The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 16, 2012
Filed:
Oct. 31, 2007
Jan Hendrik Hanemaaijer, Oosterbeek, NL;
Albert Edward Jansen, Utrecht, NL;
Jolanda Van Medevoort, Ede, NL;
Hans DE Jong, Hengolo, NL;
Eric Van Sonsbeek, Hulst, NL;
Engelbert Peter Jurrie Jan Koele, Apeldoorn, NL;
Jan Willem Assink, Apeldoorn, NL;
Jan Hendrik Hanemaaijer, Oosterbeek, NL;
Albert Edward Jansen, Utrecht, NL;
Jolanda Van Medevoort, Ede, NL;
Hans De Jong, Hengolo, NL;
Eric Van Sonsbeek, Hulst, NL;
Engelbert Peter Jurrie Jan Koele, Apeldoorn, NL;
Jan Willem Assink, Apeldoorn, NL;
Abstract
The invention provides a method for the purification of a liquid by membrane distillation comprising: passing a heated vapourising stream of a liquid (retentate stream) through a retentate channel along a porous hydrophobic membrane (), whereby vapour of the liquid flows via the pores of the membrane to the other side of said membrane, and condensing said vapour on the other side of said membrane to give a distillate stream in a distillate channel () which distillate is created by passing the heat of condensation (latent heat) towards a condenser surface (), said condenser surface forming a non-porous separation between a feed stream of the liquid to be purified and said distillate stream, which feed stream is passed through a feed channel () in counter-current with the retentate stream, in which feed channel a space material () is arranged whereby at least part of the latent heat is transferred via the condenser surface to the feed stream, and whereby a positive liquid pressure difference is applied between the retentate stream and the feed stream at the corresponding points of the retentate channel and the feed channel over at least a part of each of the retentate channel () and feed channel. The invention further provides an apparatus suitable for use in said method.