A method for producing ultrapure water includes supplying raw water (industrial water, tap water, well water, or used ultrapure water discharged from semiconductor plants) to a pretreatment system for treating the raw water to produce water, supplying the water to a primary water purification system having a reverse osmosis membrane separation unit to produce a primarily purified water, and supplying the primarily purified water to a secondary purification system to produce ultrapure water.

A method for producing ultrapure water includes supplying raw water (industrial water, tap water, well water, or used ultrapure water discharged from semiconductor plants) to a pretreatment system for treating the raw water to produce water, supplying the water to a primary water purification system having a reverse osmosis membrane separation unit to produce a primarily purified water, and supplying the primarily purified water to a secondary purification system to produce ultrapure water.

A method includes supplying a supersaturated brine stream having a plurality of minerals and anti-scalant from a water treatment system to a gypsum removal system disposed within a mineral removal system. The gypsum removal system includes a gypsum reactor that may receive the supersaturated brine, may deactivate the anti-scalant such that gypsum precipitates from the supersaturated brine, and may generate a gypsum slurry having a mixture of desupersaturated brine, precipitated gypsum, and the anti-scalant in solution with the desupersaturated brine. The method also includes supplying gypsum seed crystals to the gypsum reactor. The gypsum seed crystals may precipitate the gypsum from the supersaturated brine to generate the gypsum slurry. The method also includes directing a first portion of the gypsum slurry from the gypsum reactor to a gypsum settler. The gypsum settler may reactivate the anti-scalant such that the anti-scalant absorbs onto the precipitated gypsum to remove the anti-scalant from the desupersaturated brine and may generate anti-scalant-gypsum crystals and a desupersaturated overflow having at least a portion of the plurality of minerals. The method further includes generating the gypsum seed crystals supplied to the gypsum reactor using the anti-scalant-gypsum crystals.

A method includes supplying a supersaturated brine stream having a plurality of minerals and anti-scalant from a water treatment system to a gypsum removal system disposed within a mineral removal system. The gypsum removal system includes a gypsum reactor that may receive the supersaturated brine, may deactivate the anti-scalant such that gypsum precipitates from the supersaturated brine, and may generate a gypsum slurry having a mixture of desupersaturated brine, precipitated gypsum, and the anti-scalant in solution with the desupersaturated brine. The method also includes supplying gypsum seed crystals to the gypsum reactor. The gypsum seed crystals may precipitate the gypsum from the supersaturated brine to generate the gypsum slurry. The method also includes directing a first portion of the gypsum slurry from the gypsum reactor to a gypsum settler. The gypsum settler may reactivate the anti-scalant such that the anti-scalant absorbs onto the precipitated gypsum to remove the anti-scalant from the desupersaturated brine and may generate anti-scalant-gypsum crystals and a desupersaturated overflow having at least a portion of the plurality of minerals. The method further includes generating the gypsum seed crystals supplied to the gypsum reactor using the anti-scalant-gypsum crystals.

A desalination system, including a membrane distillation portion, a solar power concentration portion, and a thermal vapor compression portion operationally connected to the membrane distillation portion and to the solar power concentration portion. The membrane distillation portion includes a first vessel having a first portion and a second portion separated by a hydrophobic membrane operationally connected therebetween and oriented to pass water from the first portion to the second portion, wherein the hydrophobic membrane further comprises a hydrophilic membrane and an air blocking layer connected to the hydrophilic membrane and disposed in the first portion, a vacuum gap adjacent the hydrophobic membrane and disposed in the second portion, a first fluid inlet and a first fluid outlet operationally connected to the first portion, and a second fluid inlet and a second fluid outlet operationally connected to the second portion. The solar power concentration portion includes a pump having a pump outlet and a pump inlet operationally connected to a water line and to the vacuum gap, a linear Fresnel mirror collector for collecting and focusing sunlight, and an outlet line operationally connected to the pump outlet and positioned to receive focused sunlight from linear Fresnel mirror collector. The thermal vapor compression portion includes an ejector having an ejector inlet portion and an ejector outlet portion, wherein the ejector inlet portion is operationally connected to the outlet line and to the vacuum gap, a second vessel fluidically connected to the outlet portion and further including a heat exchanger operationally connected to the ejector outlet portion and to a water pipe, a feed spray operationally connected to the second outlet and positioned to spray into the heat exchanger, and a collection portion for receiving concentrated feed spray. The heat exchanger receives desalinated water from the ejector and from the feed spray. The water line carries desalinated water from the heat exchanger. The first outlet passes concentrated brine, and the first inlet receives feed water to be desalinated.

Certain disclosed embodiments concern systems and methods of preparing dialysate for use in a home dialysis system that is compact and light-weight relative to existing systems and consumes relatively low amounts of energy. The method includes coupling a household water stream to a dialysis system; filtering the water stream; heating the water stream to at least about 138 degrees Celsius in a non-batch process to produce a heated water stream; maintaining the heated water stream at or above at least about 138 degrees Celsius for at least about two seconds; cooling the heated water stream to produce a cooled water stream; ultrafiltering the cooled water stream; and mixing dialysate components into the cooled water stream in a non-batch process.

Certain disclosed embodiments concern systems and methods of preparing dialysate for use in a home dialysis system that is compact and light-weight relative to existing systems and consumes relatively low amounts of energy. The method includes coupling a household water stream to a dialysis system; filtering the water stream; heating the water stream to at least about 138 degrees Celsius in a non-batch process to produce a heated water stream; maintaining the heated water stream at or above at least about 138 degrees Celsius for at least about two seconds; cooling the heated water stream to produce a cooled water stream; ultrafiltering the cooled water stream; and mixing dialysate components into the cooled water stream in a non-batch process.

Disclosed is a process for enriching silicate content in drinking water that includes separating raw water via reverse osmosis into a permeate comprising demineralised raw water and a retentate comprising mineral enriched raw water. The permeate is mixed with a water glass solution comprising sodium silicate and/or potassium silicate. An ion exchange process is used to reduce the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions in at least part of the mixture. At least part of the retentate is supplied to the mixture after reducing the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions to provide a silicate-enriched drinking water. Also disclosed is an apparatus for producing a drinking water enriched with silicate. The apparatus includes a reverse osmosis unit, a mixing unit, an ion exchanger, and a feed unit for feeding at least part of the retentate to the mixture after reducing the concentration of sodium and/or potassium ions.

By completely removing the gas dissolved in the water, the ultra-high-pressure collision between the water flows is realized. This ultra-high pressure collision not only breaks the hydrogen bond between water molecules, but also breaks the structure of water molecules, making water (H.sub.2O) instantly become H.sup.+, OH.sup.−, O.sup.− ionic state, or even become independent hydrogen atom (H) and oxygen atom (O) states, and then return to the normal water molecule (H.sub.2O) state in an instant. By maintaining high pressurized state (maturity), stabilize the link between above-mentioned original water molecules (H.sub.2O). Through above-mentioned process of instantaneous breaking and instantaneous recovery, every water molecule is caused to become full of activity.

A filter unit for a mixing apparatus includes a hydrophilic filter and a hydrophobic vent filter. The hydrophilic filter is configured to receive a fluid including a liquid and gas. The hydrophilic filter is further configured to sterilize the liquid. The hydrophobic vent filter is configured to receive the gas from the hydrophilic filter. The hydrophobic vent filter further includes a vent and a membrane configured to separate an interior of the filter unit from an exterior of the filter unit, the gas being vented from the filter unit by flowing across the membrane and out of the vent. In some embodiments, the filter unit further includes a defoaming device configured to receive gas, foam comprised the liquid containing trapped gas, and some of the liquid from the hydrophilic filter and is further configured to release at least some of the gas from the foam.