) fractionation plant for production of potable water. The method includes heating a buffer fluid via a heat exchanger in the NGL fractionation plant to transfer heat from the NGL fractionation plant to the buffer fluid. The method includes heating feed water with the buffer fluid discharged from the heat exchanger for production of potable water via a multi-effect-distillation (MED) system. The method may include producing potable water with heat from the buffer fluid in the MED system.

A plant for concentrating a tartaric acid solution includes a first and a second evaporation unit arranged in series, a pump for feeding a diluted tartaric acid solution into the first evaporation unit, a barometric condenser placed downstream of the second evaporation unit, and a system for feeding a first low-temperature vapor into the first evaporation unit. A process for concentrating tartaric acid includes providing a plant according to the above description, performing a first concentration, by evaporation, of the diluted tartaric acid solution, inside the first evaporation unit, and performing a second concentration, by evaporation, of the partially concentrated tartaric acid solution from the first evaporation unit, inside the second evaporation unit. The plant and process have the advantages of ensuring low energy consumption, allowing concentration of solutions tending to crystallization, and allowing the continuous measurement of the tartaric acid concentration to be concentrated.

A plant for concentrating a tartaric acid solution includes a first and a second evaporation unit arranged in series, a pump for feeding a diluted tartaric acid solution into the first evaporation unit, a barometric condenser placed downstream of the second evaporation unit, and a system for feeding a first low-temperature vapor into the first evaporation unit. A process for concentrating tartaric acid includes providing a plant according to the above description, performing a first concentration, by evaporation, of the diluted tartaric acid solution, inside the first evaporation unit, and performing a second concentration, by evaporation, of the partially concentrated tartaric acid solution from the first evaporation unit, inside the second evaporation unit. The plant and process for concentrating tartaric acid have the advantages of ensuring low energy consumption, allowing concentration of solutions tending to crystallization, and allowing the continuous measurement of the tartaric acid concentration to be concentrated.

Marine engine exhaust includes pollutants such as CO.sub.2, NOR.sub.x and SO.sub.x. An onboard system and method for the simultaneous removal of these pollutants includes obtaining seawater from the water on which the marine vessel travels, purifying the seawater to remove a portion of hard ions, concentrating the seawater to yield a concentrated brine solution, treating the concentrated brine solution with a chemical softener to yield a treated brine solution, acidifying the treated brine solution, and utilizing the acidified brine solution in a chlor-alkali process to yield sodium hydroxide. The sodium hydroxide can be used in an acid gas scrubber to remove CO.sub.2, NO.sub.x, and SO.sub.x from the marine engine exhaust gas.

The present application discloses a device for multistage continuous preparation of deuterium depleted water, which includes a feeding pump, a plurality of stages of separation systems connected in series, and a receiver, all of which are connected in sequence. Each stage of separation system comprises a distillation column, a vapor-liquid separator, a low-pressure steam compressor, a stream delivery pump, a three-way valve, and a stream output pipe. The present application further discloses a method for preparing deuterium depleted water, wherein natural water is fed into the device of the present disclosure, and the liquid phase stream continuously flows backwards stage by stage under the combined action of the low-pressure steam compressors and the stream delivery pumps. In a single-stage system, the deuterium is deprived depending on the difference in vapor pressure between .sup.1H.sub.2O and .sup.2H.sub.2O (and/or .sup.1H.sup.2HO), and finally, the deuterium depleted water is produced.

The very purpose of an improved oil recovery or an enhanced oil recovery method is to mobilize oil from an oil-bearing formation as stable wet oil emulsion to an oil gathering center. Yet, the very purpose of the latter is to de-stabilize such a stable emulsion using a multitude of redundant oil-water separation steps and bulky equipment. Methods are herein provided for preparing a material for casting a flat-sheet, extruding a solid-fiber, and/or extruding a hollow-fiber utilizing an aqueous amine solution as an effective solvent to form a crystalline polymorph structure of the material. This material in the form of, for example, an effective and selective oil-wet membrane can be used to simultaneously de-mix oil and water phases from a wet oil emulsion, whether the emulsion is stable or instable.

A method for storing solar energy and generating electric power comprising the steps of utilizing a solar powered water treatment device (2) to convert non-potable water (3) into distillate (4) and concentrate (5), storing the distillate and the concentrate in a distillate storage tank (104) and a concentrate storage tank (105) respectively and feeding the distillate from the distillate storage tank and the concentrate from the concentrate storage tank to a salient gradient power device (106) to generate electric power.

An apparatus, system and method to remove purified vapor from a contaminated fluid using energy. The apparatus comprises an inlet wherein contaminated fluid flows in the apparatus through the inlet; at least two outlets wherein a first outlet exits purified vapor and a second outlet wherein contaminated fluid with a portion removed as purified vapor exits the apparatus; an energy source that causes the contaminated fluid to heat to a temperature wherein at least a portion of the contaminated fluid is converted to purified vapor; at least two different flow paths from at least one inlet to the first outlet and second outlet, the first and second flow paths flow through at least a portion of the apparatus wherein differences causes the lighter purified vapor to take a different path than the heavier contaminated with the purified vapor exiting the first outlet and the contaminated fluid exiting the second outlet.