Interfacial solar vapor generation for desalination and brine treatment: Evaluating current strategies of solving scaling

WATER RESEARCH

卷:198

Review

Zang, Linlin^1,2  Finnerty, Casey²  Zheng, Sunxiang²  Conway, Kelly²  Sun, Liguo³  Ma, Jun¹  Mi, Baoxia² 

[1] Harbin Inst Technol, Sch Environm, State Key Lab Urban Water Resource & Environm, Harbin 150090, Peoples R China

[2] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[3] Heilongjiang Univ, Sch Chem Engn & Mat, Harbin 150080, Peoples R China

关键词: Interfacial evaporation;    Solar energy;    Desalination;    Salt resistance;    Energy efficiency;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.watres.2021.117135

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Interfacial solar vapor generation, an efficient, sustainable, and low-cost method for producing clean water, has attracted great interest for application in solar desalination and wastewater treatment. Although recent studies indicated significant enhancement of overall performance by developing photothermal materials and constructing different dimensional systems, stable evaporation performance and long-term operation of the evaporator are hindered by severe scaling issues. In this critical review, we present the latest strategies in reducing salt accumulation on the evaporator for solar desalination and brine treatment. We first demonstrate the consequences of salt accumulation, and then discuss various self-cleaning methods based on bio-inspired concepts and other strategies such as physical cleaning, ion rejection and exchange, fast ion diffusion, and controlled crystallization, etc. Importantly, we discuss and address the rational design of the evaporator via establishing a relationship model between its porosity, thickness, and thermal conductivity. Lastly, we evaluate salt-resistance strategies, evaporation performance, and possibilities of real application in different evaporation systems with scaling-resistant abilities. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

【 授权许可】

Free