Putting Waste-Heat to Work: Sustainable Potable Water, Air Conditioning, and Thermal Energy Storage

化石燃料资源提供了全球80%的能源。其中近60%的能量在&lt；100°C的温度下以低质量的废热形式释放；太阳能和地热是废热来源的其他例子。根据联合国的预测，到2030年，世界人口将超过85亿。人口的快速增长给我们的自然资源带来了前所未有的压力。利用大量的废热有可能应对这些挑战，并改变我们的各种战略工业、住宅和农业部门。*该计划旨在开发新型余热驱动的基于吸附的空调、大气集水和蓄热系统。它涵盖了一系列用于控制温度和湿度系统的新型关键技术，这些技术在温室种植粮食、建筑物和车辆的空调等应用中至关重要。它围绕两个主要主题展开。一)材料一级的主题：改进的吸附复合材料的开发、吸附建模和显著传输特性的表征；和二)系统一级的主题：利用主题一中开发的复合材料和石墨等新兴材料开发基于吸附的能源和水系统。重点将放在三个相对未探索但关键的方面：(I)界面传输；(Ii)操作条件对吸附过程的耦合影响；以及(Iii)利用超疏水表面进行水冷凝的多尺度表面特征的发展和微毛细效应以增强蒸发。与萨里市合作，计划在封闭的温室中进行一项试点研究，以证明在任何气候下都可以可持续地生产清洁食品和饮用水。*该项目包括系统的分析建模和实验，为交通现象的建模提供了一致的数学基础，而不是使用有限的经验关联。因此，拟议的研究将产生基础工程知识、先进材料和设计工具，这些对大量清洁能源和水系统应用至关重要，在这些应用中，采用了新兴的微/纳米结构多孔材料。*“余热上岗”也为培养学术界和产业界急需的本科生、研究生和研究生提供了极好的平台。新产品和新工艺的发明是这一计划的核心，该计划使创办大学衍生公司能够创造有价值的工作机会并产生出口收入。

Fossil fuel resources provide 80% of the energy worldwide. Almost 60% of this energy is released as low-quality waste heat at temperatures < 100°C; solar and geothermal are other examples of waste heat sources. According to the UN prediction, the world's population will surpass 8.5 billion by 2030. This rapid population growth places unprecedented stresses on our natural resources. Utilizing the abundant waste-heat has the potential to address these challenges and to transform a variety of our strategic industrial, residential and agricultural sectors. ***This program aims to develop novel waste-heat-driven adsorption-based air conditioning, atmospheric water harvesting and thermal storage systems. It covers an array of novel key technologies for controlled temperature and humidity systems, crucial in applications such as: growing food in greenhouses, A/C for buildings and vehicles. It is structured around two main themes. i) A material-level theme: development of improved adsorption composites, sorption modeling, and characterization of the salient transport properties; and ii) A system-level theme: development of adsorption-based energy and water systems using the composites developed in theme I and emerging materials such as graphite. The emphasis will be on three relatively unexplored but critical aspects: (i) interfacial transport; (ii) coupled effects of the operating conditions on the adsorption process; and (iii) development of multi-scale surface features to take advantage of superhydrophobic surfaces for water condensation and micro-capillary effects to enhance evaporation. A pilot study is planned in a closed greenhouse, in collaboration with the City of Surrey, to demonstrate that clean food and potable water can be produced under any climate sustainably.***This program encompasses systematic analytical modeling and experimentation, providing a consistent mathematical foundation for modeling of the transport phenomena, rather than using limited empirical correlations. Thus, the proposed research will generate fundamental engineering knowledge, advanced materials, and design tools that are essential for a host of clean energy and water system applications, where emerging micro/nano-structured porous materials are employed. ***“Putting Waste-heat to work” also provides an excellent platform for training undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students whom are in high demand in academia and industry. Invention of new products and processes is at the core of this program, which enables launching university spin-out companies to create rewarding jobs and generate export revenues.