I-Corps: Mitigating Scaling in Membrane Distillation used for High-Salinity Wastewater Treatment

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提高管理废水的能力。开发能够可靠、高效地处理世界各地每天生产的大量高盐度盐水的技术至关重要；目前，最常见的治疗策略受到高成本和有害环境后果的影响。其目的是确定技术差距，以激励建立有针对性的处理战略，利用高效的操作设计和可持续能源来降低废水管理成本。这种技术在商业上可能对具有管理和经济方面考虑的工业设施具有吸引力。该项目将致力于开发商业上可行的产品，以可持续地解决水资源短缺问题，同时保持令人满意的环境管理。I-Corps项目涉及膜蒸馏（MD）的技术进步，这是一种利用低品位废热处理高盐盐水的热脱盐工艺。这一优势使得MD作为盐水管理和零液体排放系统的一项有前途的技术得到了积极的探索。然而，一个主要的挑战是膜结垢，或矿物晶体在膜表面的形成/沉积。膜结垢导致过程失败，表现为膜堵塞和/或盐排斥减少。一项新技术结合了超疏水膜和定期空气净化，因为单独使用这两种方法都不足以长期缓解结垢。该项目将为推进MD向盐水处理的技术路线图提供信息。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 I-Corps project is the improved capability to manage wastewater. It is crucial to develop technologies that can reliably and efficiently treat the large volume of high-salinity brine produced daily around the world; currently, the most common treatment strategies suffer from high costs and detrimental environmental outcomes. The aim is to identify technology gaps that motivate the establishment of targeted treatment strategies leveraging both efficient operational design and sustainable energy sources for reduced wastewater management costs. Such technology may be commercially attractive to industrial facilities with regulatory and economic concerns. This project will work toward the development of commercially viable products that can sustainably address water scarcity while maintaining satisfactory environmental stewardship. This I-Corps project involves the technological advancement of membrane distillation (MD), a thermal desalination process with the capability of harnessing low-grade waste heat to treat hypersaline brine. This advantage has led MD to be actively explored as a promising technology for brine management and zero-liquid discharge systems. However, a major challenge is membrane scaling, or mineral crystal formation/deposition on the membrane surface. Membrane scaling results in process failure in the form of membrane blockage and/or decreased salt rejection. A new technology combines superhydrophobic membranes and periodic air purging, as neither solution is sufficient alone for long-term scaling mitigation. This project will inform the technology roadmap for advancing MD toward brine treatment.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.