CO2-triggered draw agents for forward osmosis

这项研究的主要目标是创造一种新的工艺，降低从废水或海水中回收淡水的环境和经济成本。获取新鲜（饮用水）水的方法包括蒸馏、反渗透（RO）和正向渗透（FO）。反渗透需要最少的能源，但不幸的是，它仍然需要太多的能源，使海水淡化和废水回收在经济上可行。我们正在开发一种使用低品位或废热作为主要能源的新型FO技术。废热是低品位（< 80°C）的热，是发电或水泥制造等过程的副产品，在这些类型的设施中很少或不需要成本。然而，主要由低品位热能提供动力的水净化系统也可用于生产饮用水或农业用水，包括在偏远地区和社区。例如，太阳能可以在我们的工艺所需的低温下产生热量。同样，低品位的地热热水源既可以提供给水，也可以提供生产净水所需的热量。

The primary goal of the research is to create a new process that lowers the environmental and economic cost of recovering fresh water from wastewater or seawater. Methods for obtaining fresh (potable) water include distillation, reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO). RO requires the least energy but unfortunately it still requires too much energy to make desalination of seawater and recycling of wastewater economically viable. We are developing a new FO technology that uses low-grade or waste heat as its primary energy source. Waste heat is low-grade (< 80 °C) heat produced as a byproduct of processes such as power generation or cement manufacture and is available at little or no cost at these types of facilities. However a water purification system primarily powered by low-grade heat could also be used for the generation of drinking water or agricultural water, including at remote sites and communities. For example, solar energy can be used to generate heat at the low temperatures required for our process. Similarly, low-grade geothermal sources of hot water could supply both the feed water and the heat required for the production of clean water.