The present application comprises symbiotic reverse osmosis train system for maximizing desalinated water recovery, meanwhile yielding high salinity brine suitable for osmotic power generation or commercial salt production; trains comprise series of number of cells operating in interrelated sequential pattern within a salinity field. Each cell forms a closed hydraulic brine loop having pumping means, power recovery means and shared semipermeable membranes between adjacent cells, defining the boundaries of flow path within a given cell, using applicant's technology for semipermeable Flat Sheet Membranes [FSM] or Hollow Fiber Membranes [HFM] intended for new and novel development in Hypersalinity processes and applications in desalination and osmotic power generation of brackish, seawater and brines of 15% salinity or more. Charging each cell in the train of plurality of cells with a formulated brine having a specified ionizable inorganic salt concentration and type, without permitting mixing of the given brines among the adjacent cells in the plurality of cells, allowing the train of multiple cells to achieve water recovery exceeding 85% with concentrated rejected brine of 28-30% salt content that is recoverable by evaporation/crystallization for commercial use. Highlighting, the first of its kind, a large scale Seashore Tower of flat Sheet membrane [FSM] for Induced Osmotic Desalination Plant of a capacity 28-56 million cubic meter per year (15 billion gallons per year) at a recovery rate of 85%, and rejected brine salinity of 28-30%, either used for sodium chloride salt recovery of 1-2 million metric tons per year, or to generate Induced Osmotic Power of 25-50 MW.

A method is disclosed for concentrating and purifying an eluate brine and producing a purified lithium compound. An extraction eluate, rich in lithium, is directed to a nanofiltration unit or a softening process that removes sulfate and/or calcium and magnesium. Permeate from the nanofiltration unit or the effluent from the softening process is directed through an electrodialysis unit. As the lithium-rich solution moves through the electrodialysis unit, lithium, sodium and chloride ions pass from the solution through a cation-transfer membrane and an anion-transfer membrane to concentrate compartments. A dilute stream is directed through the concentrate compartments and collects the lithium, sodium and chloride ions. The electrodialysis unit also produces a product stream which contains non-ionized impurities, such as silica and/or boron. Concentrate from the electrodialysis unit is subject to a precipitation process that produces a lithium compound that is subsequently subjected to a purification process.

A method for preparing a plant derived product or a process intermediate or a process input, the method comprising the steps of providing a plant derived starting material, subjecting the starting material to a forward osmosis step against a draw solution so as to produce a plant material concentrate, and subjecting the draw solution to a water removal step. The water removal step may include further forward osmosis in combination with an evaporator system.

A desalination system, including a membrane distillation portion, a solar power concentration portion, and a thermal vapor compression portion operationally connected to the membrane distillation portion and to the solar power concentration portion. The membrane distillation portion includes a first vessel having a first portion and a second portion separated by a hydrophobic membrane operationally connected therebetween and oriented to pass water from the first portion to the second portion, wherein the hydrophobic membrane further comprises a hydrophilic membrane and an air blocking layer connected to the hydrophilic membrane and disposed in the first portion, a vacuum gap adjacent the hydrophobic membrane and disposed in the second portion, a first fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet operationally connected to the first portion, and a second fluid inlet and a second fluid outlet operationally connected to the second portion. The solar power concentration portion includes a pump having a pump outlet and a pump inlet operationally connected to a water line and to the vacuum gap, a linear Fresnel mirror collector for collecting and focusing sunlight, and an outlet line operationally connected to the pump outlet and positioned to receive focused sunlight from linear Fresnel mirror collector. The thermal vapor compression portion includes an ejector having an ejector inlet portion and an ejector outlet portion, wherein the ejector inlet portion is operationally connected to the outlet line and to the vacuum gap, a second vessel fluidically connected to the outlet portion and further including a heat exchanger operationally connected to the ejector outlet portion and to a water pipe, a feed spray operationally connected to the second outlet and positioned to spray into the heat exchanger, and a collection portion for receiving concentrated feed spray. The heat exchanger receives desalinated water from the ejector and from the feed spray. The water line carries desalinated water from the heat exchanger. The first outlet passes concentrated brine, and the first inlet receives feed water to be desalinated.

A method for purifying biological dust suppressant by two-stage ultrafiltration is provided, which utilizes the differences of physical characteristics such as solubility and molecular morphology of each substance in fermentation broth to separate and purify the target product by two-stage ultrafiltration. Firstly, the fermentation broth is centrifugally pretreated to separate insoluble substances such as microbial cells; after centrifugation, the supernatant passes through a primary ultrafiltration membrane, and the polysaccharide, lactic acid and aggregated biological dust suppressant molecules with molecular weights more than 20 kilodaltons are cut off; organic solvents such as methanol and ethyl acetate are added to the retentate for dilution, further filtering is carried out with ultrafiltration membrane with a cutoff molecular weight more than 10 kilodaltons to obtain liquid product, and finally preparing solid purified product is conducted through rotary evaporation and constant temperature drying.

A method for purifying biological dust suppressant by two-stage ultrafiltration is provided, which utilizes the differences of physical characteristics such as solubility and molecular morphology of each substance in fermentation broth to separate and purify the target product by two-stage ultrafiltration. Firstly, the fermentation broth is centrifugally pretreated to separate insoluble substances such as microbial cells; after centrifugation, the supernatant passes through a primary ultrafiltration membrane, and the polysaccharide, lactic acid and aggregated biological dust suppressant molecules with molecular weights more than 20 kilodaltons are cut off; organic solvents such as methanol and ethyl acetate are added to the retentate for dilution, further filtering is carried out with ultrafiltration membrane with a cutoff molecular weight more than 10 kilodaltons to obtain liquid product, and finally preparing solid purified product is conducted through rotary evaporation and constant temperature drying.

Methods and systems of lowering a concentration of divalent cations in lithium-containing brines are described. A method includes diluting saturated salar brine such that sodium chloride concentration is at most about 80% of saturation. The method also includes feeding the diluted salar brine to a high pressure nanofiltration system operating at pressure above about 60 bar effective to form a permeate and a concentrate. The method also includes collecting the permeate having a lower concentration of divalent cations relative to the saturated salar brine.

The invention generally relates to osmotically driven membrane systems and processes and more particularly to systems and processes for handling feed streams without pretreatment and increased brine concentration for zero liquid discharge, including forward osmosis separation (FO), direct osmotic concentration (DOC), pressure-assisted forward osmosis (PAFO), and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The system includes: a plurality of forward osmosis units, each having a semi-permeable membrane assembly and a tank; and a separation system in fluid communication with the plurality of forward osmosis units and configured to separate the dilute draw solution into the concentrated draw solution and a solvent system.

The invention generally relates to osmotically driven membrane systems and processes and more particularly to systems and processes for handling feed streams without pretreatment and increased brine concentration for zero liquid discharge, including forward osmosis separation (FO), direct osmotic concentration (DOC), pressure-assisted forward osmosis (PAFO), and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The system includes: a plurality of forward osmosis units, each having a semi-permeable membrane assembly and a tank; and a separation system in fluid communication with the plurality of forward osmosis units and configured to separate the dilute draw solution into the concentrated draw solution and a solvent system.

The invention relates to a method for recovery and purification of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) from a fermentation broth, comprising the steps of separating the fermentation broth to form a separated HMO-containing stream and a biomass waste stream, purifying the separated HMO-containing stream, concentrating the purified HMO-containing stream, and drying the purified HMO-containing stream to obtain solidified HMO. Moreover, the invention also concerns a human milk oligosaccharide obtained by the inventive method, as well as its use in food, feed, and medical application.