Resonant energy transfer enhances solar thermal desalination

Evaporation-based solar thermal distillation is a promising approach for purifying high-salinity water, but the liquid-vapor phase transition inherent to this process makes it intrinsically energy intensive. Here we show that the exchange of heat between the distilled and input water can fulfill a r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnergy & environmental science Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 968 - 976
Main Authors Alabastri, Alessandro, Dongare, Pratiksha D., Neumann, Oara, Metz, Jordin, Adebiyi, Ifeoluwa, Nordlander, Peter, Halas, Naomi J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 01.03.2020
Subjects
Chemical reactors
Desalination
Distillation
Distilled water
Energy storage
Energy transfer
Evaporation
Flow rates
Flow velocity
Fresh water
Heat exchange
Heat flux
Incident light
Light intensity
Luminous intensity
Phase transitions
Photovoltaic cells
Resonance
Solar energy
Solar heating
Solar power
Thermal energy
Vapor phases
Water purification
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Summary:Evaporation-based solar thermal distillation is a promising approach for purifying high-salinity water, but the liquid-vapor phase transition inherent to this process makes it intrinsically energy intensive. Here we show that the exchange of heat between the distilled and input water can fulfill a resonance condition, resulting in dramatic increases in fresh water production. Large gains (500%) in distilled water are accomplished by coupling nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation with dynamic thermal recovery, achieved by controlling input flow rates as a function of incident light intensity. The resonance condition, achieved for the circulating heat flux between the distillate and feed, allows the system to behave in an entirely new way, as a desalination oscillator. The resonant oscillator concept introduced here is universal and can be applied to other systems such as thermal energy storage or solar-powered chemical reactors.
ISSN:1754-5692
1754-5706
DOI:10.1039/C9EE03256H