Capillary-driven low grade heat desalination

Zhang, Xiantao; Kan, Weimin; Jiang, Haoqing; Chen, Yanming; Cheng, Tao; Jiang, Haifeng; Hu, Xuejiao

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2017.01.034

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…4 the dissipation of solar heat to the underlying seawater, a major contributor to the total heat loss [11] , which in term limits the overall flow rate due to the flow resistance. Typically, a thick thermally insulating layer was used to separate the absorber and seawater [15,16] . We calculated the maximum achievable flow rate for various foam thickness and thermal conductivity in a capillary pumping layer when the heat loss to the bulk seawater is less than 10% of the solar energy under the 1 and 3-sun condition (Supplementary Information Section S2.1 and S3,).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Osmotic Pumping and Salt Rejection by Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel for Continuous Solar Desalination

Zeng

Wang

Shi

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

153

115

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Efficient mass transport and selective salt rejection are highly desirable for solar or thermally driven seawater desalination, but its realization is challenging. Here a new liquid supply mechanism is proposed, i.e., ionic pumping effect, using a polyelectrolyte hydrogel foam (PHF), demonstrated with poly(sodium acrylate) [P(SA)] embedded in a microporous carbon foam (CF). The PHF simultaneously possesses high osmotic pressure for liquid transport and a strong salt‐rejection effect. The PHF is able to sustain high flux of ≈24 L per m2 per hour (LMH), comparable to the evaporative flux under 15 suns, and a salt rejection ratio over 80%. Compared to the porous carbon foam without the polyelectrolyte hydrogel, i.e., with only the capillary pumping effect, the PHF yields a 42.4% higher evaporative flux, at ≈1.6 LMH with DI water and ≈1.3 LMH with simulated seawater under one‐sun condition due to the more efficient ionic liquid pumping. More importantly, thanks to the strong salt‐rejection effect, the PHF shows a continuous and stable solar‐driven desalination flux of ≈1.3 LMH under one‐sun over 72 h, which has not been achieved before. The successful demonstration of both efficient ionic pumping and strong salt rejection effects makes the PHF an attractive platform for sustainable solar‐driven desalination.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Osmotic Pumping and Salt Rejection by Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel for Continuous Solar Desalination

Zeng

Wang

Shi

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

153

115

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“…Research on zero liquid discharge (ZLD) aims at eliminating brine disposal and can be better utilized in thermal desalination ( Figure 6) [78,255]. In term of greenhouse gas production, membrane-based desalination is a cleaner technology in general, however, a well-designed combination of thermal desalination and a waste heat generating industry can be even cleaner [63,269]. Increasing compatibility with renewables is another step toward cleaner desalination [55,77,124,[270][271][272][273].…”

Section: Emerging Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Capillary effect can be used to avoid most of energy dissipation by separating the bulk and surface molecules [64,68]. This capillary action is generated by using microchannels with low thermal conductivity (insulating) and high hydrophilicity, which optimizes mass transfer and energy dissipation [63,64]. At each step, surficial water molecules are transferred through capillary microchannels to an absorptive and hydrophilic evaporation plate, where a low-grade energy source, such as sunlight or waste heat, provides sufficient energy for the phase change [64,68,[326][327][328][329].…”

Section: Capillary-driven Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…dissipation [63,64]. At each step, surficial water molecules are transferred through capillary microchannels to an absorptive and hydrophilic evaporation plate, where a low-grade energy source, such as sunlight or waste heat, provides sufficient energy for the phase change [64,68,[326][327][328][329].…”

Section: Capillary-driven Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conventional bulk-heating approach, therefore, leads to large amount of heat loss to the unevaporated part of water [64,68]. Bulk heating introduces a large lag and response time because of its large thermal inertia [63,64,69], but surface evaporation has minimal thermal inertia and responds very quickly to the change in the energy input, and allows for tighter process control for water quality and reducing energy consumption [64,68,330]. However, developing materials for long-term solar desalination through heat localization remains an open challenge due to fouling of the structure after a short period of time [64,68,269].…”

Section: Capillary-driven Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Looking Beyond Energy Efficiency: An Applied Review of Water Desalination Technologies and an Introduction to Capillary-Driven Desalination

Ahmadvand

Abbasi

Azarfar

et al. 2019

Water

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Most notable emerging water desalination technologies and related publications, as examined by the authors, investigate opportunities to increase energy efficiency of the process. In this paper, the authors reason that improving energy efficiency is only one route to produce more cost-effective potable water with fewer emissions. In fact, the grade of energy that is used to desalinate water plays an equally important role in its economic viability and overall emission reduction. This paper provides a critical review of desalination strategies with emphasis on means of using low-grade energy rather than solely focusing on reaching the thermodynamic energy limit. Herein, it is argued that large-scale commercial desalination technologies have by-and-large reached their engineering potential. They are now mostly limited by the fundamental process design rather than process optimization, which has very limited room for improvement without foundational change to the process itself. The conventional approach toward more energy efficient water desalination is to shift from thermal technologies to reverse osmosis (RO). However, RO suffers from three fundamental issues: (1) it is very sensitive to high-salinity water, (2) it is not suitable for zero liquid discharge and is therefore environmentally challenging, and (3) it is not compatible with low-grade energy. From extensive research and review of existing commercial and lab-scale technologies, the authors propose that a fundamental shift is needed to make water desalination more affordable and economical. Future directions may include novel ideas such as taking advantage of energy localization, surficial/interfacial evaporation, and capillary action. Here, some emerging technologies are discussed along with the viability of incorporating low-grade energy and its economic consequences. Finally, a new process is discussed and characterized for water desalination driven by capillary action. The latter has great significance for using low-grade energy and its substantial potential to generate salinity/blue energy.

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Interfacial Solar‐to‐Heat Conversion for Desalination

Liu

Huang

Liu

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

197

104

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Solar desalination is a promising and sustainable solution for water shortages in the future. Interfacial solar‐to‐heat conversion for desalination has attracted increasing attention in the past decades, due to the heat localization induced high thermal efficiency, simple structure, and low cost. In this review, the authors summarize and analyze the critical processes involved in such a solar desalination system, including the thermal conversion and transport, salt dissipation, and vapor manipulation. Mathematical models of heat transfer and salt dissipation are also built for quantitative analysis of systematic performance relative to properties of employed materials and system designs. Recent efforts devoted to improving the overall thermal efficiency, salt rejection, and water yield are then summarized. Based on the analysis and previous results, opportunities for further interfacial solar desalination development are highlighted.

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Capillary-driven low grade heat desalination

Cited by 15 publications

References 42 publications

Osmotic Pumping and Salt Rejection by Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel for Continuous Solar Desalination

Osmotic Pumping and Salt Rejection by Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel for Continuous Solar Desalination

Looking Beyond Energy Efficiency: An Applied Review of Water Desalination Technologies and an Introduction to Capillary-Driven Desalination

Interfacial Solar‐to‐Heat Conversion for Desalination

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