Patent ID: 8119007

Claim:
A method for separating water from a saline solution using a directional solvent, the method comprising: providing a directional solvent comprising a fatty acid and providing a saline solution comprising water and at least one salt at an initial salt concentration; making an emulsion of the saline solution in the directional solvent in liquid form; heating the directional solvent before or after contact with the saline solution to produce a first phase that includes the directional solvent and a concentration of water from the saline solution dissolved in the directional solvent, and a second phase that includes a highly concentrated remainder of the saline solution; allowing the first phase to separate from the second phase; extracting the first phase including the directional solvent and the dissolved water from the highly concentrated remainder of the saline solution or extracting the highly concentrated remainder of the saline solution from the first phase; cooling the first phase after extraction to precipitate the water from the directional solvent, wherein the directional solvent is maintained in liquid form as the water is precipitated, wherein the water is precipitated with a salt concentration substantially less than the initial salt concentration of the saline solution, and wherein the concentration of water that dissolves in the directional solvent is at least 10 times greater than the concentration of the directional solvent in the precipitated water; and removing the precipitated water from the directional solvent.