Disclosed herein is a solar thermal osmosis desalination system comprising a forward osmosis subsystem and a reverse osmosis subsystem where the forward osmosis subsystem is configured to receive solar thermal heat and generate power that can be used to operate the reverse osmosis subsystem.

This invention is an onboard pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) unit for charging or recharging the battery of an electric conveyance or for feeding the conveyance's motor directly. The PRO unit exploits the combined use of osmotic pressure, a water-submerged hollow fiber membrane system, a concentrated aqueous solution of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (a ferrofluid) as a draw solution, and a solenoid-type permanent magnetic field, to create a high pressure water flow that acts upon one or more hydroturbine generators to produce electricity. After the pressurized water acts upon the hydroturbine generators, it is returned to the feed side of the membrane system to once again become permeate, in effect making the entire system a closed loop, continuously re-circulating process. The membrane cells may be heated to increase power density.

The present invention relates to a desalination apparatus and a desalination method using the same. In one specific embodiment, the desalination apparatus comprises: a forward osmosis unit having a draw-solution part into which seawater flows, and a raw water part into which raw water flows, and having an osmosis membrane, formed between the draw solution part and the raw water part, so as to respectively generate first treated water and first concentrated water; a capacitive deionization unit, which is connected to the draw solution part through a first inflow passage, and into which the first treated water of the draw solution part flows so as to generate second treated water; and an electrodialysis unit, which is connected to the raw water part through a second inflow passage, and into which the first concentrated water of the raw water part flows so as to generate third treated water.

There is provided a system for the removal of scaling precipitants obtained due to dewatering a solution including i. at least one membrane, such as FO membrane adapted to be at least partially surrounded by a feed solution and to receive a flow through of a draw solution; and ii. a device adapted to control the flow of said draw solution through said at least one membrane; wherein said system is configured to operate in at least three predetermined different modes of operation including; filtration mode, osmotic relaxation mode and pulsation mode, according to some demonstrative embodiments.

Separation processes using osmotically driven membrane systems are disclosed generally involving the extraction of solvent from a first solution to concentrate solute by using a second concentrated solution to draw the solvent from the first solution across a semi-permeable membrane.

A water distillation system including a reservoir unit configured to reserve a second liquid of higher concentration than the first liquid; a pipe including a first end communicated with the first liquid and a second end communicated with the second liquid in the reservoir unit; a semipermeable membrane fitted on the pipe to separate the first liquid and the second liquid, so that the first liquid is mixed into the second liquid through the semipermeable membrane and led to the reservoir unit by osmotic action; and a distillation unit configured to distill the second liquid in the reservoir unit by solar energy.

Provided herein are a control arrangement and a method for determining a water permeability status of a forward osmosis (FO) membrane of a FO device in a dialysis fluid generation apparatus. The FO-membrane separates a feed side and a draw side of the FO device. The FO-device comprises a feed inlet port and a feed outlet port in fluid communication with the feed side, and a draw inlet port and a draw outlet port in fluid communication with the draw side. The method comprises providing a flow of pure water at the feed side and providing a flow of pure water at the draw side. The method further comprises monitoring one or more pressures indicative of a transmembrane pressure between the feed side and the draw side.

An osmotic process comprising for a first period, passing a draw stream and a feed stream through an osmotic unit having a semi-permeable membrane, permitting the passage of water but not salts. The feed stream is an aqueous stream with a lower salinity than the draw stream. The feed stream has a scalant with a concentration above saturation in a region on a feed side of the semi-permeable membrane. The draw stream passes over a draw side of the membrane and the feed stream passes over the feed side so water passes across the membrane from the feed stream to the draw stream. For a second time period, the flow rate of the draw stream is lower than the flow rate in the first time period, and the feed stream passes over the feed side such that the concentration of the scalant in said region is reduced.

An osmosis module for pressure retarded osmosis comprising a pressure vessel having a first draw port and a second draw port. The first draw port is provided in a first end-face of the pressure vessel and is in fluid communication with a central structure. A plurality of hollow fibre semipermeable membranes are received within a fibre region of the osmosis module, and are provided around the central structure. In a first lengthwise region of the osmosis module, the draw stream flow between the first draw port and the fibre region via the central structure. In a second lengthwise region of the osmosis module, the flow path which the draw stream flows between the draw ports, is confined to the fibre region and extends substantially parallel to the central structure. The second region extends along a majority of the length of the fibre region.

The integrated reverse osmosis/pressure retarded osmosis system includes a first housing configured for pretreating feed brine, a second housing, a third housing configured for pretreatment of seawater, a first splitter positioned in communicating relation with the third housing, a first pump positioned in communicating relation with the first splitter, a fourth housing positioned in communicating relation with the first pump, a mixer positioned in communicating relation with the second housing and the first splitter, a first energy recovery system positioned in communicating relation with the second housing, a second energy recovery system positioned in communicating relation with the fourth housing, and a generator. The fourth housing configured for receiving pressurized seawater and producing desalinated product water by reverse osmosis. The second housing configured to receive feed brine from an oil production waste stream and decrease the salinity of the feed brine by pressure retarded osmosis.