A water-softening system includes a filter device including filter units that are provided in at least some of a plurality of supply channels arranged in parallel to supply raw water to a consumption site and that remove at least part of ionic matter contained in supplied raw water by electro-deionization and discharge soft water containing less ionic matter than the raw water, a plurality of supply valves provided in the plurality of supply channels to open or close the supply channels, and a processor connected to the filter device and the plurality of supply valves. The processor determines whether water is supplied to the consumption site and controls at least one of the plurality of supply valves to remain open to maintain a state in which water is allowed to be supplied to the consumption site, when it is determined that no water is supplied to the consumption site.

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 system includes a first fluid inlet and a single reverse osmosis membrane module having a permeate outlet and a first inlet/outlet channel and a second fluid inlet/outlet channel in fluid communication with the first fluid inlet. An energy transfer system has a second fluid inlet, a brine outlet, a first energy exchanging module and a second energy exchanging module. The first and second energy exchanging modules are adapted to reversibly operate in opposite flow phases where a flow direction for the expulsion flow phase in each energy exchanging module is constant and where a flow direction for the energy recover flow phase in each energy exchanging module is constant. The single reverse osmosis membrane module is adapted to reversibly receive a feed flow through one of the first and second fluid inlet/outlet channels and produce a brine outflow through the other of the first and second inlet/outlet channels.

A water savings system and method for reducing the amount of water needed for adiabatic cooling including the use of a softener and a reverse osmosis device, in which tap water, softened if necessary, is delivered to a reverse osmosis device and softened water alone, reverse osmosis reject water, or softened water combined with reverse osmosis reject water is delivered to spray nozzles for cooling, and reverse osmosis pure water is stored and used periodically to flush the coils to inhibit and/or prevent corrosion from dissolved salts and other solids in the spray water.

A draw solute for a forward osmosis process, the draw solute comprising: a thermally responsive ionic compound having at least one of: a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), the draw solute being regeneratable from a diluted aqueous draw solution after forward osmosis via one of: liquid-liquid phase separation and solid-liquid phase separation, the draw solute being regeneratable when the diluted aqueous draw solution is at a temperature selected from one of: above the LCST and below the UCST

A purification device for water has a housing with a longitudinal axis, an upper and a lower end and a substantially round cross section. The device includes a first receptacle, arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing, for a first purification medium, and a second receptacle, which is also arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing, for a second purification medium. The receptacle for the second purification medium is arranged eccentrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing.

A liquid purification system includes a system raw liquid feed unit and a filtration unit, which includes a liquid concentration device having an internal partition dividing a variable volume collection cavity for raw liquid coming from an initial stage of liquid filtration and for mixing therein concentrate and a raw liquid displacement cavity. The cavity is connected to a secondary line that supplies raw liquid to the cavity to displace concentrate from the collection cavity and to recycle raw liquid from the displacement cavity through the secondary line under pressure exerted by concentrate and raw liquid in the collection cavity. A filtration unit provides long-term contact between raw liquid and concentrate in the variable-volume collection cavity to provide smooth increase in the concentration of liquid supplied to a liquid purification device.

A liquid purification system includes a system raw liquid feed unit and a filtration unit, which includes a liquid concentration device having an internal partition dividing a variable volume collection cavity for raw liquid coming from an initial stage of liquid filtration and for mixing therein concentrate and a raw liquid displacement cavity. The cavity is connected to a secondary line that supplies raw liquid to the cavity to displace concentrate from the collection cavity and to recycle raw liquid from the displacement cavity through the secondary line under pressure exerted by concentrate and raw liquid in the collection cavity. A filtration unit provides long-term contact between raw liquid and concentrate in the variable-volume collection cavity to provide smooth increase in the concentration of liquid supplied to a liquid purification device.

A reverse osmosis system includes a membrane unit, an energy recovery device, high and low pressure inlet lines, and a concentrate line. The membrane unit has a membrane, an inlet for receiving a feed fluid, a permeate outlet for discharging a permeate fluid and a concentrate outlet for discharging a concentrate fluid. The energy recovering device has a turbine portion, a turbine inlet and a turbine outlet, a pump portion, a pump inlet and a pump outlet, a motor, and a motor control unit for controlling the motor. The low pressure inlet line is connected to the pump inlet for supplying the feed fluid at a low pressure. The high pressure inlet line connects the pump outlet with the inlet for supplying the feed fluid at a high pressure. The concentrate line connects the concentrate outlet with the turbine inlet for supplying the concentrate fluid to the turbine portion.

This disclosure includes systems and methods for extracting water vapor from atmospheric air and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, systems and methods for optimizing liquid water production from air, in some instances, taking into account diurnal variations. The systems comprise an adsorption zone an a desorption zone, an actuator to move a desiccant between the adsorption zone and the desorption zone. The liquid water production is optimized based, at least in part, on measurements of one or more of: an ambient air temperature, ambient air relative humidity, and a level of solar insolation.