Title:
OSMOTIC DESALINATION PROCESS
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO2002060825
Kind Code:
A3
Abstract:
An energy efficient desalination process that does not produce waste products involves the extraction of water from a first solution (10, 12), such as seawater, by using a second concentrated solution (18) to draw the water from the first solution (12) across a semi-permeable membrane (16). By manipulating the equilibrium of the soluble and insoluble species of solute within the second solution (18) in favor of the soluble species of the solute, a saturated second solution can be used to generate osmotic pressure on the first solution (12). Also, by adjusting the equilibrium in favor of the less soluble species after the water has been drawn from the first solution (12), a portion of the solute can easily be precipitated out. Heating the second solution (18) decomposes the solute into its constituent gasses. The constituent gasses and precipitated solute may be recycled through the process to affect the changes in equilibrium and eliminate waste products. Additionally, by using the waste steam from industrial sources and a heat pump to effectively distribute heat through the present method, the present method exhibits greater energy efficiency than prior art methods.
Inventors:
MCGINNIS ROBERT (US)
Application Number:
PCT/US2002/002740
Publication Date:
December 19, 2002
Filing Date:
February 01, 2002
Export Citation:
Assignee:
UNIV YALE (US)
MCGINNIS ROBERT (US)
MCGINNIS ROBERT (US)
International Classes:
B01D11/00; B01D61/00; C02F1/00; C02F1/44; C02F1/02; (IPC1-7): C02F1/44; B01D61/00
Domestic Patent References:
| WO1999039799A1 | 1999-08-12 |
Foreign References:
| US3130156A | 1964-04-21 | |||
| US3532621A | 1970-10-06 | |||
| FR2102763A5 | 1972-04-07 |
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