A membrane for water collection may include a sheet having a top surface and a bottom surface, and a plurality of conical structures disposed on the top surface of the sheet, the conical structures comprising a hydrogel material. Each conical structure of the plurality of conical structures may have a height of 1 mm to 50 mm, wherein height is measured from the top surface of the sheet to an apex of a conical structure. Each conical structure of the plurality of conical structures may have an apex angle of 10 to 60 degrees.

An emitter apparatus is mounted on a marine structure powered by wind or marine hydrokinetic energy to disperse a carbon dioxide sorbent such as sodium hydroxide. The sorbent can be generated by reverse osmosis of seawater with electrolysis of the brine, or delivered from an external supply. Suitable marine structures include offshore wind turbines, marine hydrokinetic generators, offshore oil platforms, merchant vessels, and other fixed and mobile structures. Effective capture is made by dispersing a fine mist or fog of aqueous sorbent from nozzles with a particle size from a nozzle of less than 100 microns. The sorbent reacts with atmospheric carbon dioxide forming carbonates and bicarbonates, which drift and fall to the ocean surface, reducing surface acidity and capturing additional atmospheric carbon dioxide via absorption at the local ocean surface. The resulting carbonates sink to the ocean floor and are there sequestered.

The invention relates to 100% renewably-powered desalination/water purification stations for universal applications, the station is disruptive, scalable, amphibious and deportable to seawater, brackish or spill oil sites for simple wave-powered and autonomous operations, the station has a mooring assembly with pumping-purification-delivery subsystems powered by wave and solar energies, the pumping subsystems has the simplest, most efficient wave push/pull pump mechanisms powered by amplified wave centrifugal forces , the mechanical purifications has turbine filters, reverse-osmosis filters, forward-osmosis filters and relief valves to backwash buildups without releasing brine, release water through collecting spill oil, the solar thermal purifications are provided with distilling processes under vaccine conditions, the delivery subsystems with wave turbines and solar panels for generating electricity, propellering and transferring the stations for delivering fresh waters to destinations under GPS guide with the lowest LCOW.

A control system includes one or more levels of control of power and energy. At one level, a first controller optimally divides power between two or more processes, to maximize instantaneous production, for a given amount of currently available power. In the case of EDR desalination, electric power is optimally divided between ion exchange membranes and pumps to maximize instantaneous production of desalinated water for a given amount of available electric power. Optionally, at another level, a second controller divides time-varying power between the processes fed by the first level controller and an energy storage unit, based on a prediction of future power availability and a function. In the EDR case, power generated by a photovoltaic array is divided between the EDR desalination process and a battery, based on a prediction of future PV power availability and a function, to ensure reliable water production in the future.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods for purifying aqueous solutions. For example, disclosed herein are flexible membrane distillation systems comprising one or more stages stacked on top of each other, wherein each stage comprises: a feedwater layer; a membrane distillation layer; a distillate layer; and a thermally conductive layer. The systems further comprise substantially impermeable top surface, bottom surface, and perimeter. Each feedwater layer is independently receives a portion of a contaminated aqueous solution (a feed solution). Each feedwater layer further receives heat from a heat source to distill at least a portion of the feed solution through the membrane distillation layer, thereby producing a distillate in the distillate layer. Distilling said portion of the feed solution through the membrane distillation layer purifies said portion of the feed solution to produce a purified aqueous solution, which is condensed in the distillate layer to form a condensate.

A wave-powered floating water pump apparatus comprises a housing operatively connected to a piston capable of reciprocating therein, and an exterior float. The housing interior defines a compression chamber including a compression chamber back valve. The compression chamber back valve opens when the apparatus descends in the ocean, and closes when the float lifts the apparatus. The piston comprises a piston shaft with a piston back valve therein, constructed and arranged to permit water which enters the piston shaft in response to water pressure from the compression chamber only to exit the top of the piston shaft at a higher elevation. A floating generator system for harnessing energy from ocean waves to produce usable electrical energy may include the pump, a water storage reservoir and a hydro-turbine. A system for purifying and desalinating water may include the pump, a semi-permeable membrane for reverse osmosis and a reservoir for purified water.

The present invention relates to shallow water subsea desalination system with a subsea desalination template (20) located on a seabed. A retrievable subsea RO-module (4) is located in a subsea RO-module zone (23) of the subsea desalination template (20) and is connected to a RO-module connection. A seawater booster pump assembly (1) includes a seawater inlet (7) and an outlet in fluid connection with a seawater inlet side of the RO-cartridge assembly. A retrievable subsea booster module (2) includes the seawater booster pump assembly (1). A pressure regulator (11) is in fluid connection with a retentate side of the least one retrievable subsea RO-module (4).

The invention relates to 100% renewably-powered desalination/water purification stations for universal applications, the station is disruptive, scalable, amphibious and deportable to seawater, brackish or spill oil sites for simple wave-powered and autonomous operations, the station has a mooring assembly with pumping-purification-delivery subsystems powered by wave and solar energies, the pumping subsystems has the simplest, most efficient wave push/pull pump mechanisms powered by amplified wave centrifugal forces , the mechanical purifications has turbine filters, reverse-osmosis filters, forward-osmosis filters and relief valves to backwash buildups without releasing brine, release water through collecting spill oil, the solar thermal purifications are provided with distilling processes under vaccine conditions, the delivery subsystems with wave turbines and solar panels for generating electricity, propellering and transferring the stations for delivering fresh waters to destinations under GPS guide with the lowest LCOW.

A water purification system utilizes an ionomer membrane and mild vacuum to draw water from source water through the membrane. A water source may be salt water or a contaminated water source. The water drawn through the membrane passes across the condenser chamber to a condenser surface where it is condensed into purified water. The condenser surface may be metal or any other suitable surface and may be flat or pleated. In addition, the condenser surface may be maintained at a lower temperature than the water on the water source side of the membrane. The ionomer membrane may be configured in a cartridge, a pleated or flat plate configuration. A latent heat loop may be configured to carry the latent heat of vaporization from the condenser back to the water source side of the ionomer membrane. The source water may be heated by a solar water heater.

A solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane is provided. The solar-thermal vapor-permeation membrane includes a thermally conductive, microporous support layer having a feed surface, and an active separation layer adjacent the feed surface of the support layer. The support layer is capable of absorbing solar-thermal radiation. Utilization of solar energy for a membrane separation process replaces fossil-fuel derived energy with renewable energy as the driving force and does not involve the generation of undesirable greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the solar-thermal vapor-permeation process using the provided membrane is cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly.