Patent ID: 8414767
Filing Date: 2013-04-09
Classification: B01D,C02F

Abstract:
1. A module for purifying a fluid, comprising a cylindrical container provided at a first of its axial ends with a head having fluid inlet and outlet orifices communicating with the interior of the module and having a cylindrical skirt projecting axially therefrom, and at a second of its axial ends with a bottom comprising a crenellated ring projecting axially therefrom, in which are housed pretreatment means for carrying out a first operation of purifying the fluid and treatment means for carrying out a second operation of purifying the fluid after the latter has been treated by the pretreatment means, wherein said container is monolithic to form a disposable module and the interior thereof is divided by separator means into an external cylindrical space and an internal cylindrical space, said separator means extending from said cylindrical skirt to said crenellated ring, said external cylindrical space and said internal cylindrical space communicating with each other via one or more passages defined by the crenellations in said crenellated ring, the treatment means include a cartridge including one or more selectively permeable membranes for dividing, by virtue of permeation through the membrane or membranes due to the action of a pressure gradient, the flow of fluid that has undergone the first purification operation and caused to flow tangentially to the membrane or membranes into a flow of permeate consisting of purified fluid that has passed through the membrane and therefore undergone two purification operations and a flow of retentate consisting of residual fluid that has not passed through the membrane or membranes, the pretreatment means and the cartridge are housed in the external cylindrical space and the internal cylindrical space, respectively, the external cylindrical space communicates, at the same end as the first axial end of the container, with a first orifice for feeding fluid to be purified to the pretreatment means, and the internal cylindrical space communicates separately, at the same end as the first axial end of the container, with a second orifice for evacuating from the module the flow of permeate and with a third orifice for evacuating from the module the flow of retentate, wherein said cartridge comprises (i) a cylindrical enclosure and, concentric therewith, a hollow, perforated, central innermost tube of said cylindrical container in which said cartridge is contained, said central innermost tube sharing the axis of said cylindrical container with said external cylindrical space and said internal cylindrical space, (ii) one or more selectively permeable reverse osmosis treatment membranes between said cylindrical enclosure and said central innermost tube and communicating with said central innermost tube for collection by the latter of the flow of permeate and with the exterior of said cartridge via the annular faces thereof between the cylindrical enclosure and said central innermost tube at each axial end of said cylindrical enclosure, respectively to feed said cartridge with fluid treated by said pretreatment means and for the outflow of retentate.