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/商业潜力来自于解决世界上的主要挑战之一-对水的需求。我们通过开发一种新的技术来解决这个问题，该技术用于廉价清洁水的产生和高浓度含盐废水的处理。没有“一刀切”的方法来解决水污染问题。许多因素如盐的作为盐浓度、特定离子的存在、能量成本、预处理要求和资本投资是选择脱盐技术的重要考虑因素。这里开发的碳纳米管固定化膜蒸馏（CNIM-MD）具有许多优点，例如利用废热和太阳能的能力以及处理高盐浓度的能力。 CNIM-MD的设计目的是处理高盐度水（超过750，000 ppm的溶解固体，通常不通过反渗透（RO）处理）。CNIM-MD的主要目标市场是浓缩盐水以实现零液体排放（ZLD），其中盐水被浓缩，固体最终沉淀出来，纯水被重复使用，没有水作为工业废水排放。CNIM-MD的其他潜在市场是处理RO废弃物以提高纯水产量，以及石油和天然气工业中的采出水处理。该SBIR二期项目建议通过卷对卷（R2 R）涂层扩大CNIM制造工艺，在中试规模上展示CNIM-MD并开始商业销售。该项目的智力价值在于设计和合成可扩展膜系统的新方法，用于水脱盐和含盐废物的处理。与热蒸发器相比，CNIM-MD的CAPEX和OPEX是引人注目的，CNIM-MD可以成为将膜技术与热蒸发器集成的混合ZLD处理机组的主要组成部分。总之，CNIM-MD的开发将是高浓度盐水膜处理领域的一个重大发展。CNIM等新型膜结构的成功合成将影响除海水淡化以外的许多领域，包括碳捕获、气体净化、排放控制、生物降解以及从大气中捕获纯水。他们有可能影响主要行业，如发电厂，石油化工，石油和天然气勘探，炼油，空气净化和食品加工。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.