SBIR Phase II: Carbon Nanotube Enhanced Membrane Distillation for Sea and Brackish Water Desalination, and the Treatment of Saline Waste Water

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力源于解决世界上的主要挑战之一-对水的需求。我们通过开发一种经济脱盐的新技术来解决这个问题，这种技术可以生产廉价的清洁水，并处理高浓度的含盐废物。海水淡化没有“放之四海而皆准”的方法。许多因素，如盐浓度、特定离子的存在、能源成本、预处理要求和资本投资是选择脱盐技术的重要考虑因素。本文所开发的碳纳米管固定化膜蒸馏（CNIM-MD）具有利用废热和太阳能以及处理高浓度盐的能力等优点。CNIM-MD的设计目的是处理高盐度水(高于750,000 ppm的溶解固体，通常不能通过反渗透（RO）处理。CNIM-MD的主要目标市场是浓缩卤水以实现零液体排放（ZLD），即浓缩卤水并最终沉淀出固体，纯水被重复使用，并且没有水作为工业废水排放。CNIM-MD的其他潜在市场包括处理反渗透废液以提高纯水产量，以及石油和天然气行业的采出水处理。SBIR第二期项目建议通过卷对卷（R2R）涂层扩大CNIM制造工艺，在中试规模上演示CNIM- md并启动商业销售。该项目的智力价值在于设计和合成用于海水淡化和盐废物处理的可扩展膜系统的新方法。与热蒸发器相比，CNIM-MD的CAPEX和OPEX都很诱人，而且CNIM-MD可以成为集膜技术和热蒸发器于一体的混合ZLD处理系统的主要组成部分。总之，CNIM-MD的开发将是高浓度盐水膜处理领域的重大发展。CNIM等新型膜结构合成的成功将影响海水淡化以外的许多领域，包括碳捕获、气体净化、排放控制、除湿以及从大气中捕获纯水。它们有可能影响发电厂、石化、石油和天然气勘探、除湿、空气净化和食品加工等主要行业。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) project arises from addressing one of the world's major challenges - the need for water. We address this problem through the development of a novel technology for economic desalting for inexpensive clean water generation and the treatment of high concentration saline waste. There is no "one size fits all" approach to water desalting. Many factors such as salt concentration, the presence of specific ions, energy cost, pretreatment requirements and capital investments are important considerations in selecting a desalting technology. The carbon nanotube immobilized membrane distillation (CNIM-MD) being developed here offers many advantages such as the ability to utilize waste heat and solar energy and as well as the ability to handle high salt concentrations. The CNIM-MD is being designed with the aim of treating high salinity water (above 750,000 ppm dissolved solids that are not normally handled by reverse osmosis (RO). The primary target market for CNIM-MD is concentrating brine for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) where brine is concentrated and the solids are eventually precipitated out, pure water is reused and no water is discharged as industrial effluents. Other potential markets for CNIM-MD are treating RO reject to increase pure water yield, and the treatment of produced water in oil and gas industry.This SBIR Phase II project proposes to scale up the CNIM fabrication process via roll-to-roll (R2R) coating, demonstrate CNIM-MD at pilot scale and initiate commercial sales. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the novel approach to design and synthesis of scalable membrane systems for water desalination, and the treatment of saline waste. The CAPEX and OPEX of CNIM-MD compared to thermal evaporators is compelling, and CNIM-MD can be a major component of a hybrid ZLD treatment train integrating membrane technology with thermal evaporator. In short, the development of CNIM-MD will be a major development in the area of membrane treatment of high concertation brine. The success in the synthesis of novel membrane architecture such as CNIM will impact in many areas beyond desalination, which include carbon capture, gas purification, emission control, dehumidification as well as capturing pure water from the atmosphere. They have potential to impact major industries such as power plants, petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, dehumidification, air purification, and food processing.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.