Patent ID: 8529766

Claim:
A water purifier, comprising: a diluting unit configured to bring targeted water for purification into contact with an aqueous solution containing a volatile solute and a polymer via a semi-permeable membrane so as to separate water from the targeted water by the semi-permeable membrane, and configured to dilute the aqueous solution with the separated water; a separating unit configured to separate the volatile solute and the polymer from the diluted aqueous solution obtained by the diluting unit so as to obtain purified water; and a dissolving unit configured to return the volatile solute separated by the separating unit to an aqueous solution containing the separated polymer, and to allow the separated volatile solute to dissolve in the aqueous solution containing the polymer; wherein the volatile solute is either volatile anions or volatile cations; wherein the volatile solute is volatile cations when the polymer is an anionic polymer; and wherein the volatile solute is volatile anions when the polymer is a cationic polymer.