Patent ID: 8501007

Claim:
A method for separating water from a saline solution using a directional solvent, the method comprising: a) providing a directional solvent; b) providing a saline solution comprising water and at least one salt at an initial salt concentration; c) making an emulsion of the saline solution in the directional solvent in liquid form; d) 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; e) separating the first phase from the second phase; f) cooling the first phase after the separation to precipitate the water from the directional solvent, wherein the precipitation is a liquid-liquid phase separation, 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; g) removing the precipitated water from the directional solvent; and h) reusing the directional solvent in multiple repetitions of (b) through (g), wherein the water is dissolved in and precipitated from the solvent in an atmosphere with a pressure below 10 atm.