Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research

Bhadrachari Garudachari

Mansour Ahmed

Rajesha Kumar

Jibu Pallickel Thomas

Yousef Jassim Easa Al-Wazzan

A method for making metal organic frameworks (MOFs) includes the step of dissolving metal salts in deionized water to form first solution, followed by adding a cyclic propyl phosphonic anhydride reagent to the first solution to form a second solution. The second solution is heated to form a reaction mixture containing MOF crystals, and is then cooled. The MOF crystals are filtered therefrom, washed and dried. To make metal organic framework-based thin film nanocomposite membranes, the MOF crystals are mixed with an m-phenylene diamine aqueous solution to form a mixture, which is then poured on a top surface of an ultrafiltration membrane substrate to form a first intermediate membrane structure. The first intermediate membrane structure is dried, and trimesolyl chloride in n-hexane solution is poured thereon to form a second intermediate membrane structure, which is cured to form an MOF-based thin film nanocomposite membrane, which is then rinsed and dried.

Method for making metal organic frameworks and thin film nanocomposite membranes using the same

The pressure-reduced saline water treatment system combines both forward osmosis and reverse osmosis techniques for the desalination of salt water, such as seawater. A feed side of the reverse osmosis desalination unit is in fluid communication with the feed side of the forward osmosis desalination unit, such that seawater drawn through the feed side of the forward osmosis desalination unit is fed into the feed side of the reverse osmosis desalination unit. The reverse osmosis desalination unit outputs product water extracted from the seawater from a permeate side thereof. The feed side of the reverse osmosis desalination unit outputs a reject stream, which is fed to a draw side of the forward osmosis desalination unit, such that the draw side of the forward osmosis desalination unit receives the reject stream and outputs concentrated brine.

Pressure-reduced saline water treatment system

The desalination system with mineral recovery is a system for desalinating water using spray drying, which allows for both the production of purified water and the recovery of mineral salts. The desalination system with mineral recovery is a two-stage system for zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) desalination of feed water. The feed water may be, for example, seawater, reverse osmosis (RO) brine (i.e., the waste brine from a RO process), nano-filtration (NF) reject, multistage flash (MSF) brine, or the like. The first stage receives the feed water and uses a spray drying process to produce concentrated brine and a first volume of purified water. The concentrated brine is fed to the second stage, which also uses a spray drying process to produce a second volume of purified water and a volume of recovered mineral salts.

Desalination system with mineral recovery

A thin film nanocomposite nanofiltration membrane or TFC-NF membrane includes an ultrafiltration support membrane coated with a trimesic acid coating layer. The trimesic acid coating layer is formed or self-assembled on the ultrafiltration support membrane by pouring an aqueous solution of a water soluble tertiary amine on the support membrane to form a first coating layer and then applying a solution of trimesolychloride on the first coating layer. In other words, the trimesic acid coating layer can be formed as a result of the liquid-liquid interface of the water soluble tertiary amine and the trimesolychloride. A total thickness of the TFC-NF membrane can be about 150 &#x3bc;m. The thin film nanocomposite nanofiltration membrane can be free from MPD monomers.

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Safat, Kuwait

Bhadrachari Garudachari