Putting Waste-Heat to Work: Sustainable Potable Water, Air Conditioning, and Thermal Energy Storage

化石燃料资源提供了全球80%的能源。在< 100°C的温度下，几乎60%的能量以低质量废热的形式释放；太阳能和地热是其他废弃热源的例子。据联合国预测，到2030年世界人口将超过85亿。人口的快速增长给我们的自然资源带来了前所未有的压力。利用丰富的废热有可能解决这些挑战，并改变我们的各种战略工业，住宅和农业部门。***该项目旨在开发新型废热驱动吸附式空调、大气集水和蓄热系统。它涵盖了一系列用于控制温度和湿度系统的新型关键技术，这些技术在温室种植粮食，建筑物和车辆的空调等应用中至关重要。它的结构围绕两个主题。i)材料层面的主题：改进吸附复合材料的开发，吸附建模，以及显著传输特性的表征；ii)系统级主题：利用主题1中开发的复合材料和新兴材料（如石墨）开发基于吸附的能源和水系统。重点将放在三个相对尚未探索但至关重要的方面：(i)界面运输；（ii）操作条件对吸附过程的耦合效应；(3)发展多尺度表面特征，利用超疏水表面进行冷凝水和微毛细效应增强蒸发。与萨里市合作，计划在一个封闭的温室中进行一项试点研究，以证明在任何气候下都可以可持续地生产清洁食品和饮用水。***该计划包括系统的分析建模和实验，为传输现象的建模提供一致的数学基础，而不是使用有限的经验相关性。因此，拟议的研究将产生基本的工程知识、先进的材料和设计工具，这些对于清洁能源和水系统的大量应用至关重要，其中新兴的微/纳米结构多孔材料被采用。***“余热应用”也为培养学术界和工业界急需的本科生、研究生和研究生提供了一个极好的平台。新产品和新工艺的发明是该计划的核心，它使创办大学衍生公司能够创造有价值的就业机会并产生出口收入。

Fossil fuel resources provide 80% of the energy worldwide. Almost 60% of this energy is released as low-quality waste heat at temperatures < 100°C; solar and geothermal are other examples of waste heat sources. According to the UN prediction, the world's population will surpass 8.5 billion by 2030. This rapid population growth places unprecedented stresses on our natural resources. Utilizing the abundant waste-heat has the potential to address these challenges and to transform a variety of our strategic industrial, residential and agricultural sectors. ***This program aims to develop novel waste-heat-driven adsorption-based air conditioning, atmospheric water harvesting and thermal storage systems. It covers an array of novel key technologies for controlled temperature and humidity systems, crucial in applications such as: growing food in greenhouses, A/C for buildings and vehicles. It is structured around two main themes. i) A material-level theme: development of improved adsorption composites, sorption modeling, and characterization of the salient transport properties; and ii) A system-level theme: development of adsorption-based energy and water systems using the composites developed in theme I and emerging materials such as graphite. The emphasis will be on three relatively unexplored but critical aspects: (i) interfacial transport; (ii) coupled effects of the operating conditions on the adsorption process; and (iii) development of multi-scale surface features to take advantage of superhydrophobic surfaces for water condensation and micro-capillary effects to enhance evaporation. A pilot study is planned in a closed greenhouse, in collaboration with the City of Surrey, to demonstrate that clean food and potable water can be produced under any climate sustainably.***This program encompasses systematic analytical modeling and experimentation, providing a consistent mathematical foundation for modeling of the transport phenomena, rather than using limited empirical correlations. Thus, the proposed research will generate fundamental engineering knowledge, advanced materials, and design tools that are essential for a host of clean energy and water system applications, where emerging micro/nano-structured porous materials are employed. ***“Putting Waste-heat to work” also provides an excellent platform for training undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students whom are in high demand in academia and industry. Invention of new products and processes is at the core of this program, which enables launching university spin-out companies to create rewarding jobs and generate export revenues.