A system to treat and desalinate wastewater using a low energy ejector desalination system (LEEDS), which employs a static liquid-gas ejector and maximum heat integration in the water treatment system.

A closed-loop system and method for heating of target contaminant zones having environmental contaminants of concern present in the groundwater and the soil by thermal conduction, and subsequent enhancements of physical, biological and chemical processes to attenuate, remove and degrade contaminants in the target contaminant treatment zones, is disclosed. The system and method collects solar or other heat and transfers the heat via a closed-loop and a set of borehole exchangers to subsurface soil in the proximity of and/or directly to the target contaminant treatment zones. The target contaminant treatment zone may comprise contaminated soil, contaminated groundwater in an aquifer, or industrial waste comprising water and/or solids. Solar collectors or heat exchangers capturing waste heat from industrial processes may be used as the heat source.

The hybrid desalination and energy production system includes a desalination system for separating seawater into purified water and brine, an electrodialysis system for treating the brine and outputting low salinity water, a hypersaline brine solution, and H.sub.2 gas; an evaporator for treating the hypersaline brine solution and outputting salt and water vapor; a superheater for treating the water vapor and outputting a superheated water vapor; a turbine for receiving the superheated water vapor to generate energy; a gas scrubber for receiving the H.sub.2 gas from the electrodialysis system and producing dry hydrogen; and a hydrogen cell for receiving the dry hydrogen and outputting energy. A condenser converts the vapor into condensate and low salinity water. A desalinated water collection tank receives the desalinated or low salinity water. A pressure retarded osmosis system receives the brine, the low salinity water, and condensate from the condenser to produce dilute brine.

A system for desalinating water is disclosed. The system comprises a subsea reverse osmosis unit located beneath the surface of a body of water, a first liquid column comprising seawater, a second liquid column comprising desalinated water with a salinity less than seawater, and a brine discharge outlet. Due to the difference in density between the seawater and the desalinated water, the gravitational hydrostatic pressure of the first liquid column may be greater than the gravitational hydrostatic pressure of the second liquid column. At least a portion of the pressure difference for reverse osmosis desalination may be provided by the difference in gravitational hydrostatic pressure between the first liquid column and the second liquid column. A significant reduction in desalination energy consumption may be enabled by discharging the brine at an elevation lower than the maximum elevation of the first liquid column or the second liquid column.

This application relates to an adsorption desalination system using a multi-effect evaporator apparatus. In one aspect, the system includes a multi-effect evaporator apparatus producing high-temperature vapor and low-temperature vapor, a plurality of reaction units including an adsorbent adsorbing or desorbing moisture from the high-temperature vapor and low-temperature vapor and a heat exchange tube transferring heat to the adsorbent. The system may also include a condenser condensing vapor containing moisture desorbed from the adsorbents, and cold-hot water lines selectively supplying chilled water and hot water to the heat exchange tubes. The system may further include vapor lines connecting the multi-effect evaporator apparatus and the reaction units, and the reaction units and the condenser, respectively, valves disposed in the vapor lines, and a valve controller controlling operation of the valves to selectively supply chilled water or hot water supplied to the heat exchange tubes from the cold-hot water lines.

A solar distillation system for producing a distillate and providing cooling for a structure or appliance, and a method of using the system to produce a distillate and cool a structure or appliance. The system includes a distillate cooling coil, a secondary cooling coil, an expansion valve which is capable of controlling an amount of a coolant that flows through each of the coils. The system also includes a compressor, a plurality of sensors including a temperature sensor and a distillate flow sensor, and a controller which receives input from the sensors and controls the activity of the compressor and expansion valve. The system is capable of producing distillate at night in the absence of solar radiation.

The present disclosure provides systems for refrigeration facility cooling and water desalination. In certain aspects, the systems include a refrigeration facility having a water cooling subsystem configured to receive cool water and output warm water and a desalination plant co-located with the refrigeration facility and configured to receive and desalinate the warm water. Aspects of the invention also include methods for cooling a refrigeration facility using a water cooling subsystem and desalinating water with a desalination plant that is co-located with the refrigeration facility.

An anaerobic digestion system may include a material grinding/pulping portion, a hydrolysis portion arranged downstream of the grinding portion, a multiple chamber anaerobic reactor arranged downstream from the hydrolysis portion and including a gas collection and reintroduction system, a collection system for collecting digestate and gas from the anaerobic reactor.

The inventive concepts herein allow several seemingly intractable environmental problems (toxic algae blooms, water pollution, petroleum-based plastics pollution, water contamination, premature retirement of zero-carbon nuclear power plants, etc.) to be solved economically and in a commercially practical way by integrating recovered heat, to grow or sustain organisms, that provide services (e.g. water purification, water pollution remediation, industrial recycling, contaminant degradation, load following) and/or products (e.g. biomaterials, hydrogen).

The present invention discloses an SWRO and MCDI coupled seawater desalination device system with energy recovery, including a pre-filtering unit, an SWRO treatment unit, an MCDI treatment unit, and a post-filtering unit. The SWRO treatment unit is coupled with the MCDI treatment unit. Seawater desalination is performed through a coupling complementary water passage and circuit design, while water quality is improved, and the continuity of water output from a water passage of the device is kept. By recovering the pressure potential energy of high-pressure brine in the SWRO treatment unit and electric energy released by desorption in the MCDI treatment unit, energy consumption is reduced.