Water purification

Water is the most important nutrient for human being. Human can survive a month without food, but only a few days without the life-giving properties of water. However not in all cases drinking water is safe even if desalinated. Streams, rivers, lakes and groundwater bring biological and chemical waste products to municipal water treatment plants where most of the contaminants should be removed.

Unique WaterFier (WATER puriFIER or Water Purification Module) designed and made by SRC-Vertical on the base of nano-technologies, has the highest productivity in the World (0.5 tons of pure water per hour on 1 kW of applied power) and contains three main modules (optional water improvement and mineralizing module can be used to make ideally pure drinking water).

• Pre-treatment module for extremely contaminated water
• Helix-type water purification electrodialysis module
• Electrohydraulical module (includes pumps, valves, pipes, measuring devices, control system

Water purification module can operate together with the Wind Turbine.

The ideal system of water purification is that purifies water, stores it and gives it back when needed. It is also desirable that such module would have the autonomous energy supply system, operate without supervising and should be relatively inexpensive.

Wind Turbines (Wind Power Generators) of 3 and 30 kW power can solve this problem, starting from pumping the polluted water into the input pipelines and finishing by pumping of pure water into the output pipelines. The system generates pure water from totally unused sources. It provides itself with power with the help of Wind Turbine (together with solar panels in some cases), and provides the pumping and purification of water.

The volume of the tank for water storage should meet the requirements of consumer and should be made in accordance with the power of energy source and volume of water purification.

Optional ultra-violet or ultra-sound module can be used for further improvement of the quality of water purification.

When water flow moves in electromagnetic field of specific intensity, the positively charged ions are being attracted to one side of the flow, closed to negative electrode, the negative ions - to the other side, to positive electrode. As the result the flow of pure water appears between these flows. Moving along the flat pipe of specific cross-section, water clears itself of salts and other suspensions. For compactness the flat pipe is rolled into the “helix”.

The external and internal view of WATERFIER:

 

HISTORY OF WATERFIER (WATER PURIFIER)
While development of the Wind Turbines (wind power units, WPU) where the source of energy is a wind, the scientists have discovered several useful technologies where the power source is Wind Turbine and the consumer is Water Purifier or refrigeration system or even the module which converts water into hydrogen and oxygen, using further the hydrogen as a fuel in no-break power systems, when there is no wind. In such system the purified water becomes a form of stored energy!

A wind powered water purification system does not require a connection to an electrical grid.  Selling drinking water to locations without access to an electrical grid has a very different set of economics than selling kilowatt-hours to an established electric utility.
SRC-Vertical, drawing upon the expertise developed to supply drinking water to the submarines, have designed the next generation of self-cleaning water purification system which has replaced all known approaches of desalination and purification. This new technology was named "Waterfier" (WATER puriFIER).

MAIN FEATURES OF WATERFIER
Primary features of the WaterFier:  
-    Lower initial cost than all known purifiers including reverse osmosis. 
-    Lower operating costs due to no chemicals required, lower pumping pressures, longer life and higher productivity.
-    The process includes 2 stages. The first stage is a separation of water stream on two flows to remove mechanical parts and biological components (concentration device). The second stage is removal of soluble salts and minerals. It works for desalinization, too.
-    The proposed purification system is not so sensitive to the source water as reverse osmosis. It does not require the frequent servicing, change of filtration elements, etc. It is smaller than the existing purification systems and consumes less power.

WATER PURIFICATION (PURGING + DEMINERALIZATION)
Two know-how approaches are combined in Waterfier:
  
REMOVAL OF PATHOGENIC AND MECHANICAL ADMIXTURES
This is the preliminary purification of polluted water based on the induction approach. It is based on control of the motion of hydrated (charged) mechanical parts in specially oriented electric field of high intensity. Electric field is generated by specific electrode location, switch on and off logic, and other special features studied by SRC-Vertical scientists.
Heterogeneous high strength electric field (appr. 10^6 Volt/meter) treats the polluted water flow so that parts suspended in water would be covered by polarized water molecules (water molecules are polarized initially) and move to one of isolated cathodes.
In helix-type pipe line this approach is quasi repeated many times, so it becomes possible to separate the water molecules from anything non-soluble in the stream.  This process separates pathogens and other life forms.
The flip side of this is the concentration of other non-soluble materials, specifically gold particles could be concentrated from a water stream.  
In short the polluted water flow is separated on to two flows: the first one 90% of purified water, the second 10% of brine.
For instance the module with chamber 500х600х300 mm powered from 30 kW high voltage power source (Wind Turbine) will have productivity 15 m3/hour.

DEMINERALIZATION (DESALTING)
This ion approach combines electrodialysis, electrolysis and electroosmosis. It is quite similar to the purification of pathogenic and mechanical admixtures as it uses the same helix-type separator. However it uses another approach of stream separation. It is more efficient, inexpensive, energy saving, simple servicing, ecological technology among any of known including the reverse osmosis.
Being the secret military development, it became affordable for civilian people and industry in 2004.
Electric field treats source water with the help of special cation and anion  membranes and removes the parts suspended in water. The process is quasi repeated many times whilst water circulates along the helix pipelines with cross-section in the form of flat oval, turned one on another as a helix. This design is named “stocking”.
The idea of the technology is the removal of salt ions moving in electric field with the help of specially oriented cation and anion membranes. Low field strength in each point of the treated water flow reduces the electrodialysis of water molecules and energy consumption required for that.

ELECTRODIALYSIS – A process that uses electrical current applied to permeable membranes to remove minerals from water. From scientific view it’s a process of separation of substances based on their electrolytic dissociation and migrating of ions via membrane under the potential difference (voltage) generated in the solution on both sides of membrane. Used to desalinize salty or brackish water. Especially effective when using so-called ionite membranes selectively permeable for cations or anions.
ELECTROLYSIS - Chemical decomposition produced by passing an electric current through a conducting liquid. In scientific language it’s a number of processes of electrochemical oxidizing- reduction on the submerged electrodes carrying electric current. It is used for generating of many substances (metals, hydrogen, clorine, etc.), metal coating (galvanostegy), reproduction of object forms (galvanoplastics).

The module consists of two devices: electrohydraulic and electrodialysis. Electrohydraulic device consists of pumps, valves, pile lines, measuring devices and electronic control system. Electrodialysis device consists of one or several electrodialysis apparatus connected in series or parallel depending on the productivity or the salt saturation coefficient of source water.

OPTIONAL ULTRA-VIOLET (ULTRASONIC) MODULE
Special frequency (calculated by SRC-Vertical) changes physical features of water due to resonance. As the result water becomes ideally pure and ideally suitable for drinking. In addition such water can be stored for a long time.

SOURCES OF WATER
Salty oceans keep about 97 percent of water on the Earth. Today, more than ever, people believe that desalting ocean water and ground water hold the answer to the ever-increasing demand for pure water in many areas. The salt contained in seawater is mostly the same substance as common table salt. A person can safely drink water that contains less than 1/2 pound of salt in 100 pounds of water, or 0.5 kilogram in every 100 kilograms. But seawater has about seven times this amount of salt. A person who drinks only seawater will eventually die. The body's cells will dehydrate as they try to get rid of the excess salt from the seawater. Nor can people use seawater in agriculture or industry. It kills most crops, and quickly rusts most machinery.

Water pumped from rivers and lakes for living, also contains lots of contaminants. The city services add chlorine, which kills some of the bacteria. However, most treated water still contains pollutants, chlorine and germs. Chlorine combines with compounds in water to create chloroform and other chemicals that can cause diseases. Dozens of scientific studies have proven this danger. The Council of Environmental Quality reported that chlorine in water increases the risk of urinary tract and gastrointestinal cancer!

There are many locations that have water available, but it is unfit for human or animal consumption.   Water may be naturally laden with minerals, salts or organic materials, it may be contaminated with bacteria, parasites or pathogens, it may contain poisonous chemicals, or a combination of these items.   Frequently such water supplies are located in areas where electrical service is not available.  If this water could be made suitable for human or animal consumption, then more land could become productive.

PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED
At the past two years, the World Water Quality Association has conducted an independent survey which verified the breadth and scope of their concern. The results show that:
- 86 percent of asked are concerned about their drinking water.
- 70 percent are knowledgeable about contaminants in their water.
- 41 percent already use a water treatment device.
- 43 percent said filtered water tastes better than tap one.
- 42 percent said filtered water is safer.
- 1 of 3 respondents believes household drinking water isn't as safe as it should be.
- 1 of 10 respondents says he is planning to purchase a household water treatment system within the next year.
- Approximately 75 percent of households have chlorinated water. A 1987 study sponsored by US National Cancer Institute, Food and Drug Administration, and EPA, have found the increased risk of bladder cancer with the long-term consumption of chlorinated drinking water.
- Millions of private and public wells have never been tested for contamination, but a five-year, $12 million, nationwide survey was conducted by the EPA and released in 1990. Based on that survey, the EPA estimates that 10.4 percent of community wells and 4.2 percent of natural domestic wells have detectable level of at least one pesticide.
- According to EPA estimates, 40 million Americans are exposed to levels of lead in water well above the EPA's Maximum Contaminant Level.
- Virtually everyone has some level of radon in their water. The national average is 200 to 600 picocuries per liter. At these levels, scientists estimate the risk of developing cancer from radon ingestion is greater than the risk of cancer from most other regulated contaminants found in drinking water at the maximum levels allowed by the EPA.

Experts from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was shocked to learn that 70 percent of the people in the L.A. area drink only filtered water or bottled water.
With this growing demand for higher quality drinking water, it's no surprise that homeowners are buying and installing the same technology used by the major bottled water companies.

EXISTING WATER PURIFIERS
The list of existing water purification systems is very long. However the most of them are very specific and intended for removal either salt or minerals or bacteria or another contaminated parts. None of them can remove everything to make water suitable for drinking.

FILTERS
http://www.fernsnutrition.com/compare
http://energy.caeds.eng.uml.edu/Peru/ASES03-A167-water-final.pdf

Filters are good for the first 2 days. Then billions of bacteria breeding in nights in stagnant water, start to extract the products of vital functions into the water communication pipelines.

ULTRA-VIOLET DISINFECTION
http://www.bigbrandwaterfilters.com/uvdisinfection.html
UV system kills bacteria but does not remove the salt or contaminated parts.

REVERSE OSMOSIS APPROACH
http://www.zyicorp.com/products.html#water

Reverse osmosis is a widely used method for desalting subsoil and seawater. In normal osmosis, a less concentrated liquid flows through a membrane into a more concentrated liquid. Thus, if salt water and pure water are separated in a chamber by a special semi-permeable membrane, the pure water will flow through the membrane into the salt water. However under enough pressure this normal flow pattern can be reversed. Pure water will then be squeezed from salt water as it passes through the membrane, leaving the salt behind.
The oil or another wastes contaminated today in the sea water, cannot be removed by this approach. The serious disadvantage of the reverse osmosis is that membranes must be cleaned periodically.

RETICLE’S CAPACITIVE DEIONIZATION (CDI) technology
http://www.saskwater.com/htdocs/whatsnew/releases/TechReport.pdf
http://www.reticlecarbon.com/3_application_water_00.htm

Reticle technology recently available on the market is quit acceptable for water purification. However to purify any water it will require several modules to remove minerals, salt, bacteria and other contaminated parts, due to the different chemicals used for different approaches. Finally it makes the process extremely expensive.

DISTILLATION
http://wholesalewaterdistillers.com/distiller-water/american-water-distillers/love-water-distiller.html

Distillation is an old approach which is the most expensive one. Industry offers a bunch of distillers which have good characteristics. After distillation human gets absolutely purified water (H2O) which is quite acceptable for living. However human needs lots of chemical compounds contained in water (Ca, Mn, etc.) required for normal physiology.

BOTTLED WATER
http://www.bottledwaterweb.com/

Bottled water (especially mineralized water) isn't necessarily without contamination. Some bottled water isn't always regularly monitored. In 1990, a bottled water survey by the Suffolk County, New York, Health Department tested bottled water sold in the county and found that 9 of 88 brands tested did not meet state and federal drinking water standards.
Moreover any bottled water could be produced by one of the listed methods each of which has some disadvantages.

PRICE COMPETITION - OPERATING PRICES

SOME USEFUL NUMBERS (average in the World):
Price of 1 kW-hour (residential) $.06 - $.13 (let’s consider $.09 as average)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/sales_revenue.xls
1 gallon = 3.785 liters

FILTERS
Operating price is appr. $.06 per gallon ($.015 per liter).
Drinking 2 quarts of water per day costs 3 cents per day or 90 cents per month.
Advantage – requires no electric power.
Disadvantage – no desalination, no demineralization, no poison and other soluble substance removal.
Resume – acceptable for short-time purification of residential communication water.

ULTRA VIOLET DISINFECTION
Operating price is $0.001 per gallon ($0.00026, i.e. 3 Watt-hour per liter).
Advantage - kills bacteria.
Disadvantage – no desalination, no demineralization, no mechanical parts removal, no poison and other soluble substance removal.
Resume – Acceptable for pools with initially pure water to prevent bacteria reproduction.

REVERSE OSMOSIS APPROACH
Operating price is $0.003 per gallon ($0.0008 per liter, i.e. 9 Watt-hour per liter).
Advantage – high quality water purification system.
Disadvantage – frequent replacement of membranes, requires preliminary water treatment, doesn’t remove bacteria.

RETICLE’S CAPACITIVE DEIONIZATION (CDI) technology
Operating price is $0.0001 per gallon ($.00003 per liter, i.e. 0.36 Watt-hour per liter).
Advantage – quite acceptable water purification.
Disadvantage – requires special materials (installation price is high) for each process (different materials for different approaches), periodical replacement of components, requires preliminary water treatment.
The resulting operating price if all components added, is $0.001 per gallon ($.0003 per liter, i.e. 3.6 Watt-hour per liter).

DISTILLATION
Operating price is $0.01 per gallon ($0.003 per liter, i.e. 53 Watt-hour per liter).
Advantage – total water purification.
Disadvantage – water doesn’t contain any minerals required for human life, installation price is high, periodical replacement of components, requires preliminary water treatment.

BOTTLED WATER
Price of bottled water is $4-16 per gallon ($1-4 per liter).
Advantage – quality is guaranteed by supplier.
Disadvantage – constant expensive purchase, water doesn’t contain some minerals required for human and animal life, the quality cannot be known for sure.


WATERFIER (CALCULATION OF THE COST OF 1 LITER OF WATER)
The cost of 1 liter of water is the sum of energy expenses for one liter production + depreciation of capital assets (equipment) + the cost of servicing (membrane replacement) per produced liter of pure water.

PRODUCTIVITY
30 kW module produces constantly 15 m3 per hour, 360 days per year, 24 hours per day. Total 129,600 м3 or 129,600,000 liters of water per year.

COST OF EQUIPMENT
The cost of 30 kW module is about $200,000.

DEPRECIATION
1. Change of membranes. This parameter should be calculated on the base of the life time of equipment. In our case this time is 50 years (the replacement of membranes once per 10 years is about 5% of the cost of the equipment). Total 5 replacements, the cost 5 х ($200,000х5%) or $50,000.
Total annual expenses $50,000 / 50 years = $1,000 per year.
The part of the cost of membrane replacement in 1 liter of water is $1,000 / 129,600,000 liters = $0.000008 = $8х10-6.
2. The depreciation itself is approximately 2% of the equipment cost per year (i.e. 100% of equipment cost will be depreciated in 50 years).
Thus $200,000 х 2% = $4,000 / year.
The part od depreciation in 1 liter of water: $4,000 / 129,600,000 liters = $0.000031 = $31х10-6.

COST OF ENERGY
Energy consumption of the module to be calculated, is 30 kW/hour. Let’s say the cost of kW-hour is $0.03. Then the cost of operation is $0.9 per hour, or $0.9 x 24 hours x 365 days = $7,884 per year.
Then the part of energy consumption in 1 liter of purified water is $7,884 / 129,600,000 liters = $0.000060 = $60х10-6.
If the module is wind powered, this number is even less.

COST OF 1 LITER OF PURE WATER
The cost of 1 liter of purified water is the sum of the above 3 calculated numbers: $(8 + 31 + 60)х10-6 = $0.000099 = $99х10-6.

If compare this value with bottled water (the average price of 4-liters bottle is $0.7, or $0.17/liter), the cost of water purified by WATERFIER, is 1700 times less.

The advantage is water purification for any purpose. No replacement of expensive elements. Almost servicing free (self-cleaning procedure is fulfilled by changing the polarity of electrodes, to drop debris from the surface of membranes and electrodes). I.e. the servicing is as simple as changing the polarity of electrodes by a switch and changing of pipe lines with pure water on pipelines with polluted water and vise versa, because due to the change of polarity the direction of pure water will be changed to polluted channel. The main advantage is that the module removes salt suspensions from almost any source water.
The disadvantage is that the technology is unfamiliar to customer.

NOTE: Extra module should be connected to the system to improve the properties of water up to ideal (see above).

PARAMETERS OF DIFFERENT WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEMS
(the table is built on the base of data available in different information sources)

                                                                            Mineralized water
NOTE: The fractions in the table mean
                                                                                 Sea water

FEATUTERS OF «WATERFIER»
Comparing with reverse osmosis modules, Waterfier provides:
- More stable salts removal in wide range of temperature and salt content;
- Protection from biological sealing of membranes without pH correction of the source water by acids.
- Improved separation of suspensions due to electrochemical reactions.
NOTE: pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity: a measure of acidity or alkalinity in which the pH of pure water is 7, with lower numbers indicating acidity and higher numbers indicating alkalinity.

Comparing with the above mentioned technologies the Waterfier requires relatively small investments due to the low cost of the module and device of preliminary mechanical cleaning (10% of the cost of water purification module). It is not highly sensitive to the water polluted by oil and similar suspensions.
Operating costs of Waterfier are less than of known similar devices due to the less energy consumption, long life and low cost of membrane, long operating time and infrequent servicing.
Waterfier consists of materials and aggregates available on the market. Their cost does not depend on specific seller, but instead follow the market prices which is essential advantage for materials used for servicing.
The technology is more reliable than all known as it doesn’t use high pressure as the reverse osmosis.

The scientists achieved great results in the development of electrodialysis method and as the result, the high technological patented devices appeared on the market being simple and at the same time inexpensive.
Traditional electrodialysis modules use conducting electrodes. The basic principle of operation is electric current of ions which is being generated between the opposite in charge electrodes. The process consumes the huge amount of energy and leads to salt deposit on electrodes. The Waterfier uses an Inductive Module (know-how development of SRC-Vertical) named “electroforus”. It increases the intensity of electric field by 106 times. At the same time energy consumption remains on the level of few watts.
Reservoir of water purifying (inner “stocking” of Waterfier) contains electrodes and metal net located in specific order. No electrolysis is used in the described technology.
The output of pure water is appr. 90%. The productivity can be controlled.
To produce 15 m³/hour (30 kW) the dimensions of the device are 500х600х300 mm.
The power source for electrodes – low current 20 kVolt pulse power source.
If the system of water purification is used with Wind Turbine, then the energy consumption depends on the productivity both of Waterfier and Wind Turbine.

POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS OF WATER PURIFICATION
- house, condominium  
- farm, workshop
- hospital, school, hotel, restaurant, camp
- industrial object, village, small town
- other far located constructions and communications

EVALUATION OF PRODUCTIVITY
To understand the productivity of the system it's enough to know that the average human being consumes about 300 m³ (or 300 liters, or 0.3 tons) of water per day. For instance the productivity of 30 kW water purification module is 15 m³ per hour, or 15m³ х 24hours = 360 m³ (360 tons) of pure water per day. I.e. one such module may provide 1200 people by pure water.