PFI-TT: Solar Evaporator-Based High-Efficiency Water Desalination System

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是提供一个低成本、低能耗的离网系统来获取淡水。水安全一直被认为是全球最大的风险，预计到2030年，预测的需求和可用的水供应之间将出现40%的缺口。能源密集型加工和现有技术的清洁水生产力不足已成为成本效益高的脱盐水供应的瓶颈。可再生能源驱动的水务市场正在增长，发达国家的主要利益相关者包括农业和市政水务供应商。该项目中的太阳能驱动的海水淡化系统特别适合于个人设施，服务不足的人群和灾难场景，所有这些都是目前海水淡化技术服务不足的。该项目通过一个多功能、环保且经济可行的海水淡化系统将海水和其他微咸水资源转化为淡水，以缓解水资源短缺问题。该项目为太阳能驱动的海水淡化和处理系统确定了一个可靠、强大且具有成本效益的解决方案。该项目将优化规模化Cu/CuO泡沫基一体化太阳能蒸发器的先进热和机械性能，研究高效水淡化的成本效益策略，并通过现有的太阳能相关基础设施提供预热海水或微咸水，将太阳能系统与水淡化系统集成。一个平面互连开孔泡沫为基础的蒸发器的新设计将被证明。平面结构的空间扩展的特点是增加了第三个垂直维度，以提高蒸发性能。与类似的界面结构相比，这种设计不需要额外的光热材料，结构简单，有利于大规模应用。该项目的目标是开发一种高效（4.5 kg/m2 h）、低成本（40美元/m2）的海水淡化系统，用于直接太阳辐射驱动的淡水供应，并采用新型功能材料和结构。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 Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to provide a low-cost, low-energy, off-grid system to obtain freshwater. Water security has been considered the top global risk, as a 40% shortfall is expected between forecasted demand and the available supply of water by 2030. Energy-intensive processing and insufficient clean water productivity of current technologies have become bottlenecks for cost-effective desalination water supply. The renewable energy-driven water utility market is growing, with key stakeholders in developed nations including agriculture and municipal water utility providers. The solar-driven water desalination system in this project is particularly suited for individual installations, underserved populations, and disaster scenarios, all of which are underserved by current desalination techniques. This project advances a process to convert seawater and other brackish water sources into freshwater via a versatile, environmentally friendly, and economically viable desalination system to alleviate water scarcity.The proposed project identifies a reliable, robust, and cost-effective solution for a solar-driven water desalination and treatment system. The project will optimize the advanced thermal and mechanical properties of a scaled Cu/CuO foam-based all-in-one solar evaporator, investigate a cost-effective strategy for efficient water desalination, and integrate a solar energy system with water desalination system by supplying the preheated sea or brackish water through existing solar-related infrastructures. A novel design of a planar interconnected open-pore foam-based evaporator will be demonstrated. The spatial extension of a planar structure is featured with an addition of a third vertical dimension to improve the evaporation performance. When compared to a similar interfacial structure, no extra photothermal materials are required for this design, and the simple structure is favorable for large-scale applications. The goal of this project is to develop a highly-efficient (4.5 kg/m2 h), cost-effective ( $40/m2) desalination system for freshwater supply driven by direct solar irradiation, enabled by novel functional materials and structures.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.