Thermal Desalination
AssigneeSurrey Aquatechnology Limited
InventorPeter Nicoll
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal desalination process comprising: introducing a feed solution into a thermal separation unit, distilling the feed solution in the thermal separation unit to produce a distillate stream and a residual stream having a higher solute concentration than the feed solution, contacting a portion of the residual stream from the thermal separation unit with one side of a selectively permeable membrane, contacting the opposite side of the selectively permeable membrane with a portion of the feed solution, such that water flows across the membrane to dilute the residual stream by direct osmosis, and introducing at least a portion of the diluted residual stream into the thermal separation unit.
Claims10
A thermal desalination process comprising:
- introducing a feed solution into a thermal separation unit,
- distilling the feed solution in the thermal separation unit to produce a distillate stream and a residual stream having a higher solute concentration than the feed solution,
- contacting a portion of the residual stream from the thermal separation unit with one side of a selectively permeable membrane,
- contacting the opposite side of the selectively permeable membrane with a portion of the feed solution, such that water flows across the membrane to dilute the residual stream by direct osmosis, and
- introducing at least a portion of the diluted residual stream into the thermal separation unit.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, which further comprises removing and discarding a portion of the residual stream from the thermal separation unit as blowdown.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, which comprises heating the portion of feed solution prior to contact with the selectively permeable membrane.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the portion of feed solution is treated with an anti-scaling agent and/or an anti-microbial agent prior to contact with the selectively permeable membrane.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the portion of the residual solution is treated with an anti-scaling agent and/or an anti-microbial agent prior to contact with the selectively permeable membrane.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the residual solution is treated to remove particulate, organic or other substances prior to introduction to the membrane.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the feed solution is treated to remove particulate, organic or other substances prior to introduction to the membrane.
A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the selectively permeable membrane has an average pore size of 10 to 40 Angstroms.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.