Process for operating a cooling tower comprising the treatment of feed water by direct osmosis

1. A process for operating a cooling apparatus, said process comprising;

preparing a draw solution by dissolving one or more water-soluble salts in water;

positioning a first membrane between a source solution and the draw solution, wherein the draw solution is prepared having a higher solute concentration than the source solution, such that solvent and ions from the source solution flow across the first membrane to dilute the draw solution, the ions selected from the group consisting of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, barium, strontium, chloride, sulphate, nitrate, bicarbonate, carbonate, bromide and fluoride ions;

introducing the diluted draw solution into the cooling tower as a feed solution;

evaporating, in the cooling tower, water from the feed solution to produce a concentrated solution having a greater concentration of ions than the diluted draw solution;

removing (i) a portion of the concentrated solution as blow-down, and returning (ii) a portion of the concentrated solution to the cooling tower;

passing at least a portion of the blow-down through a second membrane, such that some of the solute in the blow-down is retained as a concentrated blow-down solution on the retentate-side of the second membrane, and at least some of the ions pass through the second membrane into the filtrate side of the second membrane, and the filtrate with the ions is discarded;

contacting at least a portion of the concentrated blow-down solution with one side of the first membrane and contacting a solution having a lower solute concentration than the combined concentrated blow-down solution and the return from the cooling tower with the opposite side of the first membrane, such that water flows across the first membrane to dilute the concentrated blow-down solution by direct osmosis, and

re-introducing the diluted blow-down solution to the cooling tower.

2. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the source solution comprises seawater, brackish water, river water, lake water and/or waste water.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the salt is magnesium sulphate.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second membrane is a nanofiltration membrane.

5. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein an additive selected from a scale inhibitor, corrosion inhibitor, biocide and/or dispersant is included in the draw solution.

6. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the draw solution is formed so as to be free from components that cause fouling of the cooling tower.

7. A process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first membrane is a direct osmosis membrane.

8. A process as claimed in claim 1 comprising introducing the feed solution into the top of the cooling tower; and

dripping the feed solution through decking.

9. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cooling tower comprises decking through which the feed solution drips, and the evaporating step comprises blowing air through decking; and

causing some of the water in the feed solution to evaporate.

10. A process as claimed in claim 1 comprising

passing the diluted draw solution through a heat exchanger to heat the diluted draw solution; and

introducing the heated diluted draw solution into the cooling tower as the feed solution.