Provided herein is a membrane filter device comprising a cell top cover (A, Y) and a cell bottom cover (B, Z) covering the device, a flexible tube (35, E, F) whereas at the end of the tube, a nozzle jet (22) is also secured via conical reducer to produce upper Reynold's number and for distributing the feed fluid, within the hex hollow chamber (C, X) for storing and receiving feed fluid, a reducer chamber (C, R1, R2) for storing and receiving permeate filtrated fluid, a connector (32, 53, 56) connecting both feed chambers (A, Y, Z) and reducer chambers (A, Y, Z), a membrane assembly (M/F) comprising a layer of membrane (130) sandwiched by a pair of seal rings (P1, OR, P2) and a layer of support net (MS) for securing said membrane (M/F). Most of the joints are connected using threaded joint and flow pressure, therefore no external clamp, nuts or bolts is needed. The flexible tube and the cylindrical shape ensure uniform flow in chambers. The apparatus is therefore a user-friendly and steadfast membrane filter device.

A water treatment apparatus including: a forward osmosis device configured to allow a diluted draw solution to flow out and to discharge a water-containing solution; a heater configured to heat the diluted draw solution; a water separator configured to separate the diluted draw solution heated by the heater into a water-rich solution and the draw solution having water content lower than that of the water-rich solution; a cooler configured to cool a liquid and allow the liquid to flow out as a coolant; an inflow side heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the coolant flowed out from the cooler and the draw solution flowed out from the water separator; and an outflow side heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the diluted draw solution flowed out from the forward osmosis device and the water-rich solution flowed out from the water separator.

Devices and methods herein remove water from human or animal biological waste fluids using one or more forward osmosis filters. The devices allow for the volume of liquid or semi-liquid waste, including potentially infectious liquid waste, to be filtered to reduce potential exposure of healthcare staff to infectious liquid waste. On a hospital, healthcare staff, or individual patient basis, removing water and concentrating the waste can reduce challenges in management and disposal of the waste. Devices herein use forward osmosis to manage and filter, using one or more suitably sized filter(s), biological fluid exudate from wounds. The devices can be constructed to transport water present in the exudate away from a wound. The wound treatment devices herein not only allow for fluid from wounds to be filtered but also provide structures that can protect wounds from external contaminants, including bacteria and viruses. The wound treatment devices can be incorporated into negative pressure wound therapy systems, if desired.

An osmotic power generator comprising an active membrane supported in a housing, at least a first chamber portion disposed on a first side of the active membrane for receiving a first electrolyte liquid and a second chamber portion disposed on a second side of the active membrane for receiving a second electrolyte liquid, a generator circuit comprising at least a first electrode electrically coupled to said first chamber, and at least a second electrode electrically coupled to said second chamber, the first and second electrodes configured to be connected together through a generator load receiving electrical power generated by a difference in potential and an ionic current between the first and second electrodes. The active membrane includes at least one pore allowing ions to pass between the first and second sides of the membrane under osmosis due to an osmotic gradient between the first and second electrolyte liquids to generate said difference in potential and ionic current between the first and second electrodes.

A process for the generation of power is disclosed. The process comprises receiving a wastewater stream containing organic matter and passing the wastewater stream to an anaerobic digester in which the organic matter contained therein is broken down to produce biogas. The liquid content of said wastewater stream is reduced before said stream enters the anaerobic digester by passing the wastewater stream through an osmotic power unit. The said stream is passed over one side of a semi-permeable membrane which permits the passage of water but not the passage of salts, an aqueous stream of higher salinity than said wastewater stream being passed over the other side of said membrane such that latent osmotic energy present in said aqueous stream of higher salinity is converted into electricity.

A forward osmosis apparatus includes a diluting component for bringing a feed solution and a draw solution containing a cation source and an anion source in an ionized state into contact through a semi-permeable membrane and diluting the draw solution with water separated from the feed solution by means of the semi-permeable membrane; a separator for separating the draw solution that has been diluted by the diluting component into the cation source and anion source and into water; and a dissolving apparatus, returning the cation source and the anion source that have been separated by the separator to, and dissolving the cation source and anion source in, the draw solution that has been diluted, wherein the molecular weight of the cation source in an uncharged state is 31 or greater and the Henry's law constant of each of the anion source and cation source is 1.0104 (Pa/mol.Math.fraction) or greater in a standard state.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to an osmotic milk concentrator having a nutrient fortified draw solution and related methods. The osmotic milk concentrator includes at least one draw material reservoir, at least one human milk reservoir, at least one semi-permeable membrane between the at least one draw material reservoir and the at least one human milk reservoir.

Provided herein are osmotic desalination methods and associated systems. According to certain embodiments, multiple osmotic membranes may be used to perform a series of osmosis steps, such that an output stream having a relatively high water puritycompared to a water purity of an aqueous feed streamis produced. In some embodiments, multiple draw streams can be used to produce aqueous product streams having sequentially higher purities of water. Certain embodiments are related to osmotic desalination systems and methods in which forward osmosis is used to produce a first product stream having a relatively high water purity relative to an aqueous feed stream, and reverse osmosis is used to perform a second step (and/or additional steps) on the first product stream. In some embodiments, multiple reverse osmosis steps can be used in series to perform a net desalination process.

Disclosed herein are boron-nitride nanoparticle membranes and methods of manufacturing boron-nitride nanoparticle membranes. In an embodiment, a boron-nitride nanoparticle membrane includes a matrix and a plurality of one-dimensional boron-nitride nanoparticles disposed within the matrix, where he plurality of boron-nitride nanoparticles are configured for selective molecular transport through each of the plurality of one-dimensional boron-nitride nanoparticles.

A corrugated membrane plate and frame module for use in fluid treatment applications is disclosed, where the corrugated design increases production capacity of a module by more than 200% as compared to conventional modules. The increase is achieved by tripling the membrane packing density per module using an optimized corrugated design. The disclosed corrugated membrane plate and frame also reduces the inactive membrane area per module, which is caused by deactivation of membranes edges attached to the plate and frame core in order to prevent leakage.