Potable water from internal combustion engines
First Claim
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1. A method of obtaining substantially pure water from the exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine comprising:
- (a) cooling said exhaust stream to a temperature between about 65° and
150°
C.;
(b) separating water vapor from said exhaust stream by contacting said exhaust stream with one side of a nonporous nonionic hydrophilic polymeric membrane that is substantially permeable to water vapor and substantially impermeable to noncondensable components of said exhaust stream so as to form (1) a reject stream comprising a major portion of noncondensable gases and a minor portion of hydrocarbon compounds and (2) a separated water vapor permeate on the permeate side of said membrane, said separated water vapor permeate comprising a major portion of water vapor and a minor portion of noncondensable gases; and
(c) recovering substantially pure water from said separated water vapor permeate by separating said water vapor from said noncondensable gases.
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Abstract
A method of and apparatus for obtaining potable water from the exhaust of an internal combustion engine is disclosed essentially comprising separating a water vapor permeate containing water vapor and noncondensable gases from the exhaust by a nonporous nonionic hydrophilic membrane, then separating the water vapor from noncondensable gases by either condensing the water vapor or compressing the entire water vapor permeate followed by condensation of the water vapor contained in the permeate.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of obtaining substantially pure water from the exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine comprising:
-
(a) cooling said exhaust stream to a temperature between about 65° and
150°
C.;(b) separating water vapor from said exhaust stream by contacting said exhaust stream with one side of a nonporous nonionic hydrophilic polymeric membrane that is substantially permeable to water vapor and substantially impermeable to noncondensable components of said exhaust stream so as to form (1) a reject stream comprising a major portion of noncondensable gases and a minor portion of hydrocarbon compounds and (2) a separated water vapor permeate on the permeate side of said membrane, said separated water vapor permeate comprising a major portion of water vapor and a minor portion of noncondensable gases; and (c) recovering substantially pure water from said separated water vapor permeate by separating said water vapor from said noncondensable gases. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification