A tubular membrane pervaporation separation system, comprising a heater, one or multiple membrane separators arranged in parallel, a condenser and a vacuum pump; the separator comprises a vacuum vessel, a concurrent heating vessel and one or multiple pervaporation lines arranged in parallel; the line comprises membrane tube bundle modules and concurrent heating modules connected in series or in a series-parallel hybrid form, in the line, the membrane tube bundle modules are arranged between two adjacent concurrent heating modules; the vacuum vessel is connected to the condenser and the vacuum pump in sequence; the concurrent heating vessel is provided with an inlet and an outlet; one end of the line is connected to the heater and the other end is used to discharge; the modules are placed respectively in the vacuum vessel and the concurrent heating vessel, comprise one or multiple membrane tubes and concurrent heating tubes arranged in parallel respectively.

Provided is a water purifier comprising: a filter unit which has a reverse osmosis membrane filter; a supply valve; an instantaneous heating device which is provided with an inflow port, and an outflow port, and which heats and purified water entering through the inflow port and flowing to the outflow port, so that hot water is discharged through the outflow port; an extraction member; a supply pump; a domestic water drain line; a hot water drain line; a hot water drain valve; and a control unit which controls the opening/closing of respective flow channels of the hot water drain line and the domestic water drain line so that, among a hot water draining process through the hot water drain line, and a domestic water draining process through the domestic water drain line, the hot water draining process is carried out first.

Provided is a water purifier comprising: a filter unit which has a reverse osmosis membrane filter; a supply valve; an instantaneous heating device which is provided with an inflow port, and an outflow port, and which heats and purified water entering through the inflow port and flowing to the outflow port, so that hot water is discharged through the outflow port; an extraction member; a supply pump; a domestic water drain line; a hot water drain line; a hot water drain valve; and a control unit which controls the opening/closing of respective flow channels of the hot water drain line and the domestic water drain line so that, among a hot water draining process through the hot water drain line, and a domestic water draining process through the domestic water drain line, the hot water draining process is carried out first.

A process to treat water includes adding a salt-forming base to the water thereby producing saline water, or thereby forming a salt in the water which is different from a salt that the water started out with, if the water started out as saline. The saline water is treated, at a temperature T1 which is above the saturation temperature of the saline water, in a first membrane separation stage to provide clean water and a first brine, the salinity of the first brine being higher than the salinity of the saline water. The first brine is cooled to a temperature T2 to precipitate some of the salt from the first brine and the precipitated salt is separated from the first brine producing a second brine, the temperature T2 being below the temperature T1 but above the freezing temperature of the first brine. The second brine is treated at a temperature T3 above the saturation temperature of the second brine in a second membrane separation stage to provide clean water and a third brine. The salt-forming base, the temperature T1 and the temperature T2 are selected so that the salt which is formed in the saline water has a solubility in water at the temperature T1 which is at least 1.5 times the solubility of the salt in water at the temperature T2.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus related to water desalination. In one aspect, a method includes generating a diluted draw solution using forward osmosis. Wastewater is on a first side of an osmotic membrane and a draw solution is on a second side of the osmotic membrane. The draw solution comprises a mixture of water and an ionic liquid. Water in the wastewater diffuses across the osmotic membrane to the draw solution to form the diluted draw solution. The diluted draw solution is heated using a photonic heater to a temperature above a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the ionic liquid to phase separate the diluted draw solution into the ionic liquid and treated water.

The present invention relates to a thermo-responsive solution and in particular, a solution for use in an osmosis process that is suitable for separating or purifying solutes and or water from an aqueous solution on a large scale and under energy efficient conditions.

The invention relates to the field of dairy products and particularly concerns a method for the demineralization of whey. The method according to the invention comprises the following steps: obtaining a whey, electrodialysis of the whey at a temperature of 30° C. to 60° C., acidification of the whey to a pH of between 2 and 3.5, pasteurization of the acidified whey, electrodialysis of the pasteurized acidified whey at a temperature of 30° C. to 60° C., and neutralization of the demineralized whey to a pH between 6.7 and 7.2. The method according to the invention makes it possible to achieve the whey demineralization using only the method of electrodialysis while avoiding the problems conventionally encountered with this method, namely a limited demineralization rate, fouling of the membranes, and an insufficient service life.

A water treatment apparatus including: a forward osmosis device configured to allow a diluted draw solution to flow out and to discharge a water-containing solution; a heater configured to heat the diluted draw solution; a water separator configured to separate the diluted draw solution heated by the heater into a water-rich solution and the draw solution having water content lower than that of the water-rich solution; a cooler configured to cool a liquid and allow the liquid to flow out as a coolant; an inflow side heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the coolant flowed out from the cooler and the draw solution flowed out from the water separator; and an outflow side heat exchanger configured to perform heat exchange between the diluted draw solution flowed out from the forward osmosis device and the water-rich solution flowed out from the water separator.

The present invention relates to a thermo-responsive solution and in particular, a solution for use in an osmosis process that is suitable for separating or purifying solutes and or water from an aqueous solution on a large scale and under energy efficient conditions.

A waste water treatment system including an electrolysis treatment system and three membrane concentration systems. The electrolysis treatment system includes a first chamber that receives waste water and produces treated waste water, a second chamber that receives first recycled water and produces dilute acid discharge, and a third chamber that receives second recycled water and produces dilute caustic discharge. An anion exchange membrane separates the first chamber from the second chamber. A cation exchange membrane separates the first chamber from the third chamber. The membrane concentration system receives the treated waste water and produces a concentrated aqueous sodium sulfate product and a pure water product. A first thermal concentration system receives the dilute acid discharge and produces first recycled water and a concentrated acid product. The second thermal concentration system receives the dilute caustic discharge and produces second recycled water and a concentrated aqueous sodium sulfate product.