Ion Concentration Polarization (ICP) purification devices and methods for building massively-parallel implementations of the same, said devices being suitable for separation of salts, heavy metals and biological contaminants from source water.

A beverage filter or treatment bottle system has a bottle, lid, and a beverage improvement component such as a filter element. A filter element may be positioned to separate the interior space of the bottle into a filtered beverage compartment and an unfiltered beverage compartment. A tube passes through the filter into fluid communication with the filtered beverage compartment. The tube extends through the unfiltered beverage compartment to a nozzle in the lid of the bottle. A lid cover is fastenable onto the lid to enclose and close the nozzle. A filter cartridge may be provided. A UV sterilizer may be provided. An air bypass may be provided.

A portable, personal advanced-oxidation water treatment system based on ozone and a catalyst such as titanium dioxide that can cycle and purify water to make it potable by removing organic contaminants. The unit can be used for long periods of time without having to replenish the active portions. The unit can be carried in a backpack or in a vehicle. Fresh water is typically loaded into the unit, and the unit is cycled until the water is pure enough to drink. A battery is used to produce ozone and to cycle the water through a reaction vessel and can optionally be charged with a small solar panel The unit can also be powered directly from a vehicle.

A portable liquid-filtration device includes an inlet port, a filtering portion including a filtering medium and fluidly coupled to the inlet port, a filtered-liquid output port fluidly coupled to the filtering portion, a flush port fluidly coupled to the filtering portion, and a manually activated pump assembly fluidly coupled to the inlet port, filtering portion, output port and flush port. The pump assembly is configured, when activated, to create a negative fluid pressure at the inlet port and a positive fluid pressure at the output port and the flush port. As a consequence of activation of the pump assembly, the filtering portion receives unfiltered liquid from the inlet port, the output port receives from the filtering portion only liquid traversing the filtering medium in a first direction, and the flush port receives from the filtering portion liquid traversing the filtering medium in a second direction different from the first direction.

A filter assembly consists of four principal components. The principle components include a top housing containing the means to fasten in a leak proof manner to a valved top of a sport bottle; a base housing; an outer independent charged layered membrane filter; and an inner independent charged layered membrane filter. Each charged layered filter is in a cylindrical form with pleats.

A portable, personal apparatus for treating drinking water comprises a generally tubular or cylindrical filter housing containing filtration media and water-permeable screen or mesh or felt or membrane or netting layer at the top and bottom ends of the filter. The design of the apparatus involves the bottle exterior and interior contouring to the filter and enables the efficient and rapid gravity flow of water in through the filter. The apparatus may be configured such that water is first passed through a top reservoir designed to receive water, followed by a porous mesh, followed by granular filtration and antimicrobial media agitated by turbulent motion of influent water, followed by a porous mesh before reaching a durable and reusable water containment vessel.

Systems and methods of filtering particulate matter from a fluid are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a system for filtering particulate matter having suspended particles, organic contaminants, and microorganisms from a fluid comprises a main filter assembly having an activated carbon block disposed therein. The carbon block has distributed pores with a diameter of less than one micron. Further, the carbon block is operable to filter all of the particulate matter having a diameter or a non-spherical width of at least 0.45 microns from the fluid, and adsorb the particulate matter having a diameter or a non-spherical width of at least 0.003 microns from the fluid.

A water generation system for a vehicle comprises: a first container to collect liquid water generated from the condensation of water vapor; a filter to filter the liquid water, the filter in fluid flow communication with the first container; a second container to store the liquid water that the filter filtered, the second container (i) in fluid flow communication with the filter and (ii) configured to hold a larger volume of the liquid water than the first container; and a source of ultraviolet light that, when activated, emits the ultraviolet light into at least one of the first container and the second container. The water generation system can further comprise an agitator that is configured to agitate the liquid water disposed within either the first container or the second container, and a cooling element configured to withdraw heat from the liquid water within the water generation system.

The present invention provides a formulation and method for preparing a fibrous material comprising nanofibers. The formulation comprises (a) at least one polymer, (b) at least one solvent in which the at least one polymer is dissolved to provide a polymer solution, and (c) at least one functional additive that imparts functionality to the fibrous material. The at least one functional additive is dissolvable or suspensible in the polymer solution. The formulation is able to remove or reduce the concentration of bacteria, viruses and heavy metals while maintaining high filtration efficiency. The invention also relates to a fibrous material prepared by the formulation and applications of the fibrous material.

A movable seal for interfacing between a first surface and a second surface includes a floating portion attached to a non-floating portion by a flexible coupling portion, wherein the non-floating portion is coupled to the first surface by nesting in a groove on the first surface, and wherein the non-floating portion forms a seal between the first and second surfaces when the first surface moves relative to the second surface in a first direction, and wherein the non-floating portion does not form a seal between the first and second surfaces when the first surface moves relative to the second surface in a second opposite direction.