SYSTEMS FOR WATER EXTRACTION

• US 20160016127A1
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Published: 01/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aquaporin A/S
• Original Assignee: Aquaporin A/S
• Inventors: PERRY, Mark Edward, VOGEL, Jrg, MENTZEL, Sren, BRAEKEVELT, Sylvie, GESCHKE, Oliver, LARSEN, Marianne Eleonora Spanget
• Granted Patent: US 10,434,480 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 23/042 Adding fertiliser to watering systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/1623 Disposition or location of membranes relative to fluids
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2321/162 Use of acids
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2321/168 Use of other chemical agents
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2323/30 Cross-linking
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/002 Forward osmosis or direct osmosis
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/025 Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 61/08 Apparatus therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 65/02 Membrane cleaning or sterilisation ; Membrane regeneration
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 67/0093 Chemical modification
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 69/107 Organic support material
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 69/1251 by interfacial polymerisation
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 69/144 containing embedded or bound biomolecules
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 71/56 Polyamides, e.g. polyester-amides
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 71/74 Natural macromolecular material or derivatives thereof B01D71/08, B01D71/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/441 by reverse osmosis
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/445 by forward osmosis
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2101/108 Boron compounds
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2101/16 Nitrogen compounds, e.g. ammonia
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2103/08 Seawater, e.g. for desalination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 60/21 : Dinitrogen oxide [N2O], e.g. using aquaponics, hydroponics or efficiency measures
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 10/37 : using solar energy

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water extraction system comprising a flow cell comprising a membrane; said membrane comprising an active layer comprising immobilized aquaporin water channels and a support layer, and said membrane having a feed side and a non-feed side; and an aqueous source solution in fluid communication with the feed side of the membrane.

Claims

1. A water extraction system comprising:

a) a flow cell (1) comprising a membrane (2);

said membrane comprising an active layer (3) comprising immobilized aquaporin water channels and a support layer (4), and said membrane having a feed side (5) and a non-feed side (6); and

b) an aqueous source solution (7) in fluid communication with the feed side of the membrane.

2. The water extraction system according to claim 1 wherein said active layer is a cross linked aromatic amide thin film, wherein aquaporin vesicles are incorporated, said vesicles being formed by self assembly of amphiphilic lipids or block copolymers in the presence of an aquaporin protein suspension.

3. The water extraction system according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said active layer is a cross linked aromatic amide layer, preferably formed by interfacial polymerization, and said vesicles are formed from an amphiphilic lipid or triblock copolymer solution, such as asolectin or a PMOXAa-PDMSb-PMOXAc copolymer,

4. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said aquaporin is selected from a plant aquaporin, e.g. SoPIP2;

1;

a mammal aquaporin, e.g. Aqp1; and

a bacterial aquaporin, e.g. aquaporin-Z.

5. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said support layer is a polysulfone or polyether sulfone support membrane.

6. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 for use in a high temperature process.

7. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 for use in a high pH process.

8. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 for use in a low pH process.

9. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for forward osmosis (FO) wherein the non-feed side of the membrane functions as draw side;

and said system further comprising;

c) an aqueous draw solution (8) in fluid communication with the draw side of the membrane, and, optionally

d) further comprising a draw solution concentration unit (9).

10. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 9 further comprising means for regeneration or anti-fouling of said membrane, said means comprising a cleaning fluid having a pH of about 2 to 11, said cleaning fluid being selected from a solution of an organic acid, such as citric acid, or a chelating agent, such as EDTA.

11. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 for use in a fertigation system.

13. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 for use in up-concentration of organic solutes, such as amino acids, peptides, and proteins.

14. The water extraction system according to claim 13 substantially as shown in FIGS. 7 to 10.

15. A water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for reverse osmosis, wherein the non-feed side of the membrane functions as the permeate side;

and said water extraction system further comprising;

e) a permeate in fluid communication with the permeate side of the membrane.

16. The water extraction system according to claim 15 where said source solution is pumped through said flow cell at a cross flow speed of about 0.10 m/s to about 0.30 m/s, such as about 0.26 m/s, and at a pressure of about 100 psi to about 130 psi, such as about 125 psi.

17. A reverse osmosis system according to claims 15 and 16 comprising the following features (with reference to FIG. 4):

i) a feed solution tank (18),

ii) a pump (16),

iii) a valve (17),

iv) a flow cell adapted for reverse osmosis (1),

v) a TFC-aquaporin membrane (2)

vi) a permeate compartment (19), and

vii) a permeate stream, optionally being collected in a permeate tank (20)

18. The reverse osmosis system according to claim 17 where said feed solution has a dissolved content of about from 0.005 mg/L to about 20 mg/L As in the form of arsenic acid, and said permeate has a dissolved arsenic content of less than about 1% of the initial content.

19. The reverse osmosis system according to claim 17, where said feed solution has a dissolved boron content of about 0.005 mg/L B to about 20 mg/L B, and said permeate has a dissolved boron content of less than about 50 to 20%, such as less than 25% of the initial content.

20. The reverse osmosis system according to claim 17 where said feed solution is an RO permeate from dairy waste water having a total nitrogen content of from about 10 mg/L to 15 g/L N in the four of urea or less, and said permeate has a total dissolved nitrogen content of less than about 50% of the original content.

21. The water extraction system for forward osmosis according to claim 9 further comprising a reverse osmosis treatment of the diluted draw solution in the form of a draw solution recovery system (9), such as a reverse osmosis recovery with reference to FIG. 5 herein.

22. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 8 for pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), wherein the non-feed side of the membrane functions as a draw side;

and said water extraction system further comprising;

f) means for providing a draw solution in fluid communication with the draw side of the membrane, where said draw solution comprises natural sea or lake water osmolytes and where said means comprises a closed volume which allows for accumulation of pressure in the form of potential energy;

g) means for providing a source solution to the feed side of said membrane, where said source comprises water having a higher water activity than said draw solution; and

h) means for transforming said potential energy into electricity, such as a turbine.

23. The water extraction system according to claim 22 where said draw solution is selected from salt water sources, such as sea water, brackish water, soda lake water, dead sea water, saline solutions, and brine.

24. The water extraction system according to claim 22 or 23 where said source solution is obtained by desalination of a draw solution and is produced by a surplus renewable energy source.

25. The water extraction system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 for reuse of used ultrapure water in a hemodialysis process, characterized in that used dialysate solution constitutes said source solution.

26. The water extraction system according to claim 25 further comprising the use of a concentrated fresh dialysate solution as a draw solution.

12. A fertigation system comprising the following features with (reference to FIG. 3):

i) a feed stream (10),

ii) a pump (16),

iii) a flow cell (1), preferably a cross flow cell, with an aquaporin membrane, preferably a TFC-aquaporin membrane (2),

iv) a concentrated plant nutrient draw solution (13),

v) a diluted draw solution (12) in fluid communication with the draw side of the membrane (8),

vi) an optional fresh water source (14) for additional dilution of diluted draw, and

vii) a resulting diluted plant nutrient solution ready for use (15); and

wherein said diluted draw solution may be recirculated through the flow cell to achieve higher degree of dilution.