Electrogravitational Desalination of saline water

Electrogravitational Desalination of saline water
U.S. patent no 3,474,014



Electrogravitational desalination of saline water (EGD) is a process design for the desalination of sea water to produce portable and agricultural water as a supplement to existing water supplies as well as produce its own electricity to run the pump needed to enable a continual water flow.

This invention is own by General Machine Corporation and is patent in the United States.

The invention operates much the same as a storage battery except that there are a greater number of cells and the electrolyte(sea water) continuously flows throughout the system..

The amount of residual salts left in the product water is controlled by the flow rate ,the faster the water floes the more is left in,conversely the slower the water flows the more is removed.

The average minimum flow rate should not never fall below one gallon per day for any system ,but for bigger system th+is

figure is still even too low. The rule usually applied is to never to permit a flow rate of less 10% of the optimum follow.

Although some ion exchange takes place in the system and is the source of the by product electrical power that is generated ,most of the saline matter is removed by the electrogravitational phenomenon,

Between the rods (the cathode) and the tubes(anode) and electrical field comes into existence when tube and rod are connected together electrically (outside of the electrolyte) with some kind of resistance (light bulbs or motors etc) between.

The electrolyte forms the other connection between the rod and tube.The dissolved salts are in fact ,ions with positive or negative charges, attached to the water molecules.The electrical field in the EGD process causes these ions to be detached from the water molecules and migrate to either the anode or cathode,depending on the charge of the ion.

The ion accumulate at the surface of each(rod and tube), but only the Oxygen and Hydrogen will react with materials of the rods and tubes are made and, only the rods are consumed over a period of time.

The rest of the ions (the salt ions) accumulate at the rod and tube surface ,gradually being drawn downwards by gravity until these reach the space below the rod where there is no electrical field,where they redissolve (the ions becoming attached to the water molecules),forming a dense brine. To this is added hydroxides formed from the ion exchanges (reactions) between and those ions mentioned before.These hydroxides are in the form of flakes and whitish in colour..These flakes are slightly more dense than the water and usually filtered out before the water produced is used.

These hydroxides are apparently harmless ,being in fact one of the two constituent materials used in treating digestive tract ailments in products bearing the names of Maalox,Di Gel,etc. The main ingredients of these products are aluminium and magnesium hydroxides of which this unit produces aluminium hydroxide.

Other beneficial side effects of EGD operation include the release of chlorine ions which expand out of the water as a gas(rising to and out of the water's upper surface,) some,of course ,is carried down with other materials.

The gaseous chlorine destroys harmful organisms. All but amounts of chlorine are usually removed from the product water by aerating before storage as it comes from the output filter



Connections

For 100 gallons per day unit

A...... 30 rows of cells interconnected as shown above

B.......23 cells per row

C...... salt water inlet into bottom of first cell

D...... desalted water outlet from the top of last cell

For 1 gallon per day

A...... 8 rows of cells interconnected as shown above

B.......6 cells per row

C...... salt water inlet into bottom of first cell

D...... desalted water outlet from the top of last cell



Copper pipe length for 100 gallons per day 1"dia x .03 wall 64" long (3,520 feet)

for 1gpd 3/4" diameter x .06 x 18 " long (72 feet

Aluminium rod 1/2 inch diameter for 100 gpd

" 1/8 inch 1 gpd

PVC tubing to suit above measurements

The above information copied from General Marine Technology construction manual sorry unable to provide free copies.

Fr additional information please check with United States Patent office.