PFI-TT: Light Driven Evaporation System for Desalination

William Marsh Rice University, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project will deploy a nanotechnology-based device to deliver fresh water, employing renewable energy and directed toward applications in sectors such as individual use, small-scale household, municipality, or industrial use. The initial application will be developed for small municipalities and individuals in high-mineral-content aquifer-supplied regions, with subsequent translation to include brine management for desalination plants and fresh water recovery for saltwater disposal companies. Our community will include teachers from the highly diverse and majority disadvantaged Houston Independent School District (86% minority enrollment) in a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program and an undergraduate student from Houston Community College, a school with a majority Hispanic and African-American student body. The proposed project addresses the critical need for compact, innovative technologies that create safe drinking water from water over a range of salinities, which do not require large-scale infrastructure, but can be deployed even in remote, needy areas. Our objective is to design and build a compact prototype system to achieve the benchmark goal of 1 gal/min clean water production. The core technology combines small-scale optical elements, an optimized thermal oscillator-driven energy recovery, and the use of efficient light-absorbing nanoparticles that generate heat and locally vaporize water. This project will combine advanced theoretical models and numerical multiphysics techniques, already tested quantitatively against experimental pilot studies, to guide the fabrication of optimized desalination units. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.