Patent ID: 8029671

Claim:
A water extraction system comprising: a flow cell comprising a plurality of forward-osmosis membranes and a plurality of membrane distillation membranes, the forward-osmosis membranes comprising a feed side and a draw side, the membrane-distillation membranes comprising a feed side and a permeate side; a housing, the flow cell located in the housing; a permeate solution in communication with the permeate sides of the membrane distillation membranes; a source water in fluid communication with the feed sides of the forward-osmosis membranes; and a draw solution in communication with the draw sides of the forward osmosis membranes and the feed sides of the membrane distillation membranes; wherein the plurality of forward-osmosis and membrane-distillation membranes are arranged in pairs and source water is introduced on the feed sides of the forward-osmosis membranes, permeate solution is introduced on the permeate sides of the membrane-distillation membranes, and draw solution is introduced between the membrane-distillation and forward-osmosis membranes.