WO2025075628A1

WO2025075628A1 - Assemblies of water treatment systems and methods of use thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2025075628A1
Application number: PCT/US2023/034670
Authority: WO
Inventors: William Tally; Jeffrey DUPUIS
Original assignee: Renew Health Ltd
Current assignee: Renew Health Ltd
Priority date: 2023-10-06
Filing date: 2023-10-06
Publication date: 2025-04-10
Anticipated expiration: 2026-04-06

Abstract

The disclosure relates to assemblies of water treatment systems and methods of use thereof. The assemblies include at least two fluidly linked water treatment systems where each of the least two fluidly linked water treatment systems include reverse osmosis components in addition to other components. The fluidly linked water treatment systems are linked in series such that the permeate from a first water treatment system flows to a second water treatment system for further purification. The assembly may include further include a third water treatment system linked to the second water treatment system for further purification.

Description

Assemblies of Water Treatment Systems and Methods of Use Thereof

Background

It would be desirable to have water treatment systems and methods that could be adaptable to a particular consumer's needs for water purity.

For example, resin beds are often used to remove anions and cations during water treatment and this method can produce very pure water suitable for laboratory or pharmaceutical uses (e.g., up to 18 megaohms). However, this degree of water purity with respect to ion content may not be required for most consumers. Further resin beds have a very limited capacity, need to be recharged frequently, and may become contaminated with microorganisms, it would be desirable to have systems and methods that could reliably produce the required level of water purity at. high capacity, reducing the use of consumable components, such as ion exchange resin.

Summary

The disclosure relates to assemblies, water treatment systems and methods and systems to treat water to a desired purity, The methods involve passing water through at least two water treatment systems fluidly linked in series, such that permeate water produced by a first water treatment system flows to a second water treatment system, where the water treatment systems have reverse osmosis components. In some examples, permeate may flow from the second water treatment system to the third water treatment system. Brief Description, of Drawings

Figure 1 shows an assembly of water treatment systems according to the disclosure as seen from above.

Figure 2 shows the characteristics of an assembly of water treatment systems as seen from above.

Detailed Description

This description provides illustrative examples of various aspects and embodiments and is intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the claimed aspects and embodiments. The accompanying drawings are included to provide illustration and a further understanding of the various aspects and embodiments and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings, together with the specification, explain the described and claimed aspects and embodiments.

The current disclosure relates to assemblies, systems, and methods to treat water for use by consumers, including both residential and commercial users. In preferred examples, assemblies and methods of the disclosure may be particularly useful for commercial users. in preferred examples, the disclosed assemblies, systems and methods may be used to supplement or replace the use of ion exchange processes. For example, the disclosed methods may reduce or eliminate the use of ion exchange resins but still provide a required level of water purity. In other examples, assemblies, systems, and methods of the disclosure may treat water to achieve a degree of purity that improves or facilitates subsequent water purification processes, such as ion exchange, in preferred examples, water having a conductance of about one microsiemens (pS) or below may be produced using the assemblies, systems, and methods of the disclosure. According to the disclosure, other undesirable, non-ionic contaminants may also be reduced by the assemblies and methods disclosed here. in preferred examples, the disclosure relates to assemblies of water treatment systems and methods of using the assemblies where the water treatment systems are fluidly linked o r fluid ly connected in series. The fluid linkage of water treatment systems in series permits the production of one or more product water fractions having desired purities. In preferred examples, fluidly linked, physically adjacent water treatment systems form an assembly of fluidly linked or fluidly connected systems where water during the purification process flows downstream from a first water treatment system in the assembly to a physically adjacent, fluidly linked second water treatment system, then to a subsequent fluidly linked physically adjacent third water treatment system. As required, further water treatment systems may be fluidly linked in series to the third water treatment system to achieve desired purity or characteristics of a product water. For example, a fourth water treatment system may be fluidly linked to the third water treatment system in series, the fourth water treatment system having components to further purify or modify product water flowed from the third water treatment system.

In preferred examples, assemblies and systems of the disclosure produce product water having a required level of purity as measured by conductance or resistance of a water fraction. In preferred examples, assemblies and systems of the disclosure produce product water having a required level of purity as measured by the amount of TDS (total dissolved solids).

In preferred examples., feed water is flowed to at least one first water treatment system, the first water treatment system having reverse osmosis components. Treatment of input (for example, untreated feed or raw water) water with the first system produces a first permeate (first product water). In preferred exampies, permeate produced by the first water treatment system has a conductance from about 20 to about. 100 microsiemens, or from about 20 to about 50 microsiemens. According to the disclosure, first (or second or third) permeate is used to designate that reverse osmosis was used ,at least in part, to generate the water fraction. The permeate may be subjected other processes such as sterilization. According to the disclosure, permeate water may also be termed a product water.

According to the disclosure, a portion of the first permeate may be flowed to a fluidly linked at least one second water treatment system having reverse osmosis components, thereby generating a second permeate (second product water). In preferred examples, the second permeate produced by the second system has a conductance from about 5 to about 15 microsiemens, or from about 5 to about 10 microsiemens.

A portion of the second permeate may be flowed to a fluidly linked at least, one third water treatment system having reverse osmosis components, thereby generating a third permeate (third product water). In preferred examples, permeate produced by the third system has a conductance from about 1 to about 3 microsiemens or a conductance of below .1 microsiemens. Permeate produced by the third water treatment system may be of adequate quality for applications requiring exceptionally high purity, such as pharmaceutical and medical applications.

In preferred examples, the fluidly linked first, second and third water treatment systems represent different levels or hierarchies of water purification. In preferred examples, a first water treatment system, at the first level, receives the least pure water (for example, feed water), the second water treatment system, at the second level, receives permeate only from the first water treatment system and the third water treatment system (third level) receives permeate only from the second water treatment system. At given level, the water produced is generally of a higher purity than the previous level. This arrangement also makes it easier to develop a program of maintenance for the assembly because the exposure to contaminants for each level of water treatment system is consistent and predictable.

In some examples, there may be more than one water treatment system at given level, where the multiple water treatment systems are linked in parallel at that level, such that the characteristics of water flowed in the multiple systems are similar at that level. At a particular level, there may be two linked systems, or three linked systems, or four linked systems, or five linked systems, or more than five linked systems. This arrangement permits an increase in capacity. The fluidly linked systems at one level may be fluidly linked in series to one or more fluidly linked systems at a subsequent level.

In some examples, water fractions may flow in the opposite direction as described. That is, water from a water treatment system at a later level in the assembly may flow to a water treatment system placed near the beginning of the assembly. For example, concentrate from the second or third water treatment systems (second or third levels) may flow back to the first water treatment system where the concentrate may be mixed with feed water to recycle the concentrate.

In preferred examples, each water treatment system of an assembly may be physically adjacent but separate. That is, the only link or connection between the systems in an assembly may be one or more fluid connections. In other examples, the linked systems have a common electrical connection. Each water treatment system of an assembly may be linked wirelessly to a central processor. in preferred examples, one or more water treatment systems are independent systems capable of purifying water to some degree when unlinked to other systems. For example, water treatment systems may have an inlet, outlet, at least one pump, and reverse osmosis units. The water treatment systems may have other components for water purification such as carbon filters, or other particulate filters, or sterilization components. The water treatment systems may further have permeate flush vaives for flowing permeate for flushing membranes, or manifolds for flowing a portion of concentrate for recycling.

In preferred examples, each water treatment system is placed in a separate enclosure or housing. That is, the components of at least one first water treatment system are enclosed in first enclosure, components of the at least one second water treatment system in a second enclosure, components of at least one third water treatment system in a third enclosure.

In preferred examples, the fluidly linked water treatment systems may be assembled to adapt to particular situations. For example, one or more first water treatment systems may have components for purifying relatively impure feed water. The first water treatment system may include filtration components, such as carbon filters, that treat feed water to remove particulate matter. The water may then flow to reverse osmosis components within the first water treatment system, to produce a first permeate. The first permeate may be of adequate purity for some uses.

In some examples, a portion of the first permeate produced by the first water treatment system may be flowed to at least one second water treatment system. The second water treatment system may not have identical components as the first water treatment system. For example, the second water treatment system may lack filtration components and include only reverse osmosis components or have reverse osmosis components as well as other components such as ultraviolet light component for sterilization. In these examples, the first permeate may be flowed directly to a pump in the second water treatment system where the pump may flow first permeate to reverse osmosis components in the second water treatment system, producing a second permeate. Similarly, the second permeate may be flowed to at least one third water treatment system having reverse osmosis components to produce a third permeate.

In other examples, the second and third water treatment systems may have essentially the same components as the first water treatment system. However, in this situation, the first and second water treatment systems may be fluidly linked where the first permeate flows directly to a pump then to reverse osmosis components of the second water treatment system, bypassing components such as carbon filters in the second water treatment system. Similarly, the second permeate would flow directly to a pump of the third water treatment system, then to the reverse osmosis units of the third water treatment system. This arrangement allows some flexibility in arranging water treatment systems in an assembly. For example, second level water treatment systems could be moved to the first water treatment system level, if more capacity at this level is required.

In some examples, one or more of the fluidly linked systems in the assembly have other water treatment components in addition to or instead of reverse osmosis components. For example, a water treatment system may have components to complete sterilization of water, such as an ultraviolet light source.

In some examples, water treatment systems may have a tank, such as a surge tank, placed within the enclosure . In other examples, a tank is not required and may be omitted or bypassed. In some examples, an external water tank may be fluidly linked to one or more water treatment systems at a given level. For example, a pressurized water tank utilizing a bladder may be employed.

In preferred examples, one or more of the first, second and third water treatment level systems include permeate flush valves, where permeate produced by a given system is flowed at high flow rates to the reverse osmosis units of that system to flush the reverse osmosis membranes of debris, or precipitates that accumulate on the reverse osmosis membranes over time.

Water treatment systems of the disclosure include sensors that monitor water characteristics. For example, sensors that monitor TDS (total dissolved solids) may be placed at the inlet, outlet or pump of each system or some combination of these sites The water treatment systems may further include flow sensors at the inlet or outlet of each system or some combination of these sites, and water pressure sensors at the inlet; outlet or pump of each system or some combination of these sites. Temperature sensors may be placed at the inlet, at the pump or at the location of any electronics or some combination of these sites. A resistivity sensor may be placed at the outlet of each system.

In preferred examples, each water treatment system includes processors and is enabled for wireless two-way communication. For example, data from sensors located in each system may be transmitted to a central processor. The central processor may adjust operating parameters of one or more systems according to the sensor data according to selected algorithms. For example, the processor may execute a flush protocol if a TDS value exceeds a predetermined threshold for water treatment system at one level. The central processor may also reroute the water previously flowed to the system undergoing flushing to another water treatment system at the same level. In this way, the entire assembly does not have to be shut down for the flushing procedure of one water treatment system. The water treatment systems of an assembly are fluidly linked by plumbing which encompasses piping of different materials such as plastics compatible with highly purified water. The plumbing includes valves that may be controlled from a central processer to control water flow between water treatment systems.

Example 1

Figures one and two illustrate an example of an assembly (16) of fluidly linked water treatment systems. In these Figures, the water treatment systems are viewed from above, the lid and the sides of the system enclosures having been removed. Arrows in the Figures show the flow of water from system to system in an assembly. In each of these Figures, an assembly includes three water treatment systems (10, 12, 14) jinked in series. In this exampie, feed water flows into a first system (10) having reverse osmosis components, where permeate or product water from the first water treatment system (10) fiows to a second water treatment system (12) and permeate or product water from the second system fiows to a third water treatment system (14). According to this example, the permeate or product water from the third system may flow for use by a consumer or to other systems or components for further treatment.

In this example, each water treatment system includes two reverse osmosis components (20, 22,24). In these examples each reverse osmosis component includes two reverse osmosis units, (30,32,34) which may be fluidly linked in parallel or in series. In these examples, there are additional components including, a pump (40), and a tank 50 . In other examples, a tank may not be required. In this example, one or more fluidly linked systems may include additional components for water treatment, including, for example, components having ultraviolet lights to ensure sterilization of the water which may replace a tank.

The water treatment systems also includes an inlet 72, where water is flowed into the water treatment systems, an outlet 70 where permeate or product water is flowed out of the system and a drain 74 where concentrate may be flowed out of the system. In other examples, a reverse osmosis component may be replaced with a filtration component, such as carbon filters.

According to these examples, feed water flows into a first water treatment system (10) through inlet 72 and the water is subjected to reverse osmosis. In this example, product water or permeate water from the first water treatment system (10) may have a conductance of about 10 to about 20 microsiemens. According to this example, first permeate from the first water treatment system (10) flows to the second treatment system (12) through the outlet (70) of the first water treatment system (10) to the inlet (72) of the second water treatment system. In this example, permeate water produced by the second water treatment system may have a conductance from about 2 to about 10 microsiemens.

According to this example, permeate from the second water treatment system (12) flows from the outlet of the second water treatment system to the inlet of the third treatment system (14). In this example, permeate water produced by the third system may have a conductance below about one microsiemen or has a resistance of greater than 1 to 2 megaohms.

In these examples, each of the three systems has an internal pump (40) contained within the system which ensures adequate water pressure for the flow of water to the elements of each system and to the next fluidly linked water treatment system.

In Figure 2, concentrate water produced by the reverse osmosis process in the second system (12) is shown to be flowed back upstream from the drain (74) of the second water treatment system (12) to the inlet of the first water treatment system (10) where it may be mixed with feed water and subjected to treatment in the first system. In this example, concentrate from the third water treatment system (14) is flowed back to the second water treatment system (12) for recycling. In general, concentrate from a water treatment system at a later level may be flowed back upstream to a water treatment system placed at an earlier level, upstream of the concentrate-producing water treatment system.

In this example, the exterior dimensions of an individual water treatment system are about 23 inches wide, 39 inches long and 53 inches high. The output of each system is at least 10 gallons per minute, preferably about 10-15 gallons per minute.

In some examples, the ultraviolet filter component may be placed such that water is sterilized before flowing to the reverse osmosis component. In other examples, the ultraviolet filter component is placed after the reverse osmosis component. in preferred examples, the ultraviolet filter emits light in the ultraviolet range. In preferred examples, the ultraviolet filter emits light at about 253.7 nm and the active chamber area is from 200 to 300 cubic inches.

The disclosed systems have been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology, which has been used herein, is intended to be words of description rather than of limitation. Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible considering the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the described disclosure, the disclosure can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

Claims

1. An assembly of fluidly linked water treatment systems, comprising at least one first water treatment system, comprising a first enclosure; reverse osmosis components; an inlet for input water; said at least one first water treatment system producing a first permeate; at least one second water treatment system, comprising: a second enclosure; reverse osmosis components; said at least one second water treatment system fluidly linked to said at least one first water treatment system to receive said first permeate fraction; said at least one second water treatment system producing a second permeate.

2. The assembly of claim 1, further comprising: at least one third water treatment system, comprising: a third enclosure; reverse osmosis components; said at least one third water treatment system fluidly linked to said at least one second water treatment system to receive said second permeate fraction; said at least one third water treatment system producing a third permeate.

3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the conductance of said second permeate is from about 2 to about 10 microsiemens

4. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the conductance of said third permeate is about one microsiemens.

5. The assembly of claim 2, wherein each of said at least one first water treatment system, said at least one second water treatment system and said at least one third water treatment system further comprises a pump.

6. The assembly of claim 2, wherein each of said at least one first water treatment system, said at least one second water treatment system and said at least one third water treatment system further comprise a permeate flush valve.

7. A method of purifying water, comprising: a. flowing water through at least one first water treatment system said at least one first water treatment system comprising reverse osmosis components; b. producing a first permeate; c. flowing a portion of said first permeate to at least one second water treatment system; said at least one second water treatment system fluidly linked to said at least one first water treatment system; said at least one second water treatment system having reverse osmosis components; d. producing a second permeate.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising flowing a portion of said second permeate to at least one third water treatment system to produce a third permeate: said at least one third water treatment system fluidly linked to said at least one second water treatment system and said at least one third water treatment system having reverse osmosis components.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said at least one first water treatment system, at least one second water treatment system and said at least one third water treatment systems are placed in separate enclosures.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein said at. least one second water treatment system further comprises an ultraviolet light source for sterilizing water.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said at least one third water treatment system further comprises an ultraviolet light source for sterilizing water.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the electric conductance of said second permeate is from about 2 to about 10 microsiemens.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the electric conductance of said third permeate is from about one microsiemens.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising flowing concentrate from said at least one second water treatment system to said first water treatment system.

15. The method of claim 8 further comprising flawing concentrate from said at least one third water treatment system to said first water treatment system.