Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D61/00—Processes of separation using semi-permeable membranes, e.g. dialysis, osmosis or ultrafiltration; Apparatus, accessories or auxiliary operations specially adapted therefor
  • B01D61/02—Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration ; Nanofiltration
  • B01D61/10—Accessories; Auxiliary operations
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D63/00—Apparatus in general for separation processes using semi-permeable membranes
  • B01D63/10—Spiral-wound membrane modules
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01D—SEPARATION
  • B01D2313/00—Details relating to membrane modules or apparatus
  • B01D2313/10—Specific supply elements
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F1/00—Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage
  • C02F1/44—Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis
  • C02F1/441—Treatment of water, waste water, or sewage by dialysis, osmosis or reverse osmosis by reverse osmosis
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C02—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F—TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE
  • C02F2103/00—Nature of the water, waste water, sewage or sludge to be treated
  • C02F2103/08—Seawater, e.g. for desalination
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A—TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02A20/00—Water conservation; Efficient water supply; Efficient water use
  • Y02A20/124—Water desalination
  • Y02A20/131—Reverse-osmosis

Definitions

• THIS INVENTION relates to the treatment of water by reverse osmosis.
• the plate has a multitude of bores passing through it and streams of raw water flow through these bores. The water streams impinge on the end of the first membrane and the water flows into the salt retention passages.
• the flow distributor plate of the desalinator disclosed in WO 97/21630 has a flat front face and the bores in the plate can have their axes skew to the flat front face of the plate.
• the present invention provides an improved flow distributor plate for reverse osmosis desalination apparatus.
• a flow distributor plate for a reverse osmosis desalination apparatus having a plurality of bores through it from a front face thereof to a rear face thereof, the front face having a recessed area the surface of which is set back from the remainder of the front face of the plate, the entrances to at least some of the bores being within said recessed area.
• each recess there is a plurality of recesses together making up the recessed area, there being the entrance to at least one bore within each recessed area.
• Each of said plurality of recesses can encircle a single bore entrance.
• Some of the bores can straddle the bounding edges of the recesses so that a first part of the entrance of each of these bores is within the recessed area and the second part of the entrance of each of these bores is outside said area.
• each recess being circular and adjacent recesses being joined by a recessed channel, the recesses and channels forming the recessed area.
• the channels can be of the same depth as the recesses.
• the width of each channel can be less than the diameter of each bore and there can be at a least one bore having its entrance in each channel, a centre part of the entrance to each of these bores being in the channel and two opposed peripheral parts of each of these bores being outside the channel.
• Figures 1 and 2 are respectively pictorial views of the front and rear faces of a flow distributor plate in accordance with the present invention
• Figure 3 is an elevation of the front face of the plate of Figures 1 and 2;
• Figure 4 illustrates three membranes in an end-to-end array
• Figure 5 is a section through the membrane array of Figure 4 and also shows a casing
• Figure 6 is an elevation of the casing shown in Figure 5.
• Figure 7 is an elevation of the flow distributor plate through which water emerging from the salt retention passages flows.
• the flow distributor plate shown in Figure 1 to 3 of the drawings is designated 10 and has a front face 12 ( Figures 1 and 3) and a rear face 14 ( Figure 2).
• An encircling spigot 16 protrudes from the rear face 14 and has, on the cylindrical outer face thereof, formations 18 which enable it to be fitted in a leakproof manner into one end of the cylindrical casing (not shown) which receives the spirally wound reverse osmosis membranes.
• the front surface of the plate consists of a recessed area 20 which is set back from the remainder of the front surface of the plate.
• the remainder of the front surface of the plate is designated 22 and comprises the entire area of the plate which is not recessed and setback.
• the recessed area 20 is constituted by an array of circular recesses 24 and a series of channels 26.
• the recesses 24 are arranged in a circular array around the axis of the plate 10, which axis passes through the centre of an opening 28 at the centre of the plate 10.
• Channels 26 are arcuate in shape and generated about said axis. Each channel 26 joins two circular recesses 24.
• the permeate outlet pipe (not shown) passes through the opening 28.
• Bores 30.1 , 30.2, 30.3 and 30.4 pass through the plate 10.
• Each bore In the plate is skew in that its longitudinal axis is not at right angles to the surfaces of the plate. This means that the entrance to each bore is displaced circumferentially around the plate from its exit.
• the bores can be considered to fall into Four groups.
• the bores of the first group are designated 30.1 and each bore in this group lies wholly within one of the recesses 24.
• the second group of bores is designated 30.2 and each bore in this group lies wholly within the area 22.
• the remaining groups of bores, designated 30.3 and 30.4, straddle the areas 20, 22 and hence each has part of its entrance within the area 20 and part within the area 22.
• a raised ring 32 is provided on the rear face 14 of the plate 10.
• reference numerals 34, 36, 38 and 40 designate four membranes in an end-to-end array.
• the outer casing in which the membrane array is contained is shown in Figures 5 and 6 and is designated 42.
• the end caps 44, 46 which close-off both ends of the casing 42 and the pipes 48, 50 and 52 through which raw water, permeate and waste water flows are only illustrated in Figure 5.
• the water being treated flows through membranes 34, 36, 38 and 40 in sequence.
• Each membrane includes semi-permeable leaves 54 which are wrapped around a permeate pipe 56 in conventional manner.
• a flow distributor plate 10 At the inlet end of each membrane there is a flow distributor plate 10 as shown in Figures 1 to 3.
• a flow distributor plate 58 At the outlet end of each membrane there is a flow distributor plate 58 ( Figure 7).
• the plates 10 and 58 are at opposite ends of a sleeve which sheaths the array of leaves 54.
• the plate 58 has three co-axial rings of bores 60, 62 and 64 in it, the bores 62 in the middle ring being larger than those in the inner and outer rings 60, 64. In addition there is a central opening 66 which matches the opening 28 in the plate 10.
• the angle of the bores 30.1 , 30.2 etc imparts a swirling motion to the water which impinges on the end of the membrane.
• the direction in which the water is caused to swirl is the same as that in which the leaves 54 are wound around the pipe 56.
• Experimental work has shown that recessing the front face of the plate 10, and providing the entrances to some of the bores in the plate within the recessed area, enhances the performance of the desalinator. Applicant attributes this enhanced performace to the fact that turbulent water flows into the salt retention passages of each membrane after the first and that the area of the membrane which can be considered as a deadspot is minimised.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Water Supply & Treatment (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Nanotechnology (AREA)
• Separation Using Semi-Permeable Membranes (AREA)

Priority Applications (8)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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Citations (3)

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• 2008
  • 2008-01-16 GB GBGB0800774.2A patent/GB0800774D0/en not_active Ceased
  • 2008-10-29 CN CN200880125012.XA patent/CN101970090B/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2008-10-29 AU AU2008348002A patent/AU2008348002C1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2008-10-29 JP JP2010542698A patent/JP5349495B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2008-10-29 US US12/812,870 patent/US8715500B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2008-10-29 WO PCT/IB2008/054465 patent/WO2009090510A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2008-10-29 NZ NZ587330A patent/NZ587330A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2008-10-29 MY MYPI20103382 patent/MY153127A/en unknown
  • 2008-10-29 EP EP08870816A patent/EP2247371A1/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2009
  • 2009-01-12 TW TW098100972A patent/TW200936228A/zh unknown
  • 2009-01-12 AR ARP090100090A patent/AR070154A1/es not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2009-01-12 CL CL2009000043A patent/CL2009000043A1/es unknown
• 2010
  • 2010-07-13 IL IL206977A patent/IL206977A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-08-16 ZA ZA2010/05811A patent/ZA201005811B/en unknown

Patent Citations (3)

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