UNS: Collaborative Research: Non-Membrane, Low Temperature and Low Emission Water Desalination Using Directional Solvent

1510826/1512113 Luo/Shah项目概述：水资源短缺是当今世界面临的最严峻挑战之一。海水淡化已成为一种潜在的解决办法。该合作项目将研究一种不使用膜的新型海水淡化技术。目前的海水淡化技术要么是基于蒸发的，要么是基于膜的，这些技术成本高，能源密集，而且还会导致全球变暖的二氧化碳排放。拟议的研究将驱动的假设，在定向溶剂的水溶性可以通过改变它们的分子结构。将进行蒙特卡罗和分子动力学模拟，以计算具有盐和水的定向溶剂的相平衡作为温度的函数。从模拟中获得的官能团和水之间的相互作用的知识将形成溶剂中的水和盐溶解度的化学结构和方向性之间的相关性的基础，从而能够合理设计高性能的方向性溶剂。根据提取的趋势，高通量实验筛选有前途的定向溶剂，以确定高效的定向溶剂。基于定向溶剂，一个实验室规模的连续脱盐系统将被设计和演示。

1510826/1512113Luo / ShahProject Overview:Water scarcity is among the most serious challenges faced by the world today. Desalination has emerged as a potential solution. This collaborative project will examine a novel water desalination technology which does not use membranes.Current water desalination technologies are either evaporation-based or membrane-based, and they are costly and energy intensive, and also contribute to global-warming CO2 emissions. The proposed research will be driven by the hypothesis that the water solubility in directional solvents can be tuned by varying their molecular structures. Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations will be performed to calculate the phase-equilibria of directional solvents with salt and water as a function of temperature. The knowledge of interactions, obtained from the simulations, between the functional groups and water will form the basis of a correlation between the chemical structure and directionality of water and salt solubilities in the solvent, enabling rational design of high-performance directional solvents. According to the extracted trend, high throughput experimental screening of promising directional solvents will be performed to identify highly efficient directional solvents. Based on the directional solvents, a lab-scale continuous desalination system will be designed and demonstrated.