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%的能量在温度<100 ℃时作为低质量的废热释放;太阳能和地热是废热源的其他例子。据联合国预测，到2030年，世界人口将超过85亿。人口的迅速增长给我们的自然资源带来了前所未有的压力。利用丰富的废热有可能解决这些挑战，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废热驱动的吸附式空调，大气水收集和蓄热系统。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食品，建筑物和车辆的A/C等应用中至关重要。报告围绕两个主题展开。一）物质层面的主题：改进的吸附复合材料的发展，吸附建模，并表征显着的传输性能;和ii）一个系统级的主题：发展吸附为基础的能源和水系统使用的复合材料开发的主题一和新兴材料，如石墨。重点将放在三个相对未开发的，但关键的方面：（一）界面传输;（二）吸附过程中的操作条件的耦合效应;和（三）多尺度表面功能的开发，以利用超疏水表面的水冷凝和微毛细管效应，以提高蒸发。计划与萨里市合作，在一个封闭的温室中进行一项试点研究，以证明在任何气候条件下都可以可持续地生产清洁食品和饮用水。该计划包括系统的分析建模和实验，为运输现象的建模提供一致的数学基础，而不是使用有限的经验相关性。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，这些工具对于采用新兴微/纳米结构多孔材料的清洁能源和水系统应用至关重要。* “把余热投入工作”还为培养学术界和工业界高度需求的本科生、研究生和研究生提供了一个极好的平台。新产品和工艺的发明是该计划的核心，它使大学衍生公司能够创造有价值的就业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 < 100C; 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.