Reverse osmosis system
US-2024278178-A1 · Aug 22, 2024 · US
Bimodal reverse osmosis and pressure retarded osmosis framework
US12390768B2 · US · B2
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Publication number | US-12390768-B2 |
| Application number | US-202117355475-A |
| Country | US |
| Kind code | B2 |
| Filing date | Jun 23, 2021 |
| Priority date | Jun 23, 2021 |
| Publication date | Aug 19, 2025 |
| Grant date | Aug 19, 2025 |
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Abstract
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A method of operating a dual reverse osmosis/pressure retarded osmosis plant, including when electricity costs less than a first predetermined price, moderate salinity water is pumped into the first portion of a pressure vessel having first and second portions separated by a water permeable/salt impermeable osmotic membrane to yield desalinated permeate in the second portion and brine in the first portion. Further, when electricity costs greater than the first predetermined price, low salinity water is pumped into the second portion and brine is pumped into the first portion to yield pressurized moderate salinity water in the second portion which is run through an energy recovery device to generate electricity. The salinity of the low salinity water is lower than the salinity of the moderate salinity water, and the salinity of the moderate salinity water is lower than the salinity of the brine.
First claim
Opening claim text (preview).
The invention claimed is: 1. A method of operating a dual reverse osmosis/pressure retarded osmosis plant, comprising: a) when electricity costs less than a first predetermined price, moderate salinity water is pumped into the first portion of a pressure vessel having first and second portions separated by a water permeable/salt impermeable osmotic membrane positioned in a membrane module to yield desalinated permeate in the second portion and brine in the first portion; and b) when electricity costs greater than the first predetermined price, low salinity water is pumped into the second portion and brine is pumped into the first portion to yield pressurized moderate salinity water in the second portion which is run through an energy recovery device to generate electricity; and c) flushing all pipes and vessels when switching between steps a and b; wherein steps a and b are controlled by a microprocessor and occur automatically; wherein step a is defined as RO mode and step b is defined as PRO mode; wherein flux across the water permeable/salt impermeable osmotic membrane is automatically calculated using J w ≈ A ( Δ π - Δ P ) = A ( π f e - J w s D - π p e J w k 1 + B J w [ e J w s D - e J w k ] - ΔP ) ; wherein J w is the flux of water across the membrane, A is the membrane permeability to water, Δπ is the osmotic pressure difference, and ΔP is the hydraulic pressure difference across the membrane, S is the membrane support layer structural parameter, k is the mass transfer coefficient in the membrane module, B is the membrane permeability to salts, and D is the diffusivity of salt in water; wherein power density W* of step a is automatically calculated using W*=J w ΔP; wherein exergetic efficiency η II is automatically calculated as a function of the process net work W net and the respective process least work W least using η II , RO = W l e a s t W net , RO ; wherein exergetic efficiency η II is automatically calculated as a function of the process net work W net and the respective process least work W max using η II , PRO = W net , RO W max ; wherein least work of reverse osmosis W least is defined as the minimum energy of separation using W least = m p [ ( g p
Assignees
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Classifications
Actuators using the difference in osmotic pressure between fluids · CPC title
Power consumption · CPC title
Processes using a programmable logic controller [PLC] · CPC title
Pressure · CPC title
Conductivity or salinity · CPC title
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- What does patent US12390768B2 cover?
- A method of operating a dual reverse osmosis/pressure retarded osmosis plant, including when electricity costs less than a first predetermined price, moderate salinity water is pumped into the first portion of a pressure vessel having first and second portions separated by a water permeable/salt impermeable osmotic membrane to yield desalinated permeate in the second portion and brine in the fi…
- Who is the assignee on this patent?
- Purdue Research Foundation
- What technology area does this patent fall under?
- Primary CPC classification B01D61/06. Mapped technology areas include Operations & Transport.
- When was this patent published?
- Publication date Tue Aug 19 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
- What related patents are in patentsdb?
- We list 8 related publications on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).