A process for treating rice bran utilizing a shear pump to circulate a solution comprising an enzyme, an acid and water with rice bran in a mixing tank, then after a first predetermined period transferring a portion of the solution to a feed tank, and then over a second predetermined period filtering the solution in the feed tank through multiple filtration units each having a pre-selected pore size to obtain pre-determined value-added by-products from the rice bran.

Produced water from a crude oil or natural gas production process is purified using a membrane purification system for petroleum production, agricultural, commercial and domestic uses. The produced water is pretreated to remove, at least, particulates and oil from the produced water. The minimally pretreated water is then purified in a membrane purification system, that is operated at conditions such that membrane scaling is reduced or prevented. In particular, the membrane purification system is operated to maintain the turbidity of clarified water feed to the system or intermediate aqueous streams that are cascading through the membrane purification system. Ensuring that the turbidity of the reject streams generated in the membrane system are useful in achieving long membrane operating life.

A water desalination system includes a first set of ultrafiltration membranes, a second set of ultrafiltration membranes, a first backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with brine generated by a reverse osmosis process, and a second backwashing system configured to treat at least one of the first set of ultrafiltration membranes or the second set of ultrafiltration membranes with one or more chemicals and reverse osmosis permeate water.

The invention relates to a multistage membrane distillation apparatus (5000), comprising a plurality of multistage membrane distillation modules (500, 600), the modules being configured to be flowed through in parallel by a liquid (F) to be concentrated. Each module comprises a plurality of serial condensation/evaporation stages (50, 60) configured to be flowed through in series by the liquid to be concentrated. Each condensation/evaporation stage comprises a plurality of parallel condensation/evaporation elements (101, 102) configured to be flowed through in parallel by the liquid to be concentrated. Each condensation/evaporation element comprises at least one condensation unit and at least one evaporation unit. The apparatus further comprises at least one of: a centralized heating stage configured to generate steam and to provide the steam to each of the modules in parallel, and a centralized condensation stage configured to receive steam from each of the modules in parallel and to condensate the steam.

The present invention relates to a method for separating sialylated oligosaccharides from a fermentation broth in which they are produced by a genetically modified microorganism The separation comprises the steps of: i) ultrafiltration; ii) nano-filtration; iii) optionally, activated charcoal treatment; and iv) treatment with strong anion and/or cation exchange resin.

Process steps for monitoring the performance of a wastewater treatment system having a series of filtration units and optionally one or more disinfection units, controlling the operation of the filtration units, and controlling the operation of one or more maintenance operations that can be performed on the filtration units as a result of the monitoring. The wastewater treatment system can be operated without breaking pressure between the filtration units. Monitoring the performance of the wastewater treatment system can include using the water quality at various points in the system as an indicator of clogging or integrity issues within the filtration units. Sensors can be configured to measure properties of wastewater both upstream and downstream of each filtration unit, and the measured properties can be used to determine whether the filtration unit is performing adequately.

A method for producing an ethanol solution includes obtaining, from a starting liquid, a liquid feed having less than by weight of constituents and having 3% to 25% by weight of ethanol, supplying the liquid feed to a feed stream inlet of a reverse osmosis separation system having a first pass, wherein (i) each pass has an reverse osmosis membrane filtration unit, each membrane filtration unit having an ethanol rejection percentage of between 50% to 99%, and (ii) each pass has the feed stream inlet for a feed stream, a permeate stream outlet for a permeate stream, and a retentate stream outlet for a retentate stream, operating the system to maintain pressure in one of the membrane filtration units in a range of 1,200 to 4,000 psi, and obtaining retentate that is enriched with ethanol, the retentate differs from the starting liquid by absence of the removed constituents.

Facility for the treatment of a feed gas stream comprising at least methane and carbon dioxide, said facility comprising: an oil-lubricated or water-lubricated vane-type compressor making it possible to compress the feed gas stream, and a membrane separation unit capable of receiving the compressed gas stream and of separating the methane from the carbon dioxide.

Provided herein is a method for producing alcohol. The method comprises fermenting milk permeate with yeast to produce a fermented broth comprising the ethanol. The fermented broth is then subjected to distillation to obtain a concentrated ethanol-enriched vapour having at least 50% v/v ethanol. From the ethanol-enriched vapour resulting from the distillation, an ethanol product is produced that is a biofuel or a potable spirit. The disclosure also provides a unique potable spirit composition produced from such process.

A system and method for producing high quality potable water by re-mineralization of desalinated water is provided. The retentate rejected from a nanofiltration unit becomes a source of mineral-rich divalent ions for mixing with the desalinated water being produced by a desalination unit, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for separate supply from outside sources of chemicals needed to obtain potable water that meets various drinking water standards. The nanofiltration unit may be located in a desalination upstream and/or downstream of the desalination unit, and the amount of flow of the nanofiltration retentate supplied to the re-mineralization unit relative to the amount of desalinated water flow may be adjusted to achieve the desired potable water quality.