PFI-TT: Solar Evaporator-Based High-Efficiency Water Desalination System

PFI-TT：基于太阳能蒸发器的高效海水淡化系统

• 批准号: 2141035
• 负责人: Yi Zheng
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-15 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141035&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; TT; Solar; Evaporator; Based

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to provide a low-cost, low-energy, off-grid system to obtain freshwater. Water security has been considered the top global risk, as a 40% shortfall is expected between forecasted demand and the available supply of water by 2030. Energy-intensive processing and insufficient clean water productivity of current technologies have become bottlenecks for cost-effective desalination water supply. The renewable energy-driven water utility market is growing, with key stakeholders in developed nations including agriculture and municipal water utility providers. The solar-driven water desalination system in this project is particularly suited for individual installations, underserved populations, and disaster scenarios, all of which are underserved by current desalination techniques. This project advances a process to convert seawater and other brackish water sources into freshwater via a versatile, environmentally friendly, and economically viable desalination system to alleviate water scarcity.The proposed project identifies a reliable, robust, and cost-effective solution for a solar-driven water desalination and treatment system. The project will optimize the advanced thermal and mechanical properties of a scaled Cu/CuO foam-based all-in-one solar evaporator, investigate a cost-effective strategy for efficient water desalination, and integrate a solar energy system with water desalination system by supplying the preheated sea or brackish water through existing solar-related infrastructures. A novel design of a planar interconnected open-pore foam-based evaporator will be demonstrated. The spatial extension of a planar structure is featured with an addition of a third vertical dimension to improve the evaporation performance. When compared to a similar interfacial structure, no extra photothermal materials are required for this design, and the simple structure is favorable for large-scale applications. The goal of this project is to develop a highly-efficient (4.5 kg/m2 h), cost-effective ( $40/m2) desalination system for freshwater supply driven by direct solar irradiation, enabled by novel functional materials and structures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该创新合作伙伴关系 - 技术转化 (PFI-TT) 项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提供低成本、低能耗、离网系统来获取淡水。水安全被认为是全球最大的风险，预计到 2030 年，预测需求与可用水供应之间将出现 40% 的缺口。能源密集型处理和现有技术清洁水生产率不足已成为经济高效的海水淡化的瓶颈供应。可再生能源驱动的水务市场正在不断增长，发达国家的主要利益相关者包括农业和市政水务提供商。该项目中的太阳能驱动海水淡化系统特别适合个人设施、服务不足的人群和灾难场景，所有这些都无法通过当前的海水淡化技术得到满足。该项目推进了一种通过多功能、环保且经济可行的海水淡化系统将海水和其他苦咸水源转化为淡水的过程，以缓解水资源短缺问题。该项目为太阳能发电确定了一种可靠、稳健且具有成本效益的解决方案。驱动水淡化和处理系统。该项目将优化基于 Cu/CuO 泡沫的一体化太阳能蒸发器的先进热性能和机械性能，研究一种经济高效的高效海水淡化策略，并将太阳能系统与海水淡化系统集成通过现有的太阳能相关基础设施预热海水或咸水。将展示一种平面互连开孔泡沫蒸发器的新颖设计。平面结构的空间延伸的特点是增加了第三个垂直维度，以提高蒸发性能。与类似的界面结构相比，该设计不需要额外的光热材料，结构简单，有利于大规模应用。该项目的目标是开发一种高效（4.5 kg/m2 h）、具有成本效益（40 美元/m2）的海水淡化系统，用于由直接太阳照射驱动的淡水供应，并采用新型功能材料和结构。该奖项反映了通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。