TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates, in general, to water filtration devices, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus for water purification and filtration.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Reverse osmosis has attracted considerable interest in the field of purification of saline water. In this process, a pressure more than the osmotic pressure of the saline water feed solution is applied to the solution separated from purified water by a semipermeable membrane. Pure water is thereby caused to diffuse through the membrane, while the salt molecules or other impurities are separated by the membrane.

[0003] These membranes are commonly cast from a solution comprising the membrane material and a solvent, with or without additional solution components such as water, swelling agents, and the like. The membranes may be employed in the reverse osmosis process in the form of a free film or, more commonly, as a film deposited on a porous support material. These membranes have, however, generally been subject to deficiencies such as compaction and chemical or biological degradation, resulting in too short of useful life, and too low flux or salt rejection, resulting in inefficient operation.

[0004] The filtered water, however, after the filtration process loses its actual characteristics and becomes very acidic by the presence of H ₂ O ₂ , the acidic water when comes to human body have the tendency to absorb oxygen and minerals from the human body, thus leading to loss of minerals from the human body thereby causing various diseases. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide a means to adjust the amount of minerals, dissolved salts and dissolved oxygen during reverse osmosis process by solving the aforementioned problems.

OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

[0005] Anobject of the present disclosure relates, in general, to water filtration devices, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus for water purification and filtration.

[0006] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can provide right quantity of minerals in water. [0007] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can provide a membrane that can adjust the amount of minerals, dissolved salts and dissolved oxygen during reverse osmosis process.

[0008] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can remove large range of TDS present in water while maintaining acceptable range of PH in water.

[0009] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can retain required quantity of monovalent and bivalent ions in water during reverse osmosis.

[0010] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can increase the efficiency of water by changing elements or membranes size and quantity.

[0011] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can have high chemical resistance and less fouling effect.

[0012] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can provide higher flux rate.

[0013] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can work differently at same instant of time which lead to provide 80% and more salt rejection and desirable range of PH in water.

[0014] Another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can be powerful and energy efficient.

[0015] Yet another object of the present disclosureis to provide an apparatus that can remove microbiological impurities and pesticides present in water during reverse osmosis process.

SUMMARY

[0016] The present disclosure relates, in general, to water filtration devices, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus for water purification and filtration.

[0017] In an aspect, the present disclosure provides an apparatus for water purification, the apparatus including an inlet adapted to receive water from a source, a filter element fluidically coupled to the inlet and adapted to receive water from the inlet, the filter comprisingone or more membranes of a first type, one or more membranes of a second type, wherein the one or more membranes of the first type and the one or more membranes of the second type are arranged in parallel to each other and in an interleaved fashion such that a membrane of the first type is placed adjacent to a membrane of the second type, wherein the number of membranes of the first type are at a predefined ratio with the number of membranes of the second type, a collector fluidically coupled to the filter element and configured to store water exiting the filter element, wherein the filter element is configured to trap at least a part of each of one or more contaminants in the water received at the filter element from the inlet to enable water exiting the filter element to have reduced quantity of the one or more contaminants, anda permeate unit operable to allow the filtered water in the collector to flow out.

[0018] In an embodiment, the one or more membranes of the first type can be a combination of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane.

[0019] In another embodiment, the one or more membranes of the second type can be a combination of nano-filtration (NF) membrane.

[0020] In another embodiment, the one or more contaminants may include pesticides, bacteria, viruses and any combination thereof.

[0021] In another embodiment, a concentrated unit operable to allow concentrated water to dispense from the filter element.

[0022] In another embodiment, the required amount of minerals, dissolved ions and dissolved oxygen can be maintained in the filtered water

[0023] In another embodiment, the ions may include any or a combination of monovalent ions and bivalent ions.

[0024] In another embodiment, a regulator can be configured in base of the one or more membranes of the first type and the one or more membranes of the second type, the regulator is adapted to reduce the content of salt in water.

[0025] In another embodiment, the one or more membranes of the first type and one or more membranes of the second type can be operable at same pressure.

[0026] In another embodiment, the one or more membranes of the first type and one or more membranes of the second type can be operable at same time.

[0027] Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The following drawings form part of the present specification and are included to further illustrate aspects of the present disclosure. The disclosure may be better understood by reference to the drawings in combination with the detailed description of the specific embodiments presented herein.

[0029] FIGs. 1A-1C illustrate exemplary representation of an apparatus for water purification, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary representation of membrane configuration, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the disclosure. If the specification states a component or feature “may”, “can”, “could”, or “might” be included or have a characteristic, that particular component or feature is not required to be included or have the characteristic.

[0032] As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0033] The present disclosure relates, in general, to water filtration devices, and more specifically, relates to an apparatus for water purification and filtration. The apparatus can relate to nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes that may be used in several commercial applications in which a contaminantmust be separated from a feed fluid, such as water, to yield a purified product fluid. The present disclosure can be described in enabling detail in the following examples, which may represent more than one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIGs. 1A-1C illustrate exemplary representation of an apparatus for water purification, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 1A, apparatus 100 can be configured to separate contaminants and a wide-range of fouling material from surface water, ground water, industrial effluents and the like. The apparatus 100 may include one or more membranes of a first type 102, and one or more membranes of a second type 104, the one or more membranes of the first type can be a combination of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane 102, and the one or more membranes of the second type can be a combination of nano-filtration (NF) membrane 104. [0036] In an embodiment the one or more membranes of the first type 102 and the one or more membranes of the second type 104 can be arranged in parallel to each other and in an interleaved fashion such that a membrane of the first type 102 can be placed adjacent to a membrane of the second type 104, wherein the number of membranes of the first type 102 can be at a predefined ratio with the number of membranes of the second type 104. For example, the RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104 can be merged at a specific ratio, and both the RO membrane 102 and the NF membrane 104 can be arranged in parallel to each other. The RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104 can work in same time and at same pressure in single element to reduce TDS in water by suitable range, for example, 80%-85% and to maintain potential of Hydrogen (pH) of acceptable range, preferably, 6.5-6.8.

[0037] In an embodiment, the apparatus 100 is in this example, may include the RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104 to be merged at specific ratio in any or a combination of two RO membrane with one NF membrane, two NF membrane with one RO membrane, two ultra-low pressure (ULP) RO membrane with one NF membrane, however, the present disclosure is not limited to this configuration but may be applied to other configurations. [0038] In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 100 can increase the efficiency of water by changing elements size and quantity, for example, the ULP RO membrane 102 with NO membrane 104 can provide above 87% salt rejection with PH range of 6.5 -6.2 depending upon water sources. The high-pressure RO membrane 102 with NF membrane 104 can provide less than 80% salt rejection with PHrange of 6.8. The membranes (102, 103) have high chemical resistance and less fouling effect. The steam of purified water from the apparatus 100 can give desirable water parameters. The membranes (102, 104) in the apparatus work differently at same instant of time which lead to provide 80% and more salt rejection and desirable range of PH in water.

[0039] In an embodiment, the RO membrane 102 can effectively remove nearly all inorganic contaminants from water and can also effectively remove radium, natural organic substances, pesticides, cysts, bacteria, viruses and the like.RO membrane 102 can provide high temperature resistivity. RO membrane 102 may utilize a semi-permeable, thin membrane with pores small enough to pass pure water through while rejecting larger molecules such as dissolved salts (ions) and other impurities. NO membrane 104 can separate low molecular weight organics and monovalent salts, they can provide 50-90 % salt rejection at low-pressure operation, this reduces energy consumption and significantly lowers installation and operating costs.

[0040] In another embodiment, membrane core and/or base of the membranes (102, 104) may include a regulator 124 as illustrated in FIG. IB, the regulator 124 can be configured in base of the one or more membranes of the first type 102 and the one or more membranes of the second type 104, the regulator 124 can be adapted to reduce the content of salt in water. The regulator 124 can help in the reduction of salt from the input water, the inner side regulator can set as different of 5 % -2.5% reduction. The regulator 124 in the apparatus 100 can create 80% to 92% reduction of salt in water.

[0041] In another embodiment, the parallel joining of each element of membranes (102, 104) can deliver purified water balanced with all natural minerals and PH, the membranes (102, 104) work on both bi-valent and mono valent ions at the same time, it can increase the monovalent reduction by 85% and can increase the range of purified water TDSupto 2000 ppm. All elements work in same time with same water flow and same pressure inlet which produce all filtered water mixed in permit region with different sources. Higher flux can be achieved and can support water filtration systems like water ionizer and natural alkaline media.

[0042] The apparatus 100 as illustrated in FIG 1C, may include an inlet 112 thatcan be adapted to receive water from a source. The water received from the source may have high total dissolved solids (TDS), high hardness and/or colour issues. The colloidal suspended solids associated with surface water, industrial effluents can also contain soluble iron, soluble organics, oil, grease contaminants and the like.

[0043] In another embodiment, the filter element 106 can be fluidically coupled to the inlet 112 and adapted to receive water from the inlet 112, the filter element 106 may include the one or more membranes of the first type 102 and one or more membranes of the second type 104. A collector 114 can be fluidically coupled to the filter element 106 and configured to store water exiting the filter element 106, wherein the filter element 106 can be configured to trap at least a part of each of one or more contaminants in the water received at the filter element 106 from the inlet 112 to enable water exiting the filter element 106 to have reduced quantity of the one or more contaminants; and a permeate unit 116 (also referred to as permeate outlet 116, herein) operable to allow the filtered water in the collector 114 to flow out.

[0044] In another embodiment, the membrane configuration can be in the any form, for example, spiral wound type to remove dissolved solids, and are most often associated with RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104, the regulator 124 can be configured in the membranes (102,104). A permeate channel spacer 108 and feed channel spacer 110, all rolled up around the collector 114. The membranes(102, 104)can be combined with the feedchannel spacer 108, which can act as a layer to provide vital separation between the membrane surfaces to achieve filtration performance. The permeate channel spacer 108 can be provided inside the envelope and can create a flow pass for permeate water. A water stopper 120 and O-rings 122 can be provided in the apparatus 100 to prevent water leaks.

[0045] In another embodiment, the feed water can enter the filter elementl06, as feed water flows through the spacers (108, 110), a portion permeates through the surrounding membrane (102, 104), leaving behind anydissolved and particulate contaminates that are rejected by the membranes (102, 104). Filtered water in the permeate carrier travels spirally inward towards the collector 114 and can flow out through permeate unit 116while water in the feed spacer 108 that does not permeate through the membrane (102, 104) continues to flowacross the membrane surface, becoming increasingly concentrated with rejected contaminates. This concentrate stream exits through a concentrate unit 118 (also referred to as concentrate outlet 118, herein)through the opposite endfrom which the feed water entered. [0046] For example, the raw water can enter the filter element 106 through the inlet 112 and can be processed by the membranes (102, 104), these membranes remove one or more contaminants in the received water based on filter attributes of the membranes (102, 104) to retain required quantity of ions in water, these membranes (102, 104) can adjust amount of minerals, dissolved salts and dissolved oxygen during reverse osmosis process. The permeate outlet 116 can allow the passage of thefiltered water, and the concentrate outlet 118 can flow out the waste water.

[0047] Thus, the apparatus 100 can adjust the amount of minerals, dissolved salts and dissolved oxygen during reverse osmosis process that can remove large range of TDS present in water, while maintaining acceptable range of PH in water. The apparatus 100 can retain required quantity of monovalent and bivalent ions in water during reverse osmosis and can remove microbiological impurities and pesticides present in water during reverse osmosis process. The present disclosure has a wide range of work up to 3000 TDS and increase rejection of monovalent salts like chlorine, sodium chloride (NaCl)and the like.

[0048] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary representation of membrane configuration, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 2, the membrane configuration 200 may include the RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104 that can be merged at a specific ratio, and both the RO membrane 102 and the NF membrane 104 can be arranged in parallel to each other. The membrane configuration 200 may include many of the same components introduced in FIG.1A above. Those components that are unchanged in this embodiment retain their original element number and are not reintroduced. [0050] Water can be considered a universal solvent because of its ability to dissolve and absorb molecules from various substances. The number of dissolved particles in a particular volume of water is called the TDS level. TDS are the amount of organic and inorganic materials, such as metals, minerals, and ions, dissolved in a particular volume of water. When a solvent, such as water, encounters soluble material, particles of the material are absorbed into the water.

[0051] TDS in water can come from just about anywhere, including minerals in springs from a water source, chemicals used to treat the water supply from sewage systems, runoff from road salts and yard chemicals or fertilizers, even through the plumbing.TDS is measured as a volume of water with the unit milligrams per liter (mg/L), otherwise known as parts per million (ppm). According to theenvironmental protection agency (EPA) secondary drinking water regulations, 500 ppm is the recommended maximum amount of TDS for drinking water. Anything measurement higher than 1000 ppm is an unsafe level of TDS. Dissolved ionized solids, such as salts and minerals, increase the electrical conductivity (EC) of a solution, because it is a volume measure of ionized solids, EC can be used to estimate TDS. [0052] The RO membrane 102 and NF membrane 104 can work in same time and at same pressure in single element to reduce TDS in water by suitable range, for example, 80% - 85% and to maintain pH of acceptable range, for example, 6.5-6.8. The membrane configuration 200 can be any or a combination of longer with less membrane and shorter with more membrane. The membrane configuration 200 with shorter with more membrane can improve the productivity of the RO process.

[0053] In another embodiment, the membrane can be made of an organic polymer selected from the group consisting of cellulose acetate, polysulfonate, and polyamide may be used as a material in the reverse osmosis membrane. Moreover, as the reverse osmosis membrane can be any or a combination of a tubular type, a spiral wound type, a hollow fiber membrane type, a flat sheet type, and the like. The apparatus 100 may be used in a water treatment plant for purification treatment of industrial wastewater; desalinating seawater, preparing deionized water in pharmaceuticals production, and the like.

[0054] The membranes (102, 104) are supported by each other, however, these membranes (102, 104) do not dependent on each other. For example, the damage of RO membrane may not affect or damage the other NF membrane. Each membrane (102, 104) work separately hence provide long and effective working of the apparatus 100. Stronger and better working of the apparatus 100 can be achieved as the waste cannot lead to higher than 1.5 times of input water which provide high working life. The apparatus 100 can be powerful and energy efficient, and the filtration of water can be achieved by maintaining acceptable range of minerals and PH in the water.

[0055] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the apparatus 100 of the disclosure may be provided using some or all of the mentioned features and components without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described herein, it will be clear that the disclosure is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as described in the claims.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

[0056] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can provide right quantity of minerals to water.

[0057] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can provide a membrane that can adjust the amount of minerals, dissolved salts and dissolved oxygen during reverse osmosis process.

[0058] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can remove large range of TDS present in water while maintaining acceptable range of PH in water.

[0059] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can retain required quantity of monovalent and bivalent ions in water during reverse osmosis.

[0060] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can remove microbiological impurities and pesticides present in water during reverse osmosis process.

[0061] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can increase the efficiency of water by changing elements or membrane size and quantity.

[0062] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can have high chemical resistance and less fouling effect.

[0063] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can provide higher flux rate. [0064] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can work differently at same instant of time which lead to provide 80% and more salt rejection and desirable range of PH in water.

[0065] The present disclosure provides an apparatus that can be powerful and energy efficient.