Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Gradiant Corporation

Masdar Institute of Science and Technology

Anurag Bajpayee

John H Lienhard

Prakash Narayan Govindan

Gang Paul Chen

Maximus G St John

Steven Lam

Daniel Kraemer

Borivoje B Mikic

Windsor Sung

Mohammed Mirhi

Andrew Jerome Muto

Mark Zaloudek

Matteo Chiesa

Stephan Josef Peter Kress

Andy Muto

Vincent Berube

Michael Fowler

Kevin Kleinguetl

Andrew Muto

Borivoje Mikic

Systems and methods related to the desalination of aqueous solutions containing one or more dissolved salts are generally described.

Desalination systems and associated methods

Cations that can precipitate from an aqueous composition to produce scaling are sequestered by adding a multi-dentate ligand to the aqueous composition. The multi-dentate ligand bonds with the cation to form a non-scaling ionic complex; and the aqueous solution with the ionic complex is used in a process that produces substantially pure water from the aqueous composition, where the cation, absent formation of the ionic complex, is subject to scaling. The pH of the aqueous composition (or a brine including components of the aqueous composition) is then reduced to release the cation from the multi-dentate ligand; and the multi-dentate ligand, after the cation is released, is then reused in a predominantly closed loop.

Ion sequestration for scale prevention

Ion sequestration for scale prevention in high-recovery desalination systems

Purified water can be obtained via a continuous or semi-continuous process by mixing a liquid composition (e.g., sea water or produced frac water) including water with a directional solvent to selectively dissolve water from the liquid composition into the directional solvent. The concentrated remainder of the liquid composition (e.g., brine) is removed, and the water is precipitated from the directional solvent and removed in a purified form. The solvent is then reused as the process is repeated in a continuous or semi-continuous operation.

Water extraction using a directional solvent

Substantially pure water is produced via desalination using a directional solvent that directionally dissolves water but does not dissolve salt. The directional solvent is heated to dissolve water from the salt solution into the directional solvent. The remaining highly concentrated salt water is removed, and the solution of directional solvent and water is cooled to precipitate substantially pure water out of the solution.

Water desalination using directional solvent extraction

A system and method for energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly recovery of bitumen aims at recovering unconventional oil in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way that has the potential of eliminating the need of natural gas currently employed for steam production and power generation. The system and method aims at providing low temperature steam for the stimulation of the formation by means of solar radiation. In addition, the system and method provides a novel solution for hydrogen production that does not employ reforming of natural gas. Furthermore, the use of thermoelectric devices in combination with low temperature steam can be employed to power an electrolysis plant to generate the hydrogen necessary to produce synthetic oil.

Apparatus and method for energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly recovery of bitumen

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Anurag Bajpayee