Method and system for water treatment

Abstract

A method for water treatment that includes a filtration system to filter suspended materials, slats or mineral, sensors to measure water parameters, a distribution system, a Reverse Osmosis system, a control system, and a storage system. The method includes the steps of filtering the water from suspended materials, salts or minerals for obtaining a particle-free water, continuously measuring the water parameters in the particle-free water, sending the measured parameters to the control system, flowing the particle-free water to the water distribution system, continuously calculating a real time filtering rate of the particle-free water to be filtered by the Reverse Osmosis system based on the measured water parameters and desired levels, flowing the particle-free water filtering rate from the distribution system to the Reverse Osmosis system to be filtered, and flowing the remaining particle-free water and the filtered water from the Reverse Osmosis system to the storage system.

Description

[0001] Method and system for water treatment

[0002] Description

[0003] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention refers to a method and system for water treatment.

[0005] BACKGROUND ART

[0006] There are various systems available for water treatment. They may include various filtration systems, such as Nano-Filters, Reverse Osmosis (RO), etc. One of the problems with those systems, especially RO systems, is the water recovery rate. Usually, the RO system's water recovery rate is 50-70%. The drain water (30-50%) contains high concentrations of Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and other materials and is referred to as Brine. Disposal of the brine is a problem because releasing it harms the environment. Much work is done to develop Zero Liquid Discharge systems (ZLD). However, currently ZLD systems are available at large scale RO facilities. The cost of the ZLD solutions is too high to be implemented in small to medium RO systems. Also, the RO system provides almost distilled water (~30 ppm). Distilled water cannot be used for many applications (irrigation, drinking water). For drinking, minerals needed to be added to the water, and for agriculture, the water needed to be at higher ppm (several hundred) in order not to harm the soil. In agriculture applications, several parameters are mostly important: Water conductivity, water salinity (usually measured as TDS (Total Dissolved Materials), and SAR (Sodium Absorption Ratio). The present invention refers to a method and system that provide a good solution to these problems and others. DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The intention of the drawings attached to the application is not to limit the scope of the invention and its application.

[0008] The drawings are intended only to illustrate the invention and they constitute only one of its many possible implementations.

[0009] FIG. 1 is a schematic depiction of the water treatment system (100).

[0010] FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of the computerized water distribution system (30).

[0011] FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of the evaporating system (800).

[0012] THE INVENTION

[0013] The main objective of the present invention is to provide a method and system for water treatment that basically includes one or more of the following elements:

[0014] A. A pre-filtration system that may include a sand filter for filtering large residuals from the water and Nano-filter (NF) (or any other suitable filer system) in various combinations to filter out suspended materials and / or salts and / or minerals in the water, that cause the water to be "hard" that is very harmful to membranes.

[0015] B. loT sensor systems that measure various water parameters continuously and transmit the data to a control system.

[0016] C. A computerized water distribution system (Water mixer) a computerized system that continuously controls how much from the source water will be delivered to the RO system. This is done according to the water parameters required for irrigation (depending on the type of crop irrigated) and the soil parameters. The amount of water is defined by an algorithm that considers all the inputs and the sensors data. D. RO system - the irrigation volume defines the number of units and size.

[0017] E. Post-treatment storage system.

[0018] F. Drain water (brine) treatment system. The drain water discharged from the RO system is directed to the Brine Treatment System (BTS) that includes: (1) Passing the drain water through another RO system (either 1 or 2 passes); (2) The clean water from the RO system is added to the treated water (for irrigation for example); (3) The remaining water (-10% of the original source water) is directed to an evaporating pond to evaporate the water and get solid brine.

[0019] G. The evaporation ponds are built from materials that can sustain minerals and salts like stainless steel and are heated by the sun. Heating cables may also be installed inside or on the pond's bottom and sides to accelerate the vaporization. The pond can be any size - the most common is 10X2 or 20X2 meters. It is possible to use blowers that constantly can blow air along the pond to accelerate the water evaporation. At the end of the process, only solid brine stays in the pond. The solid brine is removed and can be used or disposed of.

[0020] The present invention provides a method and a system (100) for water treatment. The method may include one or more of the following components and steps:

[0021] (1) Provide a first filtration system (10) that is designed to filter out suspended materials and / or salts and / or minerals and / or other materials from water.

[0022] (2). Provide a sensor system (20) that is designed to measure water parameters levels in real time, such as: TDS (total dissolved materials), Ca, Ma,

[0023] Conductivity, Etc.

[0024] (3). Provide a computerized water distribution system (30). (4). Provide a main Reverse Osmosis system (40).

[0025] (5). Provide a post treatment storage system (60).

[0026] (6). Provide a control system (70).

[0027] (7). Receive, by the first filtration system, the water for treatment (901).

[0028] (8). Filter, by the first filtration system, the water for treatment (901) from the suspended materials and / or other materials, for obtaining a particle-free water (902) and a first drainage water (903). The water that needed to be treated for further usage (for irrigation for example) arrives to the system (100) and the suspended materials and / or other materials are removed from the water in order to extend the membranes lifetime of the main Reverse Osmosis system; it is known that suspended materials , particles, salts and minerals reduces the membranes lifetime.

[0029] (9). Continuously measuring, by the sensor system, the water parameters

[0030] (such as TDS level) in the particle-free water (902), and continuously sending, by the sensor system, the measured levels water parameters (such as TDS level) to the control system (70).

[0031] (10). Flow the particle-free water (902) to the computerized water distribution system (30).

[0032] (11). Continuously calculating in real time, by the control system, a real time filtering rate of the particle-free water to be filtered by the main Reverse Osmosis system. The continuous calculation in real time of the real time filtering rate is based on the continuous measured water parameters levels in real time and desired water parameters levels of treated water to be obtained in the post treatment storage system. (12). Flow the real time filtering rate of the particle-free water (904) from the computerized water distribution system to the main Reverse Osmosis system to be filtered, for obtaining a filtered water (906) and a drain water (907), based on data (87) received from the control system.

[0033] (13). Flow the remaining of the particle-free water (905) from the computerized water distribution system directly to the post treatment storage system.

[0034] (14). Flow the filtered water (906) from the main Reverse Osmosis system to the post treatment storage system, and

[0035] (15). Flow the first drainage water (903) to an evaporating system (800).

[0036] (16). Adding to the post treatment storage system (60) calcium and / or magnesium and / or other substances to the post treatment storage system in an amount that will be determined based on the measurement of the water parameters by the sensors system and the processing of the data in real time by the control system that will determine how much magnesium and calcium must be added to the water to obtain the required SAR.

[0037] It should be noted that there is no need to pass and treat all the particle-free water (902) that comes to the computerized water distribution system (30) but only a part of it that needed to be treated in order to get in the end of the process a post treatment water (908) in the desired water parameters levels. The control system (70) calculate this distributed rate based on the water parameters levels of the incoming water, the desired water parameters levels, and possible also based on the real time water parameters levels of the water in the post treatment storage (908). The method may further include the following components and steps: (16): Provide a Brine Treatment system (50) that includes one or more Secondary Reverse Osmosis systems (51A and 51B); (17): Receive, by the secondary Reverse Osmosis system, the drain water (907) from the main Reverse Osmosis systems (40); (18): Filtering by the Secondary Reverse Osmosis systems the incoming drain water (907) for obtaining a secondary filtered water (52A) (52B) and a secondary drain water (53A) (53B); (19): Send the secondary filtered water (52A) and (53B) to the Post-treatment storage system, and send the secondary drain water (53B) to the evaporating system (800).

[0038] The system (100) for water treatment includes the first filtration system (10), sensor system (20), the computerized water distribution system (30), the Reverse Osmosis system (40), the post treatment storage system (60), and the control system (70). The first filtration system is designed to receive the water for treatment (901) and to filter it from suspended materials, for obtaining the particle-free water (902) and the first drainage water (903). The sensor system is designed to continuously measure the water parameters levels in the particle-free water, and to continuously send the measured water parameters levels to the control system (70). The computerized water distribution system (30) is designed to receive the particle-free water (902). The control system is designed to continuously calculate in real time the real time filtering rate of the particle-free water to be filtered by the Reverse Osmosis system. The continuous calculation in real time of the real time filtering rate is based on the continuous measured water parameters levels in real time and desired water parameters levels of treated water to be obtained in the post treatment storage system. The Reverse Osmosis system is designed to receive from the computerized water distribution system the real time filtering rate of the particle-free water (904) from the automated computerized water distribution system for obtaining filtered water (906) and a drain water (907). The post treatment storage system is designed to receive the remaining of the particle-free water (905) directly from the computerized water distribution system, and to receive the filtered water (906) from the Reverse Osmosis system.

[0039] The description of the system (100) above is concise and refers to the essential components of the system, without detailing obvious technical components, such as: electrical connections, pumps (85), pressure relief valves, pre-storage tanks or pools (86), and among these components that must be added to the water treatment system.

[0040] The system (100) may further include the evaporating system (800) that may include a pool that may contain the first drainage water (903) and the drain water (53B). The evaporating system (800) includes an evaporation pool (801) in a size of 20 meters by 2 meters, more or less, and the water depth can be about ten centimeters. The evaporating system (800) may further include an electrical connection (802) (that may be photovoltaic panels or a connection to the grid), one or more blowers (803) that direct to the pool and heating strips (804) at the bottom of the pool, in order to increase the rate of evaporation.

[0041] Figure 1 is a schematic depiction of the water treatment system (100), Figure 2 is a schematic depiction of the computerized water distribution system (30), and Figure 3 is a schematic depiction of the evaporating system (800).

Claims

ClaimsWhat is claimed is:

1. A method of water treatment, comprising: providing a first filtration system that is designed to filter at least suspended materials, slats or mineral from water, providing a sensors system that is designed to measure water parameters that are capable to be used for calculating TDS and SAR in water, providing a computerized water distribution system, providing a Reverse Osmosis system, providing a post treatment storage system, providing a control system, receiving, by the first filtration system, water for treatment, filtering, by the first filtration system, the water for treatment from the at least suspended materials, salts or minerals, for obtaining a particle-free water and a first drainage water, continuously measuring, by the sensor system, the water parameters levels in the particle-free water, and continuously sending, by the sensor system, the measured water parameters levels to the control system, flowing the particle-free water to the computerized water distribution system,continuously calculating in real time, by the control system, a real time filtering rate of the particle-free water to be filtered by the Reverse Osmosis system, wherein the continuous calculation in real time of said real time filtering rate is based on the continuous measured water parameters levels in real time and a desired water parameters levels of treated water to be obtained in the post treatment storage system, flowing said real time filtering rate of the particle-free water from the automated computerized water distribution system to the Reverse Osmosis system to be filtered, for obtaining a filtered water and a drain water, flowing a remaining of the particle-free water from the computerized water distribution system to the post treatment storage system, and flowing the filtered water from the Reverse Osmosis system to the post treatment storage system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: providing a Brine Treatment system that includes one or more Secondary Reverse Osmosis systems; receiving, by the secondary Reverse Osmosis system, the drain water from the main Reverse Osmosis systems; filtering by the Secondary Reverse Osmosis systems the incoming drain water for obtaining a secondary filtered water and a secondary drain water; and sending the secondary filtered water to the Post-treatment storage system, and sending the secondary drain water to evaporating system.

3. A system for water treatment, comprising: a first filtration system that is designed to filter at least suspended materials, salts or minerals from water, a sensors system) that is designed to measure water parameters levels in water, a computerized water distribution system, a Reverse Osmosis system, a post treatment storage system, and a control system; wherein the first filtration system is designed receive a water for treatment and to filter the received water for treatment from at least the suspended materials, salts or minerals, for obtaining a particle-free water; wherein the sensors system is designed to continuously measure water parameters levels in the particle-free water, and to continuously send the measured water parameters levels to the control system; wherein the computerized water distribution system is designed to receive the particle-free water; wherein the control system is designed to continuously calculate in real time a real time filtering rate of the particle-free water to be filtered by the Reverse Osmosis system,wherein the continuous calculation in real time of said real time filtering rate is based on the continuous measured water parameters levels in real time and a desired water parameters levels of treated water to be obtained in the post treatment storage system; wherein the Reverse Osmosis system is designed to receive from the computerized water distribution system the real time filtering rate of the particle-free water from the automated computerized water distribution system for obtaining a filtered water and a drain water; and wherein the post treatment storage system is designed to receive a remaining of the particle-free water directly from the computerized water distribution system, to receive the filtered water from the Reverse Osmosis system.

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