Freeze Desalination

To meet the increasing demand for freshwater, desalination activities are on the rise globally. The desalination plants discharge substantial amounts of high salinity brine. Many other industrial and municipal activities also produce large volumes of high salinity wastewater. These brine streams are often discharged to large bodies of water or disposed of by underground injection. The current practice of brine disposal raises severe environmental concerns. Energy efficient and environmentally-friendly brine management solutions are needed to curb the harm to the ecosystem and to provide new unconventional water resources. The state-of-the-art brine management technologies based on evaporation are characterized by high energy demand and extensive corrosion. We have prototyped a new freeze-desalination system that can offer higher energy efficiency and minimize corrosion problems.

Fig. Lab prototype of the freeze desalination system.

References:

  • Shabgard, H., Parthasarathy, R., and Cai, J., Thermo-Economic Analysis of a Novel Eutectic Freeze Desalination System Using an Intermediate Cold Liquid, 6th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC), 2021.
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