Engineering Commons^™

Novel Hybrid Solar Nanophotonic Distillation Membrane With Photovoltaic Module For Co-Production Of Electricity And Water, Alejandro Espejo Sanchez, Nipun Goel, Todd Otanicar

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Solar energy utilization and desalination are both critical needs for large portions of the world facing energy and water challenges. Direct contact membrane distillation is an attractive thermally driven desalination technique that can easily be integrated with solar energy. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate for the first time a hybrid direct contact membrane desalination plus photovoltaic device. The system utilizes partially transparent photovoltaic cells to produce electricity and pass thermal energy to the nanoparticle doped membrane to produce thermal energy at the membrane surface. A custom lab-scale direct contact membrane distillation setup characterizes the membranes fabricated off-sun and on-sun. …

Sustainable Desalination - A Multipurpose Facility Developed To Alleviate Water Crises Suffered By Small Island Nations Due To Global Climate Change, Brandon Harper

College of Engineering Presentations

As the effects of global warming become more prevalent, small island nations around the world are on the frontline of not only rising seas, but an even more immediate threat of drought brought on by climate change. Even during the most severe drought, these small landmasses are surrounded by an endless supply of saltwater that can be converted into potable water. Desalination by reverse osmosis, an increasingly popular technology around the globe, is notoriously expensive, energy intensive, and emits large amounts of pollution depending on the energy source utilized.

This research project inspects the feasibility and capabilities of a small-scale …