PFI-TT: Light Driven Evaporation System for Desalination

该创新-技术转化合作伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将部署基于纳米技术的设备来提供淡水，采用可再生能源，并针对个人使用，小规模家庭，市政或工业使用等部门的应用。 最初的应用程序将为高矿物质含量含水层供应地区的小城市和个人开发，随后的翻译将包括海水淡化厂的盐水管理和盐水处理公司的淡水回收。 我们的社区将包括来自高度多样化和大多数处于不利地位的休斯顿独立学区（86%的少数民族入学率）的教师在教师研究经验（RET）计划和休斯顿社区学院的本科生，这是一所以西班牙裔和非洲裔美国人为主的学校。 拟议的项目解决了对紧凑型创新技术的迫切需求，这些技术可以从各种盐度的水中生产安全饮用水，不需要大规模的基础设施，甚至可以部署在偏远的贫困地区。 我们的目标是设计和建造一个紧凑的原型系统，以实现1加仑/分钟的清洁水生产的基准目标。 核心技术结合了小规模光学元件，优化的热蒸发器驱动的能量回收，以及使用高效的光吸收纳米颗粒，产生热量并局部蒸发水。 该项目将结合联合收割机先进的理论模型和数值多物理场技术，已经对实验试点研究进行了定量测试，以指导优化脱盐装置的制造。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为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来支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will deploy a nanotechnology-based device to deliver fresh water, employing renewable energy and directed toward applications in sectors such as individual use, small-scale household, municipality, or industrial use. The initial application will be developed for small municipalities and individuals in high-mineral-content aquifer-supplied regions, with subsequent translation to include brine management for desalination plants and fresh water recovery for saltwater disposal companies. Our community will include teachers from the highly diverse and majority disadvantaged Houston Independent School District (86% minority enrollment) in a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program and an undergraduate student from Houston Community College, a school with a majority Hispanic and African-American student body. The proposed project addresses the critical need for compact, innovative technologies that create safe drinking water from water over a range of salinities, which do not require large-scale infrastructure, but can be deployed even in remote, needy areas. Our objective is to design and build a compact prototype system to achieve the benchmark goal of 1 gal/min clean water production. The core technology combines small-scale optical elements, an optimized thermal oscillator-driven energy recovery, and the use of efficient light-absorbing nanoparticles that generate heat and locally vaporize water. This project will combine advanced theoretical models and numerical multiphysics techniques, already tested quantitatively against experimental pilot studies, to guide the fabrication of optimized desalination units.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.