Patent ID: 7871520

Claim:
A method for producing a distillate fluid from a feed solution, the method comprising: heating the feed solution to an elevated temperature that is greater than an atmospheric-pressure boiling temperature of the feed solution and less than about 130° C.; pressurizing the feed solution to an elevated pressure from about 100 kilopascals to about 310 kilopascals to maintain the feed solution in a liquid phase by raising an effective boiling temperature of the feed solution to a temperature greater than the elevated temperature of the feed solution; delivering heated and pressurized feed solution in the liquid phase to a feed side of a membrane module comprising a plurality of hollow fiber membranes to form a vapor pressure differential across the plurality of hollow fiber membranes; separating distillate fluid from the heated and pressurized feed solution in the liquid phase by the formed vapor pressure differential by allowing vapor from the feed side of the membrane module to pass through the hollow fiber membranes and condense on a distillate side of the membrane module; and removing the condensed distillate fluid from the distillate side of the membrane module.