SBIR Phase I: Simple and Effective Fouling Release Coatings To Make Industrial Heat Exchangers More Energy Efficient

更广泛的影响/商业潜力 这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目包括节约能源，降低工业和发电引起的温室气体排放，提高美国工业的竞争力，减少引入美国的化学品数量？的水供应。超过1%的美国能源消耗用于克服天然矿物污垢的隔热效果。 这项技术有可能将美国的能源消耗减少0.7%至1.9%，相当于美国每年碳基能源消耗的0.55至1.5倍。能源消耗的减少还将减少温室气体排放量，约为5410万至1.258亿公吨。 认识到气候变化是一个世界性的问题，如果在其他工业化国家全面部署，这项技术有可能消除全球0.7%至1.7%的温室气体，相当于2.526亿至5.713亿公吨的温室气体。美国产品的竞争力将通过大幅降低与能源相关的制造成本而提高，而无需资本投资，并将减少冷却塔水中的化学添加剂。该项目旨在解决“传热的主要未解决问题”，即传热表面（HTS）上自然发生的矿物污垢。 这个经常被忽视的问题消耗了美国和其他工业化国家总能源消耗的1%，占我们星球温室气体排放量的1%。该研究的目的是开发持久的薄膜涂层，可以保护HTS免受污垢，同时不影响热效率。 使用最近发现的纳米材料，将溶液用作涂层，将HTS的表面性质转变为具有有史以来最低表面能值的表面性质。 在低表面能的情况下，涂层减少污垢成核以及减少污垢对HTS的粘附。 任何成核污垢的低粘附性，加上流过HTS的水的作用，应该会有效地释放任何剩余污垢 使 表面 "自我清洁。" 这种自清洁机制已在实验室实验中得到成功证明。这项研究考察了一类新的低表面能自组装超疏水纳米涂层的基础化学和材料科学，这些涂层可能会在一系列学科中产生创新。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project include saving energy, lowering industrial and power generation-caused greenhouse gas emissions, improving the competitiveness of U.S. industry, and reducing the quantity of chemicals introduced into the nation?s water supplies. More than 1% of U.S. energy consumption is expended overcoming the insulating effects of naturally occurring mineral fouling. This technology has the potential to reduce U.S. energy consumption by 0.7 to 1.9% of annual US carbon-based energy representing from .55 to 1.5 quads. The reductions in energy consumption will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) on the order of 54.1 to 125.8 million metric tons of GHGs. Recognizing climate change is a worldwide problem, if fully deployed to other industrialized nations, this technology has the potential to eliminate 0.7% to 1.7% of the world's GHGs which equal 252.6 to 571.3 million metric tons of GHGs. The competitiveness of US products will be improved by large reductions of energy-related manufacturing costs without need of capital investment, and it will reduce chemical additives to cooling tower water. This project seeks a solution to "the major unresolved problem of heat transfer" which is naturally occurring mineral fouling on heat transfer surfaces (HTS). This often overlooked problem consumes 1% of the total energy consumed by the U.S. and other industrialized nations, and represents 1% of our planet's greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of the research is to develop long-lasting thin film coatings, which can protect HTS from fouling, while not impeding thermal efficiency. Using recently discovered nanomaterials, solution is applied as a coating to transform the surface properties of HTS to ones having the lowest surface energy values that have ever been created. With a low surface energy, the coatings reduce fouling nucleation as well as reducing fouling adherence to the HTS. The low adhesion of any fouling which nucleates, combined with the action of water flowing over the HTS should cause the release of any remaining fouling, effectively making the surfaces "self-cleaning." This self-cleaning mechanism has been successfully demonstrated in laboratory experiments. This research examines the fundamental chemistry and materials science of a new class of low surface energy self-assembling ultra hydrophobic nanocoatings that could spawn innovation across a range of disciplines.