I-Corps: A Solar Electrodialysis Device for Water Treatment

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是翻译一个分散的太阳能水处理装置，有可能增加全球海水淡化业务并促进安全和可持续的水资源。拟议的技术可能对客户具有吸引力，包括农村/部落社区、大型封闭式社区、高尔夫球场和度假村、农村医院和学校、紧急/灾害设置的政府财产，以及天然气生产设施和农业农田等工业应用。由于核心技术可以为新的处理设施或工厂改造提供显著的好处，现有的大型水处理厂也可能是潜在的客户。总的来说，拟议的技术可以很好地降低淡水生产成本，并为需要分散水解决方案的社区减少碳足迹。I-Corps项目的基础是开发和转化一种具有成本效益、节能的太阳能电渗析（ED）技术，以满足咸淡地下水淡化厂的需求。该工艺将使用集成的太阳能电池/三维（3D）电渗析装置，利用来自阳光的光子能量作为唯一的能量输入，从半咸水源中回收98%的水。目前，一个典型的海水淡化厂超过三分之一的总运营成本是运行该厂的电力成本。拟议中的技术将利用太阳公司的能源驱动海水淡化过程，从而减少能源消耗和碳足迹。虽然能源成本占现有ED系统总运行成本的三分之一，但电极成本占整个系统成本的近三分之一。为了降低系统成本，该技术将采用一种专有的电极设计，用低成本的碳基三维（3-D）电极取代目前基于铂基的平面电极。初步结果表明，在商业ED反转系统中，与平面电极相比，该电极的脱矿效果显著改善（3倍），电流效率更高。3d电极还可以防止不必要的副反应，从而提高电渗析堆栈的整体稳定性。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 translation of a decentralized solar-powered water treatment unit with the potential to increase global desalination operations and to promote secure and sustainable water resources. The proposed technology may be attractive to customers, including rural/tribal communities, large gated communities, golf courses and resorts, rural hospitals and schools, governmental properties for emergency/disaster settings, and industrial applications such as gas production facilities and agricultural farmland. Since the core technology may provide significant benefits in either new treatment facilities or for plant retrofits, existing large-scale water treatment plants also may be potential customers. Overall, the proposed technology is well-positioned to lower freshwater production costs as well as the carbon footprint for communities requiring decentralized water solutions.This I-Corps project is based on the development and translation of a cost-effective, energy-efficient, solar-powered electrodialysis (ED) technology that will address the needs of brackish groundwater desalination plants. The proposed process will use an integrated solar cell/three-dimensional (3D) electrodialysis unit to recover 98% of the water from brackish sources using photon energy from sunlight as the only energy input. Currently, over one-third of the total operating cost of a typical desalination plant is the electrical cost of running the plant. The proposed technology will use Sun’s energy to drive the desalination process, enabling a reduction in energy consumption and carbon footprint. While energy costs constitute one-third of the total operating cost in incumbent ED systems, the electrodes constitute nearly one-third of the overall system cost. To lower the system cost, the technology will employ a proprietary electrode design that replaces of current platinum group-based planar electrodes with low-cost carbon-based three-dimensional (3-D) electrodes. The initial results demonstrate significantly improved (3x) demineralization and higher current efficiencies compared to planar electrodes when operated in a commercial ED reversal system. The 3-D electrodes also prevent unwanted side reactions, thereby improving the overall stability of the electrodialysis stack.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.