The invention relates to a method for recovery and purification of a neutral or sialylated human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) 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 HMO-containing stream by ultrafiltration using an ultrafiltration membrane having a MWCO of 500 Da to 5 kDa, purifying the HMO-containing stream by nanofiltration, concentrating the purified HMO-containing stream, and drying the purified HMO-containing stream to obtain a solidified neutral or sialylated HMO. Moreover, the invention also concerns a neutral or sialylated human milk oligosaccharide obtained by the inventive method, as well as its use in food, feed, and medical application.

A process for removing at least Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ from a lithium-containing brine. The process comprises (i) providing an aqueous lithium-containing brine feed comprising dissolved Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ impurities in a weight ratio of Li.sup.+:Ca.sup.2+ of about 4:1 to 50:1 wt/wt and in a weight ratio of Li.sup.+:Mg.sup.2+ of about 4:1 to 50:1; (ii) subjecting said brine feed to nanofiltration to produce a lithium-containing permeate from which Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ components are being removed concurrently; and (iii) conducting the nanofiltration so that a separation occurs and a retentate solution is formed with a total amount of Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ of at least 75% of the total amount of Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ in the original aqueous lithium-containing brine feed and forming an aqueous lithium-containing permeate solution in which the total content of dissolved Ca.sup.2+ and Mg.sup.2+ is decreased to 25% or less as compared to the original aqueous lithium-containing brine feed.

A system includes a plurality of nanoporous filtering media, wherein each nanoporous filtering media of the plurality of nanoporous filtering media includes a plurality of nanopores, wherein the plurality of nanoporous filtering media are stacked over each other. The system further includes a voltage source connected to a nanoporous filtering media of the plurality of nanoporous filtering media, wherein the voltage source is configured to provide a voltage to the nanoporous filtering media of the plurality of nanoporous media, wherein the voltage source is configured to establish an electrostatic charge within a circumference of each nanopore of the plurality of nanopores of the nanoporous filtering media.

Examples relate to systems and methods for reducing the energy required to concentrate solutions by nanofiltration to concentrations with osmotic pressures far above the applied pressure. In an embodiment, a method may include separating permeate streams from successive stages of a nanofiltration process, the separated permeate streams having a higher salinity from the elements at the end of the nanofiltration process. The method also may include reinjecting the permeate stream into a nanofiltration brine stream at one or more locations where the nanofiltration brine stream and the permeate stream have substantially similar concentrations.

A multistage nanofiltration (NF) system for filtering a solute from a feed solution where a downstream NF stage is more permissive to the solute than an upstream NF stage. In some examples. the nanofiltration system includes a plurality of nanofiltration stages in series, where each nanofiltration stage is more permissive to the solute than the nanofiltration stage that is immediately upstream.

The invention relates to pre-treating an oil derived from a renewable feedstock to remove at least a portion of one or more contaminants by filtering the oil with a nanofiltration membrane. The resulting permeate oil has a reduced concentration of the contaminant relative to the feed stream to the nanofiltration membrane.

Disclosed is a continuous process for the purification of steviol glycosides extracted from the dried stevia leaves using continuous simulated moving bed processes and nanofiltration without the addition of organic solvents to obtain a purified steviol product comprising sweet steviol glycosides. The sweet steviol glycosides can be used as substitutes for caloric sweeteners in beverages and in other food items.

The present disclosure includes a process and method for brine concentration. A Nano filtration (NF) membrane removes divalent ions while permeating monovalent ions. In a sequential concentration process (membrane and thermal), the monovalent ions reach crystallization. The brine concentrator system can treat the brine of the desalination plants or the effluent of the industrial and chemical plants. The disclosed system can treat the produced water of the oil and gas sector. Two options are disclosed herein. In the first option, an RO system is used to recover water from an FO concentrator where in the second option the advanced MED-AB technology is used to recover water from the FO brine concentrator. The merit of the second option is explored where waste heat energy is available.

Producing high purity lithium solution from a source brine containing at least 1 mg Li/kg brine, preferably 10 mg/kg, more preferably 25 mg Li/kg brine; treating the source brine, if necessary in pretreatment steps; processing the treated brine in a lithium adsorption step; after the adsorption step, desorbing the adsorbed lithium in a desorption step; after the desorption step, treating the desorption effluent in an enrichment step. Specified optional steps and new features can be used to increase lithium concentrations and purity.

A water treatment subsea installation and method are disclosed, adapted for scaling prevention and treatment of raw seawater into process water suitable for use in subsea hydrocarbon production. The water treatment installation comprises a seawater inlet to a primary filtration unit wherein a filtration membrane separates a receiving chamber from a permeate chamber having an outlet for treated water. A pump is installed in fluid flow communication with the treated water outlet, a recirculation loop feeding a portion of the treated water via a subsea electro-chlorinator back to the water stream upstream or downstream of the membrane of the primary filtration unit, and a secondary filtration unit is installed in the treated water stream between the primary filtration unit and the electro-chlorinator.