Solar steam-driven membrane filtration for high flux water purification

In recent years, interfacial solar steam generation has shown great potential for desalination with high solar-to-steam conversion efficiency. However, the freshwater production rate is still limited by the substantial latent heat of water evaporation and condensation efficiency. Here we designed an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature water 2023-04, Vol.1 (4), p.391-398
Main Authors: Wang, Xueyang, Lin, Zhenhui, Gao, Jintong, Xu, Zhenyuan, Li, Xiuqiang, Xu, Ning, Li, Jinlei, Song, Yan, Fu, Hanyu, Zhao, Wei, Wang, Shuaihao, Zhu, Bin, Wang, Ruzhu, Zhu, Jia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annealing
Carbon
Condensates
Contact angle
Decentralization
Desalination
Design
Drinking water
Energy consumption
Evaporation
Evaporation rate
Filtration
Freshwater resources
Heat conductivity
High pressure
High temperature
Insulation
Latent heat
Localization
Membrane filtration
Membranes
Nanofiltration
Nanotechnology
Purification
Reverse osmosis
Scanning electron microscopy
Seawater
Steam generation
Thermal insulation
Water chemistry
Water purification
Water supply
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Summary:In recent years, interfacial solar steam generation has shown great potential for desalination with high solar-to-steam conversion efficiency. However, the freshwater production rate is still limited by the substantial latent heat of water evaporation and condensation efficiency. Here we designed an interfacial solar steam-driven reverse osmosis/nanofiltration device that generates high pressure that pushes water molecules through a filtration membrane to achieve separation from ions. The solar steam-driven reverse osmosis device reaches a water production rate as high as 81 kg m−2 h−1 under 12 sun illumination. Moreover, a theoretical model indicates that there still exists attractive room to further improve the freshwater output by optimizing the thermal insulation and expansion ratio of the device. This work paves a new way to design highly efficient miniaturized or decentralized drinking water devices.Reverse osmosis of seawater is a popular though energy demanding process to produce freshwater. Interfacing reverse osmosis membranes with solar steam generation shows potential for a more efficient desalination process.
ISSN:2731-6084
2731-6084
DOI:10.1038/s44221-023-00059-8