Open AccessA self‐salt‐cleaning architecture in cold vapor generation system for hypersaline brines
Author(s) -
Kunjaram Uma Pratheebha Umaiya,
Song Haomin,
Liu Youhai,
Booker Brandon K.,
Cooke Timothy J.,
Gan Qiaoqiang
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
ecomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2567-3173
DOI - 10.1002/eom2.12168
Subject(s) - evaporator , evaporation , desalination , seawater , salt (chemistry) , environmental science , materials science , brine , chemical engineering , environmental engineering , chemistry , geology , meteorology , thermodynamics , engineering , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , oceanography , heat exchanger , membrane
Desalination of seawater with zero‐liquid discharge is a major challenge. Here we developed a three‐dimensional “umbrella” architecture to evaporate hypersaline brines of up to 20 wt% using solar‐driven interfacial evaporation. By controlling the water pathway and the thickness of the evaporator films to manipulate the salt capacitance of the system, a stable evaporation rate of >2.6 kg m −2 h −1 was achieved over 4‐day operation in the laboratory environment with minimized salt accumulation on evaporation surfaces. By placing the system in an outdoor environment with natural wind, the peak evaporation rate was improved to 9.05 kg m −2 h −1 . After a 4‐day outdoor test, the total evaporated water by the umbrella system was 3.7× more than the natural evaporation from a bulk water surface under identical environmental conditions. The predesigned water flow also controlled the local salt accumulation, resulting in easier salt removing and collection, which is highly desired for accelerated salt mining applications.