I-Corps: Solar Thermal Membrane Distillation System

这个i-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为生活在缺水地区的人们提供一个负担得起的安全饮用水解决方案。有10多亿人生活在物质缺水之下，另有16亿人面临经济缺水。此外，因自然灾害而遭受供水系统崩溃的人、生活在水污染地区或需要在偏远未开发地区生存的人也将从该技术的商业化中受益。这项技术还可以用作军事行动、石油和天然气钻探工人的救生设备的一部分，以及用于船舶和飞机的救生筏。从技术角度看，该系统在利用太阳能方面的创新设计，在提取清洁饮用水方面具有高能效、低投资和低维护成本，从技术角度来看，可以开辟使用点水系统领域的一个新的研究领域。i-Corps项目是一种新型的太阳能热膜蒸馏系统，能够利用太阳能从未经处理的地表水、废水和海水中生产饮用水，而不需要使用任何电气设备。新型太阳能热膜蒸馏系统的主要创新之处在于其创新的机制，即将太阳能集中在空气-水界面上，从而在不损失大量热量的情况下高效地蒸发界面水分子。因此，单位面积太阳能集热器的蒸馏水产率高于大多数传统的太阳能热膜蒸馏系统和市场上的太阳能蒸馏器。另一个新奇之处是发明系统设计的简单性。这是第一个不需要任何电气设备的膜蒸馏系统，例如泵和光伏电池。因此，在蒸馏水产量相同的情况下，发明系统的资本和维护成本可以低于传统和其他现有的太阳能热膜蒸馏系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 to provide an affordable solution to safe drinking water for the people living in water-stressed areas. There are over 1 billion people living under physical scarcity of water and another 1.6 billion people facing economic water scarcity. In addition, people who suffer from water system breakdown by natural disasters, who live in water-contaminated areas or who need to survive in remote undeveloped areas would also benefit from the commercialization of the technology. This technology could also be used as part of the survival equipment for military operation, oil and gas drilling workers, and life rafts used in ships and aircraft. From the technical point of view, the invented system could open a new research area in the field of point-of-use water system given its innovative design in utilizing solar thermal energy, high energy efficiency in extracting clean potable water with low capital and maintenance costs.This I-Corps project is a novel solar thermal membrane distillation system which is capable of utilizing solar thermal energy to produce potable water from untreated surface water, wastewater, and seawater, without using any electrical devices. The main novelty of the novel solar thermal membrane distillation system lies in its innovative mechanism of localizing the solar thermal energy at the air-water interface for highly efficient evaporation of interfacial water molecules without losing much heat to the bulk feed water. Thus, the production rate of distilled water per unit area of solar heat collector is higher than most conventional solar thermal membrane distillation systems and the solar stills on the market. Another novelty is the simplicity in the design of the invented system. It is the first membrane distillation system that does not require any electrical devices, such as pumps and photovoltaic cells. Thus, the capital and maintenance costs of the invented system can be lower than conventional and other existing solar thermal membrane distillation systems for the same production rate of distilled water.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.