A reverse osmosis method of separating a solvent from a feed, the method comprising
- filling a cylindrical drum of a reverse osmosis unit of a reverse osmosis apparatus with the feed in a manner such that an inner cylindrical feed chamber of the cylindrical drum and a feed-flow-region of an outer annular separation chamber of the cylindrical drum is filled up with the feed, wherein the reverse osmosis unit comprises
- a housing,
- the cylindrical drum disposed inside the housing and coupled to the housing in a manner so as to be rotatable relative to the housing about a longitudinal axis of the cylindrical drum, wherein a lateral gap between an exterior cylindrical surface of the cylindrical drum and the housing defines an intervening chamber, wherein the cylindrical drum comprises
- an outer cylindrical wall defining an interior cylindrical space of the cylindrical drum, and
- an inner cylindrical wall partitioning the interior cylindrical space into the inner cylindrical feed chamber encircled by the inner cylindrical wall and the outer annular separation chamber between the inner cylindrical wall and the outer cylindrical wall, and
- at least one channeling structure extending radially from the inner cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum to the outer cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum and sub-dividing the outer annular separation chamber into at least a permeate channel and the feed-flow-region, the at least one channeling structure defining the permeate channel therewithin, wherein a first channel end of the at least one channeling structure at the inner cylindrical wall is closed to separate the permeate channel from the inner cylindrical feed chamber and a second channel end of the at least one channeling structure is opened through the outer cylindrical wall to open the permeate channel into the intervening chamber, wherein the inner cylindrical wall has an opening for direct fluid communication between the inner cylindrical feed chamber and the feed-flow-region of the outer annular separation chamber, wherein the at least one channeling structure comprises
- a membrane element extending lengthwise along the at least one channeling structure from the inner cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum to the outer cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum, the membrane element being a semi-permeable interface between the permeate channel and the feed-flow-region of the outer annular separation chamber;
- pressurizing, via a pump of the reverse osmosis apparatus in fluid communication with the inner cylindrical feed chamber of the cylindrical drum, the feed in the inner cylindrical feed chamber of the cylindrical drum and the feed-flow-region of the outer annular separation chamber of the cylindrical drum to be equal to or higher than an osmotic pressure of the feed for reverse osmosis;
- and
- rotating the cylindrical drum relative to the housing, via a motor of the reverse osmosis apparatus coupled to the cylindrical drum, to continuously increase, via a centrifugal force generated, a pressure of the feed in the feed-flow-region of the outer annular separation chamber along the membrane element with increasing distance from the inner cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum to the outer cylindrical wall of the cylindrical drum.