Draw compounds and draw solutions comprising said draw compounds for use in forward osmosis solvent purification systems. The draw compound may be a linear random, sequential, or block molecular chain consisting of at least one oxide monomer or diol monomer and have a temperature-dependent affinity with a feed solvent. The draw compound may further include a first terminal group and a second terminal group, at least one of the first terminal group and the second terminal group selected from the group consisting of a hydroxyl group, an amine group, a carboxylic group, an allyl group, and a C1 to C14 substituted and unsubstituted alky group. The draw compound may also be a branched random, sequential, or block molecular chain consisting of at least one oxide monomer or diol monomer.

Separation processes using engineered osmosis 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. Enhanced efficiency may result from using low grade waste heat from industrial or commercial sources.

Example methods and systems for segregation and treatment of waste water streams for enhanced oil recovery are disclosed. One example method includes generating concentrated solution by treating, using a forward osmosis process, waste water of one or more gas streams from a gas plant associated with one or more gas wells, where draw solution of the forward osmosis process includes produced water from one or more crude oil production traps, and the waste water contains kinetic hydrate inhibitor (KHI). The concentrated solution is treated using an oxidation process to generate oxidized solution by decomposing the KHI in the waste water. The oxidized solution is injected into an oil reservoir through a water injection well for enhanced oil recovery.

Provided are forward osmosis processes to increase the concentration of a dilute metal salt solution, e.g., a vanadium electrolyte solution. In embodiments, such a process comprises: (a) delivering a draw solution to a draw chamber of a forward osmosis module, the draw solution comprising water and sulfuric acid at a draw acid concentration, wherein the draw solution is free of vanadium cations; and (b) delivering a feed solution to a feed chamber of the forward osmosis module, the draw and feed chambers separated by a membrane, the feed solution comprising water, vanadium cations, and sulfuric acid at a feed acid concentration that is lower than the draw acid concentration, wherein water passes across the membrane from the feed solution to the draw solution, thereby providing a concentrated vanadium electrolyte solution as a feed chamber output and a diluted acid solution as a draw chamber output.

Disclosed herein are reversibly-switchable surfactants and methods of extracting natural products, coating surfaces, cleaning laundry, and osmotic extraction using same.

A device and a system are for measuring fluid potential in a plant tissue by measuring pressure changes caused due to osmosis of the plant fluid. The measuring device includes a compartment having a ridged body configured for containing an osmoticum. The compartment has at least one opening; at least two selective barrier layers, such as a membrane positioned at least over the openings of the compartment; and at least one pressure sensor configured for detecting changes in pressure of fluid in the compartment. The selective barrier is located for selectively allowing water transfer between the plant fluid and the osmoticum in the compartment. The compartment is configured such that there is a direct contact between the plant fluid and the osmoticum therein via the selective barrier.

The invention relates to a ternary sewage treatment method integrating microbial fuel cells with anaerobic acidification and forward osmosis membrane, and belongs to the technical field of sewage treatment. The method of the invention comprises the following steps:

Sewage is driven into the anaerobic acidification device for mixture with the NaOH solution. The mixed liquid enters into the MFC for converting the enriched organics to bioelectricity and then flows back to the anaerobic acidification device. A part of the mixed liquid passes through the MF membrane module to form effluent and enters into the sedimentation basin for phosphate removal and finally passes through activated carbon adsorption column, another part passes through the FO membrane module to form effluent and obtain high quality recycled water after the RO membrane processing. The method is a new coupled model of FO membrane and MFC and it provide a ternary combined technique integrating MFCs with anaerobic acidification and FO membrane. The change and accumulation of sewage to organic acids are achieved under anaerobic acid production and FO retention, the electricity generation performance of MFC is improved, and the reuse of reclaimed water is realized by separating of FO and RO membranes. Finally, the wastewater reuse and electricity generation are realized synchronously.

A method of regenerating an ammonium bicarbonate solution includes supplying a diluted ammonium bicarbonate solution to an upper portion of a distillation unit, an upper portion of an ammonia condenser, and an upper portion of an absorber; distilling the diluted solution to discharge a first gas mixture, supplying the first gas mixture to a lower portion of the ammonium condenser; bringing the first gas mixture into contact with the diluted solution to be separated into a first mixed solution and a second gas mixture, supplying the first mixed solution to the upper portion of the absorber, and supplying the second gas mixture to a lower portion of the absorber; and bringing the second gas mixture into contact with the diluted solution supplied to the upper portion of the absorber and the first mixed solution supplied to the upper portion of the absorber to recover a concentrated ammonium bicarbonate solution.

An electricity generation process is disclosed. The process comprises injecting an aqueous feed stream into a salt formation to dissolve the salt contained therein, and then extracting a saline stream containing said dissolved salt from the salt formation. The process also comprises converting latent osmotic energy present in said saline stream into electricity by passage through an osmotic power unit comprising a semi-permeable membrane which permits the passage of water but not the passage of salts in which said saline stream is passed over one side of the semi-permeable membrane, a low salinity stream being passed over the other side of said membrane. The process also comprises using an output stream derived from the low salinity stream as the aqueous feed stream.

A method and system of generating electrical power or hydrogen from thermal energy is disclosed. The method includes separating, by a selectively permeable membrane, a first saline solution from a second saline solution, receiving, by the first saline solution and/or the second saline solution, thermal energy from a heat source, and mixing the first saline solution and the second saline solution in a controlled manner, capturing at least some salinity-gradient energy as electrical power as the salinity difference between the first saline solution and the second saline solution decreases. The method further includes transferring, by a heat pump, thermal energy from the first saline solution to the second saline solution, causing the salinity difference between the first saline solution and the second saline solution to increase. The method may include a process of membrane distillation, forward osmosis, evaporation, electrodialysis, and/or salt decomposition for further energy efficiency and power generation.