A method for controlling treatment of an industrial water system is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing an apparatus for controlling delivery of at least one treatment chemical, the apparatus comprising at least one sensor and an electronic input/output device carrying out a protocol; measuring a parameter of the industrial water system using the at least one sensor; relaying the measured parameter to the electronic device; adjusting the protocol based on the measured parameter; delivering a concentrated treatment chemical into a stream of the industrial water system according to the adjusted protocol, the concentrated treatment chemical comprising an active ingredient, the active ingredient traced as necessary, the active ingredient having a concentration; repeating the measuring, the adjusting, and the delivering; and optionally repeating the steps for n-number of parameters, n-number of active ingredients, and/or n-number of concentrated treatment chemicals.

A hybrid electro-pressure driven method for the recovery, purification, and concentration of lithium salts is described. A fractionating electrodialysis stack equipped with selective ion exchange membranes is s used to separate a lithium containing brine into a monovalent enriched fraction and a divalent enriched fraction. The monovalent enriched fraction is further processed to remove remaining impurities by use of pressure driven nanofiltration. An optional concentrating electrodialysis device may further concentrate the monovalent enriched fraction in lithium content. The method may be combined with a subsequent solvent extraction and electrolysis step to produce lithium hydroxide, a Li+ selective sorbent step for producing purified lithium chloride, or a Li+ selective sorbent and precipitative step to produce lithium carbonate.

A method of separating and recovering a cobalt salt and a nickel salt includes a separation step of separating, by using a nanofiltration membrane, a cobalt salt and a nickel salt from a rare metal-containing aqueous solution containing at least both the cobalt salt and the nickel salt as rare metals, in which the nanofiltration membrane has a glucose permeability of 3 times or more a sucrose permeability, the sucrose permeability of 10% or less, and an isopropyl alcohol permeability of 50% or more when a 1,000 mg/L glucose aqueous solution, a 1,000 mg/L sucrose aqueous solution, and a 1,000 mg/L isopropyl alcohol aqueous solution, each having a pH of 6.5 and a temperature of 25° C., individually permeate through the nanofiltration membrane at an operating pressure of 0.5 MPa.

The present invention relates to a method for separating biomass from a solution comprising bi-omass and at least one aroma compound. comprising providing the solution comprising bio-mass and aroma compounds. lowering the pH value of the solution below 7 by adding at least one acid to the solution comprising biomass and the at least one aroma compound. adding an adsorbing agent to the solution comprising biomass and aroma compounds. and carrying out first membrane filtration so as to separate the biomass from the solution comprising the at least one aroma compound.

A method of removing chemical contaminants from a composition comprising an active, a solvent, and a contaminant can include providing an initial feed supply, wherein the initial feed supply comprises the active, the solvent, and the contaminant, wherein the contaminant can include 1,4 dioxane, dimethyl dioxane, or a combination thereof; including filtering the initial feed stock through a nanofilter and using reverse osmosis.

A process for recovery of lithium ions from a lithium-bearing brine includes contacting the lithium-bearing brine with a lithium ion sieve (where that LIS includes an oxide of titanium or niobium) in a first stirred reactor to form a lithium ion complex with the lithium ion sieve, and decomplexing the lithium ion from the lithium ion sieve in a second stirred reactor to form the lithium ion sieve and an acidic lithium salt eluate.

A method of concentrating lithium containing solutions includes inputting a feed brine solution to an initial separation stage, the feed brine solution including lithium sulfate and one or more of sodium sulfate, potassium sulfate, calcium sulfate, and sodium chloride dissolved in water. In the initial separation stage, the feed brine solution is introduced to a pre-treatment membrane at a pressure that is less than the osmotic pressure of the feed brine solution. An initial permeate that passes through the pre-treatment membrane becomes the feed to a final separation stage, and an initial retentate that does not pass through the pre-treatment membrane includes a precipitate of at least one of the salts other than lithium sulfate. In the final separation stage, the initial permeate is introduced to a nanofiltration membrane at a pressure that is less than the osmotic pressure of the initial permeate. A final retentate that does not pass through the nanofiltration membrane is combined with the initial retentate to obtain a product solution having a higher concentration of dissolved lithium sulfate than the feed brine solution.

A method for filtering a protein-containing liquid containing protein at a concentration of 20 mg/mL or more and 100 mg/mL or less, the method including a prefiltration step of filtering the protein-containing liquid by a prefilter having a pore size of 0.08 μm to 0.25 μm and including a hydrophobic resin, and a virus removal step of filtering the protein-containing liquid by a virus removal membrane including a synthetic polymer, after the prefiltration step, wherein the protein-containing liquid before conducting the prefiltration step includes 0.25 g or more of a trimer or higher multimer of the proteins having an average diameter of less than 100 nm, per 1 m.sup.2 of the virus removal membrane.

A high salinity water purification system and process, including a forward osmosis system and a reverse osmosis or nanofiltration system. A concentrated brine of a zinc or iron complex combined with a salt or acid draws pure water across the FO membrane from the influent water. The diluted brine is pumped through a vessel holding an anionic adsorption media to remove the zinc or iron complex and the resultant brine is passed through the RO or nanofiltration system to obtain purified water and a concentrated brine stream. The adsorption media is regenerated by a rinse cycle using fresh water or water from the RO system, removing the zinc or iron complex adhered to the media. The resultant brine is stored and mixed with the output of the RO system. Charged membrane can be used as a standalone membrane in FO process or in combination with resin or resin embedded membrane.

A method for modifying the flow capabilities of an existing tangential flow filtration (TFF) system is contemplated in which the processing capabilities of the existing static TFF system may be increased without requiring the addition of additional systems running in parallel. This may be achieved via adjusting or replacing certain of the components of the TFF skid to accommodate a tubing set having a larger (or smaller) internal diameter than the existing tubing set or the tubing set for which the TFF system was originally manufactured. In this fashion, it may be seen that an existing skid may have its flow capabilities dramatically increased. It is further contemplated that a retrofit kit for an existing TFF system for use according to the described method may be provided.