US009073763B2  c12)  United States Patent  Mukhopadhyay  (IO)  Patent No.:  US 9,073,763 B2  (45)  Date of Patent:  *Jul. 7, 2015  (54)  METHOD FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY REVERSE  OSMOSIS OPERATION  (71)  Applicant:  Debasish Mukhopadhyay,  Palo Alto,  CA (US)  (72)  Inventor:  Debasish Mukhopadhyay,  Palo Alto,  CA (US)  ( *)  Notice:  Subject to any disclaimer, the term ofthis  patent is extended or adjusted under 35  U.S.C. 154(b) by 94 days.  This patent is subject to a terminal dis› claimer.  (21)  Appl. No.:  13/666,750  (22)  Filed:  Nov. 1, 2012  (65)  Prior Publication Data  Related U.S. Application Data  (57)  ABSTRACT  OTHER PUBLICATIONS  (56)  References Cited  U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS  68 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets  US 2013/0062282 Al  US 2015/0048027 A2  Mar. 14, 2013  Feb. 19, 2015  BOID 61/00  BOID 15100  (2006.01)  (2006.01)  CN  CN  0139569 A  1011403 B  2/1990  1/1991  3,423,311 A  3,493,498 A  l/ 1969 Heatherington  2/1970 Abrams  (58)  Field of Classification Search  CPC .............. C02F 9/00; C02F 1/42; C02F 1/441;  C02F 1/20; C02F 1/52; C02F 1/66  USPC .................. 210/652, 651, 639, 653, 663, 661  See application file for complete search history.  (51)  Int. Cl.  (52)  U.S. Cl.  CPC ................  C02F 9/00  (2013.01);  BOID 611022  (2013.01);  BOID 61/025  (2013.01);  BOID  61/04  (2013.01);  (Continued)  (Continued)  (Continued)  (Continued)  (Continued)  (Continued)  JP-50-075987-A2 ( Jun. 1975)-Derwent Abstract of Kokai (2  pages).  Primary Examiner  -Ana Fortuna  (74)  Attorney, Agent, or Firm  - R. Reams Goodloe, Jr.  A process for treatment of water. Hardness and non-hydrox› ide alkalinity are removed from feedwaters to an extent suf› ficient to avoid scaling when concentrated. Sparingly ioniz› able components in the feedwater are urged toward increased  ionization by increasing the pH of the feedwater. In this  manner, species such as silica become highly ionized, and (a)  their rejection by membranes used in the process is signifi› cantly increased, and (b) their solubility in the reject stream  from the membrane process is significantly increased. Spar› ingly ionized species such as boron, silica, and TOC are  highly rejected. Recovery ratios of ninety percent (90%) or  higher are achievable with many feedwaters, while simulta› neously achieving a substantial reduction in cleaning fre› quency of membranes used in the process.  (60)  Continuation of application No. 11/342,135, filed on  Jan. 26, 2006, which is a continuation of application  No. 09/243,237, filed on Feb. 2, 1999, now abandoned,  which  1s  a  division  of  application  No.  FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS  ’  I  I  I  §"Y1,"L1  13  14  49  u  V 