Desalination of ocean water

a technology of ocean water and desalination, which is applied in the direction of vacuum distillation separation, vessel construction, separation process, etc., can solve the problems of drowning islands, increasing the warming of the ocean surface, and serious water problems in the world, so as to reduce the energy input, accelerate the evaporation, and the surface area is large

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-02-05
BIOMASS CONVERSIONS LLC
View PDF12 Cites 0 Cited by
  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This process significantly enhances the evaporation rate and efficiency, reducing energy consumption and enabling the production of pure water suitable for agriculture and drinking, while also being environmentally friendly and cost-effective.

Problems solved by technology

The world faces serious water problems.
The increased warming of the ocean surface brought on by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” is a big problem for island countries.
This may drown the islands.
Meanwhile, elevated water temperatures damage the coral reefs so that island dwellers also face a shortage of food.
Desert dwellers lack water for direct consumption and for agriculture.
Desert dwellers also face a food shortage.
Both of these problems are environmental.
Most biological functions and many biological structures depend on water and are not possible under a dry or dehydrated state.
These problems are closely related to each other and are not readily separable.
Unfortunately, many aquifers contain water rich in minerals that accumulate in the soil following prolonged irrigation.
Where the water is high in sodium, the actual structure of the soil is damaged as sodium replaces calcium in clay minerals.
Distillation requires much energy for heating the water to accelerate evaporation whereas and the membrane processes require expensive membranes.
The practical problem of the desalination of ocean water is one of performance at an industrial level since such huge amounts of water are needed for agriculture on a scale that can convert the deserts into green plantations.
Nevertheless, it is still difficult to remove all ions.
The problem is to use energy efficiently.
For producing drinking water it is necessary to remove essentially all ions, because our body already contains a critical balance of most of the ions found in ocean water and can be damaged by additional ions.
As mentioned above, the accumulation of salts in agricultural lands renders the soil non-arable so that the farmer must give up cultivation of the affected land.
There are a myriad of problems resulting from shortage of water—formation of deserts, salt injury to agriculture, as well as lack of drinking water.
These problems necessitate complex systems for the long-distance transport of water as well as “water wars” when water is taken from one region to benefit another.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
View more

Image

Smart Image Click on the blue labels to locate them in the text.
Viewing Examples
Smart Image
  • Desalination of ocean water
  • Desalination of ocean water
  • Desalination of ocean water

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

first example

[0031]FIG. 1 shows a diagrammatic representation of a device 100 to carry out the process of the present invention. A control box 150 contains a microprocessor or other similar control system to control the device in response to a vapor temperature sensor 151a and a liquid temperature sensor 151b and a water level sensor 153. The control box 150 controls a heater (not shown) to raise the temperature of the vessel 101. The control box 150 also controls a stirring motor 102 and a saltwater sprayer 105 as well as a circulating fan 107. Seawater is stored in a supply container 110 and is sprayed into an evaporation vessel 101 to maintain the level of fluid therein. Generally, the seawater is heated prior to being sprayed by heating the entire container 110 or by heating the sprayer 105. Waste or solar heat are especially preferred so that the system converts waste energy into pure water. The sprayer 105 produces a fog-like spray to allow a maximum amount of direct evaporation. The total...

second example

[0037]In the second example, contaminated river water was used to emphasize that invention is not limited to the case of ocean water. Pure water can be obtained from any aqueous solution contaminated with non-volatile impurities. For example, irrigation runoff or recycled gray water can readily be desalinated by the present invention.

[0038]The basic system was the same as explained in the first example. Only the differences from the first example are detailed. Twenty-five kg of wood micro-powder was placed in the vessel 101 and agitated by the impellers 103. Moreover, the control box 150 was set to 50° C. for the evaporation temperature Rather than ocean water impure water taken from a river was fed through the spray nozzle 105 after being pre-heated to 40° C. Here 10 l of water was initially fed in slowly to prevent a fall of temperature in the vessel. About 2 l / hr of freshwater was obtained from the condenser 108 as a result. If the same experiment were carried out without the woo...

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

PUM

PropertyMeasurementUnit
surface areaaaaaaaaaaa
radius Raaaaaaaaaa
radius raaaaaaaaaa
Login to View More

Abstract

The present invention is an improved type of distillation of water. Usual distillation is related to a liquid's boiling point. However, it is possible to distill significant quantities of water at temperatures well below the boiling point. During distillation a compound is taken from a liquid-phase to the gas phase and then condensed to the liquid again to get a pure liquid. The present invention uses water sprayed and adsorbed onto a solid surface such as micro-powder made from wood as a starting material. Absorbing water onto such a surface results in rapid evaporation with a relatively low temperature gradient when the water and particles are agitated. The present invention could be characterized as solid-phase distillation.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Area of the Art[0002]The present application concerns desalination of ocean water and specifically a new method to get pure water easily.[0003]2. Description of the Prior Art[0004]The world faces serious water problems. The increased warming of the ocean surface brought on by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” is a big problem for island countries. Increasing temperatures cause the oceans to rise as polar ice caps melt. This may drown the islands. Meanwhile, elevated water temperatures damage the coral reefs so that island dwellers also face a shortage of food. At the same time increases of atmospheric temperature promote desertification. Desert dwellers lack water for direct consumption and for agriculture. Desert dwellers also face a food shortage. Both of these problems are environmental. All living things contain water as a major constituent of their bodies. Most biological functions and many biological struct...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
Login to View More

Application Information

Patent Timeline
no application Login to View More
Patent Type & AuthorityApplications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): B01D3/34B01D3/10B01D3/42C02F1/04
CPCB01D3/10C02F1/04B01D3/42B01D3/34Y10S159/16Y10S159/20Y02A20/124
InventorHATA, SEIJI
OwnerBIOMASS CONVERSIONS LLC