A laboratory scale water purification system for producing up to 300 l/h deionized type 2 pure water from tap water, said system comprising a feed medium flow path including a pump (1) for supplying the feed medium under pressure to a feed inlet of a reverse-osmosis (RO) device (2) which is adapted to produce a permeate flow and a concentrate flow from the feed medium. An electro-deionization (EDI) device (10) is provided and has an inlet which is in fluid communication with a permeate outlet of the RO device (2) and has a purified water outlet. The system has a first retentate flow path (A) in fluid communication with the retentate 1 outlet of the RO device (2), for removing retentate from the system, the first retentate flow path (A) including a first flow rate regulator (3) adapted to be remote controlled, and a second retentate flow path (B) in fluid communication with the retentate outlet of the RO device (2) for recirculating retentate to the feed medium flow path at an upstream position of the pump (1), the second retentate flow path (B) including a second flow rate regulator (4) adapted to be remote controlled. A first flow meter (5) is provided downstream of the permeate outlet for detecting the permeate flow rate produced by the RO device (2), a second flow meter (6) is provided in the first retentate flow path (A) downstream of the first flow rate regulator (3) for detecting the flow rate of the retentate flow that is removed from the system, and an automatic controller (13) is provided for remote controlling the first and second flow rate regulators (3,4) based on the detection results from the first and second flow meters (5,6) such that a predetermined target recovery rate and a predetermined target permeate flow rate are controlled for the RO device (2).

Disclosed herein are methods for removing at least one viral contaminant from a concentrated composition, comprising filtering the concentrated composition through a virus prefilter and a virus filter over one or more filtration cycles, wherein a ratio of the virus prefilter area to the virus filter area in each filtration cycle is at least about 2:1, as well as viral filtration skids for use in such methods.

A benchtop device flow setup for determining the effectiveness of magnetic treatment of feed water for reducing mineral scaling includes two similar branches, both equipped with a reverse osmosis membrane and a pump that operate in the transient regime at the same flow rate and transmembrane pressure. The flow setup is further fed with a solution at the same level of supersaturation measured in a stirred reactor, however, only one branch exposes the feed to a magnetic field.

A method for assessing a state of fouling of a reverse osmosis system is provided. The method comprises deriving a plurality of impedance values from a low frequency region of an electrical impedance spectrum of a reverse osmosis membrane comprised in the reverse osmosis system, and determining a state of fouling of the reverse osmosis system based on 10 the plurality of derived impedance values. Use of the method for in-situ monitoring of fouling on a reverse osmosis membrane, and an apparatus for assessing a state of fouling of a reverse osmosis system are also provided.

The invention relates to an arrangement for providing sterile water for injection purposes. A device for heating drinking water above the boiling point, a device for maintaining a chamber inner pressure which lies below the atmospheric pressure, and an electronic controller are provided, and the chamber is equipped with at least one membrane which is impermeable for liquids and a film or plate at a distance from the membrane, wherein steam which is permeated through the membrane is condensed on the film of plate. The membrane and the film or plate form a module, and the condensed water can be removed from the chamber via an outlet as sterile water for injection purposes.

A water treatment device includes a primary unit having a plurality of primary elements as reverse osmosis membrane devices disposed in parallel with each other to separate water to be treated into primary condensed water and fresh water; a pump which feeds the water to be treated from the upstream side of the primary unit to the primary unit; a secondary unit having secondary elements which are provided to be fewer in number than the primary elements and separate the primary condensed water into secondary condensed water and fresh water; a sub-element which separates one of the water to be treated and the primary condensed water; and a mode switching unit which switches the sub-element between a primary mode of being used as the primary element in the primary unit and a secondary mode of being used as the secondary element in the secondary unit.

A system for descaling apparatus is described. The system provides for: a water inlet feedstream; a reverse osmosis system in fluid communication with the water inlet feedstream, in which the reverse osmosis system produces a water permeate output feedstream; and a pressurised carbon dioxide feedstream. The pressurised carbon dioxide feedstream and water permeate output feedstream are arranged in use to combine to produce a pressurised carbonic acid input feedstream.

In order to monitor the effectiveness of an ion filter by way of at least two conductivity sensors that are disposed upstream and downstream of the ion filter, a characteristic variable correlating with the effectiveness of the ion filter is determined from the measured values of the conductivity sensors and a signal is output if the characteristic variable deviates from a predefined value or interval. As a result, condition-based maintenance is made possible, for example in the case of a cooling circuit of a fuel cell system.

A device and method are described for the treatment of blood, which device may be used in conjunction with or in place of a failed Kidney. The device includes an ultrafiltration unit to remove proteins, red and white blood cells and other high molecular weight components, a nanofiltration unit to remove glucose, at least one electrodeionization unit to transport ions from the blood stream, and a reverse osmosis unit to modulate the flow of water, to both the blood and urine streams. In one embodiment, a specialized electrodeionization unit is provided having multiple chambers defining multiple dilute fluid channels, each channel filled with an ion specific resin wafer, and electrodes at the extremity of the device and proximate each of the resin filled dilute channels. By selective application of voltages to these electrodes, the ion transport functionality of a given dilute channel can be turned on or off.

A resistivity adjustment device includes: a hollow fiber membrane module that is divided by a hollow fiber membrane into a liquid phase side area; a liquid supply pipe that communicates with the liquid phase side area; a liquid discharge pipe that communicates with the liquid phase side area; a gas supply pipe that communicates with the gas phase side area; a gas discharge pipe that communicates with the gas phase side area; a bypass pipe that communicates with the liquid supply pipe and the liquid discharge pipe to bypass the hollow fiber membrane module; and a first on-off valve that is connected to the gas discharge pipe and opens or closes a first passage inside the gas discharge pipe, wherein the first on-off valve opens the first passage to discharge water accumulated in the gas phase side area.