A carbon dioxide production system 10A includes: a fuel cell stack 16; a separation unit 20 that separates anode off-gas into a non-fuel gas including at least carbon dioxide and water and a regenerative fuel gas; a second heat exchanger 32 that separates water from the non-fuel gas; a water tank 42; and a carbon dioxide recovery tank 48 that recovers the carbon dioxide after the water has been separated.

The present invention provides a heat-driven adsorption vacuum dehumidification system including a vapor adsorption apparatus having a water permeable hydrophilic membrane separating the apparatus into at least a feed section and a low-pressure or vacuum section (evaporator), and providing a water vapor pressure difference to extract moisture from the air flowing through the apparatus into the evaporator, followed by adsorption in an adsorption chamber, and subsequently desorbed when acted as a desorption chamber to form water vapor which is condensed in a condenser. Adsorption and desorption chambers inter-change periodically to form a complete system cycle. Heating of chamber/compartment can be from waste heat or a renewable source in the absence of any electricity supplied externally. Related method for using a heat-driven adsorption vacuum dehumidification system to remove moisture from the air is also provided. The present invention is superior to the adsorption chiller over a wide range of operating conditions.

A coalescence filter for purifying a fluid which contains a carrier and at least one liquid contaminant by coalescing of the at least one contaminant, where the coalescence filter includes an inlet for supplying the fluid to a filter element present in the coalescence filter, where the filter element includes a primary coalescence medium which is provided for coalescing of the at least one contaminant in the primary coalescence medium during the displacement of the fluid through the primary coalescence medium. The coalescence filter further includes an outlet for discharging the coalesced contaminant from the filter element, where the primary coalescence medium comprises at least one layer of a porous material, where the primary coalescence medium has a total thickness of at least 3.5 mm.

An environmental control system includes an air conditioning subsystem and a contaminant removal subsystem downstream of the environment to be conditioned. The contaminant removal subsystem includes: a first gas-liquid contactor-separator; a second gas-liquid contactor-separator; and a dehumidifier disposed either upstream of the first gas-liquid contactor-separator or downstream of the second gas-liquid contactor-separator.

A device for exchange of water molecule and temperature between two fluids. The device comprises thin molecular sieve membrane sheets that allow water molecules to permeate through while blocking cross-over of the exchanging fluids. The device provides two sets of flow channels having a hydraulic diameter ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 mm for respective process and sweep fluid flows. The two sets of the channels are separated by a membrane sheet having a thickness less than 200 μm. The thin molecule sieve membrane may be prepared by forming an ultra-thin zeolite membrane layer on a porous metal-based support sheet which provides very high water permeance so that the exchange can be conducted in a compact membrane module at high throughput. The device can be used to remove water from a process stream of higher water content by use of a sweep fluid of lower water content or higher water affinity. For example, the device can be used to condition outdoor fresh air close to the temperature and humidity of indoor air by conducting humidity and heat exchange between the fresh air flow drawn from outdoors and waste air discharged indoors.

There is accordingly provided a device for measuring a person's ventilation including oxygen consumption. The device includes a breathing conduit with at least one sensor sampling port. The device includes a dehumidification conduit extending from the sensor sampling port towards a sensor. The dehumidification conduit has a proximal end portion flush with the sensor sampling port. The dehumidification conduit has a longitudinal axis about which the proximal end portion thereof extends. The breathing conduit is shaped to promote a flow of air adjacent the sensor sampling port in one or more directions perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

An apparatus and system for separating a liquid from a mixed gas stream includes a porous graphite foam support comprising graphite foam with pores having a first pore size and a membrane support surface. A porous condensation membrane layer is provided on the membrane support surface, and interlocked with the pores of the graphite foam. The condensation membrane layer includes capillary condensation pores having a second pore size that is less than the first pore size. A mixed gas stream passageway is in fluid communication with the condensation membrane layer. A liquid collection assembly collects condensed liquid from the condensation pores and the graphite foam support pores. A gas inlet is provided for flowing the mixed gas stream into the mixed gas stream passageway. A gas outlet is provided for exhausting gas from the mixed gas stream passageway. A method for separating a liquid from a mixed gas stream is also disclosed.

An air conditioning (AC) system is provided, employing a sulfonated copolymer (SC) layer as a selectively permeable and ion exchanging membrane. The sulfonated block copolymer has an IEC greater than 0.5 meq/g. In embodiments, the sulfonated block copolymer is used to form the membrane itself, or bonded/coated onto a membrane or a foam. In embodiments, the AC employs a membrane electrode assembly, i.e., using electric field across a membrane in a dehumidifier to transport moisture generating a dry air stream, along with an evaporative cooler for latent heat removal via evaporation induced cooling of the dry air stream from the dehumidifier. The system operates as a closed loop wherein the room air after cooling is recycled or loop back to the dehumidifying membrane electrode assembly to generate dry air for the evaporative cooler, generating conditioned air.

Polymer blends comprising an ortho-functionalized polyimide homo or copolymer and a polybenzimidazole homo or copolymer, wherein the ortho-functionalized polyimide thermally rearranges to a polymer comprising a phenylene heterocyclic group, such as, polybenzoxazole, polybenzothiazole, polybenzimidazole and/or other heterocyclic structure upon heating. Also disclosed are method of forming a polymer blend comprising dissolving an ortho-functionalized polyimide homo or copolymer and a polybenzimidazole homo or copolymer in a solvent, and optional compatibilizer, to form a polymer solution; contacting a support with the polymer solution; and evaporating the solvent to provide a thin layer comprising the polymer blend on the support. Further, methods of heat treating these polymer blends to thermally rearrange the disclosed polyimides are disclosed, as are the polymer blends prepared thereby. Methods of using these polymer blends to separate gases are also disclosed.

An ambient water condenser system is described having a condensation chamber which at least partially contains or surrounds a fluid reservoir which contains a volume or mass of an aqueous hygroscopic solution for condensing water from ambient air and a distillation process for extracting the water from the solution. The fluid reservoir has a heat source, a lower porous hydrophobic membrane, and an upper porous hydrophobic membrane. The heat source causes the hygroscopic solution near the top of reservoir to have a higher temperature which causes it to have a higher water vapor pressure, whereby the water vapor passing through the upper porous hydrophobic membrane and into the condensation chamber condenses into liquid water.