Water extraction using a directional solvent
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsAnurag Bajpayee, Stephan Josef Peter Kress, Kevin Kleinguetl, Gang Chen, Michael Fowler
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Purified water can be obtained via a continuous or semi-continuous process by mixing a liquid composition (e.g., sea water or produced frac water) including water with a directional solvent to selectively dissolve water from the liquid composition into the directional solvent. The concentrated remainder of the liquid composition (e.g., brine) is removed, and the water is precipitated from the directional solvent and removed in a purified form. The solvent is then reused as the process is repeated in a continuous or semi-continuous operation.
Claims12
A method for continuous water extraction, comprising:
- (a) flowing a directional solvent in a continuous and substantially closed circuit;
- (b) introducing a liquid composition including water and at least one dissolved component into the circuit where the liquid composition mixes with the directional solvent;
- (c) heating the directional solvent before or after the introduction of the liquid composition;
- (d) dissolving water from the liquid composition into the directional solvent to form a water-solvent solution, while substantially excluding from the directional solvent a concentrated remainder including the component that was dissolved in the liquid composition;
- (e) separating the concentrated remainder from the water-solvent solution with a first physical partition positioned to split a majority of the water-solvent solution from the concentrated remainder orthogonally to an incoming flow direction of the water-solvent solution and the concentrated remainder and removing the concentrated remainder from the circuit with the first physical partition;
- (f) cooling the water-solvent solution to precipitate the water from the directional solvent;
- (g) separating the water in a purified form from the directional solvent by electro-coalescence or dielectrophoresis and removing a majority of the purified water with a second physical partition orthogonally to an incoming flow direction of the purified water and the directional solvent following the electro-coalescence or dielectrophoresis;
- and
- (h) recirculating the directional solvent in the circuit and repeating steps (b)-(g).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.