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

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提高废水管理能力。至关重要的是开发能够可靠有效地处理世界各地每天产生的大量高盐度盐水的技术;目前，最常见的处理策略成本高，对环境有害。其目的是确定技术差距，推动建立有针对性的处理战略，利用有效的操作设计和可持续能源，以降低废水管理成本。这种技术可能在商业上对具有监管和经济问题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，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。这个I-Corps项目涉及膜蒸馏（MD）的技术进步，这是一种热脱盐工艺，能够利用低级废热处理高盐度盐水。这一优势使得MD作为一种有前途的盐水管理和零液体排放系统技术而被积极探索。然而，一个主要的挑战是膜结垢，或在膜表面上的矿物晶体形成/沉积。膜结垢以膜堵塞和/或盐截留率降低的形式导致工艺失败。 一项新技术结合了超疏水膜和定期空气吹扫，因为两种解决方案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NSF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.