Passive, high-efficiency thermally-localized solar desalination
Name
d0ee03991h.pdf
Size
68.71 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
028bd77ffd6d8d8938e404d9c0e4031a
Author(s)
Zhang, Lenan
Xu, Zhenyuan
Zhao, Lin
Bhatia, Bikram
Zhong, Yang
Gong, Shuai
Wang, Evelyn
Date Issued
March 2021
Journal
Energy & Environmental Science
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Citation
Zhang, Lenan. "Passive, high-efficiency thermally-localized solar desalination." Energy & Environmental Science 14, 4 (March 2021): 1771-1793. © 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Solar desalination holds significant promise for the water-energy nexus. Recent advances in passive solar desalination using thermal localization show great potential for high-efficiency freshwater production, which is particularly beneficial for areas without well-established water and energy infrastructure. However, there is a significant knowledge gap between laboratory scale innovation and commercial adoption. In this review, we discuss two critical factors – water production and reliability – which, if addressed systematically, could enable high-performance thermally-localized solar desalination systems. We show that optimizing heat and mass transfer of the entire device and recycling the latent heat of condensation are important to enhance total water production. Meanwhile, we discuss the potential of novel system architectures and fluid flow engineering to enable anti-fouling and robust desalination devices. In addition, we present techno-economic analysis that highlights the balance between water production, reliability, and cost. A criterion for economic feasibility is provided by comparing the price of desalinated water with commercially available bottle and tap water, which provides a roadmap for future development of solar desalination technologies.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee03991h
