An evaporator is provided that separates, from a degraded substance, an absorbent branched off and introduced, a heating section which is interposed on a circulation line L.sub.21 that circulates the absorbent introduced into this evaporator, heats the circulating absorbent to obtain gaseous recovery steam containing a vaporized absorbent and CO.sub.2, a concentrate branch line L.sub.22 that branches off a part of the absorbent circulating through the circulation line L.sub.21 at a bottom of the evaporator from the circulation line L.sub.21 as a concentrate, a cooler that is interposed on this concentrate branch line L.sub.22 and cools the concentrate, an ionic degraded substance removal section that removes an ionic degraded substance in the cooled concentrate, and a purified absorbent discharge line L.sub.23 that reuses the concentrate as a purified absorbent from which the ionic degraded substance is removed.

The present disclosure describes methods and systems for separating a fluid. The methods and systems include a plurality of osmosis modules operably coupled together. At least some of the plurality of osmosis modules include an osmosis membrane, a feed side on a first side of the osmosis membrane; a draw side on a second side of the osmosis membrane; a feed inlet operably coupled to the feed side; a draw inlet operably coupled to the draw side; a feed outlet operably coupled to the feed side; a draw outlet operably coupled to the draw side. The at least some of the plurality of osmosis units further including a feed recirculation loop operably coupled to the feed inlet, the feed outlet, and a feed inlet of a downstream osmosis module; and a draw recirculation loop operably coupled to the draw inlet, the draw outlet, and a draw inlet of a downstream osmosis module.

This invention pertains to high selectivity poly(imide-urethane) membrane and a method of making the same. This invention also pertains to applications of the high selectivity poly(imide-urethane) membranes not only for a variety of gas separations such as separations of carbon dioxide/methane, hydrogen/methane, helium/methane, oxygen/nitrogen, carbon dioxide/nitrogen, olefin/paraffin, iso/normal paraffins, xylenes, polar molecules such as water, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia/mixtures with methane, nitrogen, or hydrogen and other light gases separations, but also for liquid separations such as pervaporation and desalination.

A process of treating water includes a membrane separation stage and a deionization stage separating raw water into a first concentrate stream and permeate stream, the first concentrate stream is separated at least in part into a second concentrate stream and permeate stream, the first permeate stream is fed into a diluate chamber from which it exits again as a product stream, the second permeate stream is fed into a downstream electrodeionization appliance from which it exits as a third concentrate stream, and the second and the third concentrate streams are degassed and added to the raw water stream before the stream is fed into the membrane separation stage.

A process of treating water includes a membrane separation stage and a deionization stage separating raw water into a first concentrate stream and permeate stream, the first concentrate stream is separated at least in part into a second concentrate stream and permeate stream, the first permeate stream is fed into a diluate chamber from which it exits again as a product stream, the second permeate stream is fed into a downstream electrodeionization appliance from which it exits as a third concentrate stream, and the second and the third concentrate streams are degassed and added to the raw water stream before the stream is fed into the membrane separation stage.

The invention relates to an apparatus having a pressure chamber and a micropump in fluid connection with the pressure chamber. The pressure chamber includes a gas-carrying region and a liquid-carrying region. The micropump is configured to generate a pneumatic pressure within the gas-carrying region that is lower than a fluid pressure of a liquid flowing through the liquid-carrying region. According to the invention, a gas-permeable and liquid-impermeable separating element separates, at least in sections, the gas-carrying region and the liquid-carrying region. According to the present invention, the micropump is disposed on the pressure chamber.

A method of treating a liquid. The method comprises providing a feed liquid comprising at least one solvent and at least one solute to a first side of a membrane. A single-phase draw solution comprising at least one of an aminium salt, an amidinium salt, and a guanidinium salt is provided to a second side of the membrane. The at least one solvent is osmosed across the membrane and into the single-phase draw solution to form a diluted single-phase draw solution. At least one of CO.sub.2, CS.sub.2, and COS is removed from the diluted single-phase draw solution to form a first multiple-phase solution comprising a first liquid phase comprising the at least one solvent, and a second liquid phase comprising at least one of an amine compound, an amidine compound, and a guanidine compound. A liquid purification system is also described.

A method of treating a liquid. The method comprises providing a feed liquid comprising at least one solvent and at least one solute to a first side of a membrane. A single-phase draw solution comprising at least one of an aminium salt, an amidinium salt, and a guanidinium salt is provided to a second side of the membrane. The at least one solvent is osmosed across the membrane and into the single-phase draw solution to form a diluted single-phase draw solution. At least one of CO.sub.2, CS.sub.2, and COS is removed from the diluted single-phase draw solution to form a first multiple-phase solution comprising a first liquid phase comprising the at least one solvent, and a second liquid phase comprising at least one of an amine compound, an amidine compound, and a guanidine compound. A liquid purification system is also described.

The present disclosure relates to a floating type membrane distillation module for collecting sunlight to heat raw water and supplying the heated raw water to a membrane distillation separation membrane, to ensure effective heating of raw water and supply of the uniformly heated raw water to a membrane distillation separation membrane.

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.