Method, system, and devices for water, organics, and/or mineral recovery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024416256-A1
Application number	US-202218712454-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 23, 2022
Priority date	Nov 23, 2021
Publication date	Dec 19, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A process for water, mineral, and/or organics recovery, as well as devices and systems that practice the process, are disclosed. The process may include providing a plurality of evaporator structures, each structure physically separated from the others, and contacting the first end of each evaporator structure with a liquid containing a plurality of materials (such as a solvent and one or more minerals). The process may include allowing capillary forces and siphonic action to draw at least one material of the plurality of materials (which may be, e.g., the solvent, a volatile organic material, and/or a mineral) from the first end towards the second end, and evaporating one or more of the plurality of materials by transferring at least one form of environmental energy (such as solar energy, wind energy, and/or ambient heat of air) directly to each evaporator structure, thereby providing the latent heat of vaporization.

First claim

1 . A process for water, organics, and/or mineral recovery comprising:
providing a plurality of evaporator structures comprising a porous material, each evaporator structure having a first end and a second end opposite the first end separated by an axial length, each evaporator structure being physically separated from an adjacent evaporator structure; contacting the first end of each evaporator structure with a liquid, the liquid comprising a plurality of materials, the plurality of materials including a solvent and at least one target material at a first concentration; allowing capillary forces or siphonic action to draw at least one material of the plurality of materials from the first end towards the second end; and evaporating one or more of the plurality of materials by transferring at least one form of environmental energy directly to each evaporator structure, thereby providing a latent heat of vaporization.

2 . The process according to claim 1 , further comprising collecting the at least one target material after the at least one target material passes from the first end to the second end.

3 . The process according to claim 2 , further comprising determining a concentration of the at least one target material being collected.

4 . The process according to claim 3 , further comprising adjusting a distance from the second end to a collection reservoir based on determined concentration.

5 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein each evaporator structure includes a plurality of fibers twisted around each other to form a spiral pattern having at least a first pitch, and wherein the process further comprises adjusting a pore size of at least a portion of a evaporator structure of the plurality of evaporator structures by rotating a first portion of the evaporator structure around a central axis relative to a second portion of the evaporator structure, causing the first pitch to be changed to a second pitch different from the first pitch.

6 - 7 . (canceled)

8 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid is a saline water source.

9 - 10 . (canceled)

11 . The process according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one material is water, and the process further comprises capturing and condensing the water.

12 - 13 . (canceled)

14 . The process according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one target material is lithium.

15 . The process according to claim 11 , further comprising allowing the capillary forces or siphonic action to spatially separate salts in the liquid by their differences in solubility, hydrophilicity, mobility, charges, polarity, and local concentration.

16 . The process according to claim 15 , further comprising evaporating water and crystallizing a plurality of salts in or on a porous crystallizer, where salts with different solubilities are separated spatially similar as a chromatographic separation, such that high solubility salts move further in distance from the first end.

17 . The process according to claim 15 , further comprising evaporating water and transporting a plurality of salts in or on a porous crystallizer, where salts with lower solubility move at a first speed from the first end, while salts with a higher solubility move at a second speed greater than the first speed from the first end, and when not crystallized on the porous crystallizer, the salts with different solubility, mobility, or charges pass through the porous crystallizer and collected as solute at an end of the porous crystallizer.

18 . The process according to claim 15 , further comprising evaporating water and crystallizing a plurality of salts in or on a porous crystallizer, where salts with lower solubility are crystallized within a first distance from the first end, while salts with a higher solubility are crystallized after the first distance and before a second distance from the first end, the second distance being greater than the first distance, such that different salts precipitate sequentially on the porous crystallizer with both radial and axial structures.

19 . The process according to claim 18 , further comprising collecting a first salt that crystallized at or near the second end, and separately collecting a second salt that crystalized at or near the first end.

20 - 41 . (canceled)

42 . The process according to claim 1 , further comprising applying an electrical or magnetic field on the plurality of evaporator structures.

43 . The process according to claim 1 , further comprising removing at least one of the plurality of evaporator structures from the liquid.

44 . The process according to claim 43 , further comprising washing each evaporator structure that has been removed.

45 . (canceled)

46 . The process according to claim 43 , further comprising placing the first end of a new evaporator structure into the liquid after the at least one of the plurality of evaporator structures has been removed from the liquid.

47 . The process according to claim 43 , wherein removing at least one of the plurality of evaporator structures from the liquid comprises simultaneously removing two or more of the plurality of evaporator structures from the liquid.

48 . An apparatus for water, organic, and/or mineral recovery, comprising: a plurality of evaporator structures, each evaporator structure comprising a porous material, each evaporator structure having a first end and a second end opposite the first end separated by an axial length, each evaporator structure being physically separated from an adjacent evaporator structure, where each evaporator structure has a porous structure configured to use capillary forces to draw a liquid from the first end towards the second end; wherein the apparatus is configured to allow at least one form of environmental energy to be transferred directly as latent heat for vaporization to each evaporator structure.

49 - 75 . (canceled)

76 . A evaporator structure, comprising:
a plurality of flexible elongate members, each flexible elongate member twisted together to form a spiral pattern, each flexible elongate member comprising a porous material, each flexible elongate member having a first end and a second end opposite the first end and separated by an axial length, the porous material being configured to use capillary forces to draw a liquid from the first end towards the second end; wherein each flexible elongate member has an axial length of at least one meter.

77 - 82 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Univ Princeton

Inventors

• Zheng Sunxiang
• Chen Xi
• Ren Zhiyong Jason

Classifications

• C02F2001/5218

  Crystallization · CPC title

• C02F1/04

  by distillation or evaporation · CPC title

• C02F1/048

  Purification of waste water by evaporation · CPC title

• C02F1/08

  Thin film evaporation · CPC title

• C02F2103/08

  Seawater, e.g. for desalination · CPC title