Photothermal Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation and Reverse Electrodialysis for light-to-heat-to-power conversion
(2021) In Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification 164.- Abstract
Water and energy are two intimately interconnected issues of strategic relevance for a sustainable industrial development. Herein, we integrated light-harvesting/self-heating membranes and salinity gradient technology with the aim to implement the innovative concept of light-to-heat-to-power conversion. Novel photothermal membranes, prepared by immobilizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the top layer of microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix, were tested – for the first time – in a Sweep Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD) unit applied to the desalination of synthetic seawater solution (0.5M NaCl). As a result of the ability of noble metal nanofillers to act as localized thermoplasmonic nano-heaters at membrane-feed interface... (More)
Water and energy are two intimately interconnected issues of strategic relevance for a sustainable industrial development. Herein, we integrated light-harvesting/self-heating membranes and salinity gradient technology with the aim to implement the innovative concept of light-to-heat-to-power conversion. Novel photothermal membranes, prepared by immobilizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the top layer of microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix, were tested – for the first time – in a Sweep Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD) unit applied to the desalination of synthetic seawater solution (0.5M NaCl). As a result of the ability of noble metal nanofillers to act as localized thermoplasmonic nano-heaters at membrane-feed interface for efficient water evaporation, an increase of transmembrane flux under UV radiation by about 10-fold with respect to unloaded PVDF membrane was observed. The SGMD retentate, consisting in hypersaline brine (progressively concentrated up to 4M NaCl and rejected at about 40°C) was fed to a Reverse Electrodialysis unit with the aim to harvest electrochemical energy. The maximum power density, measured for a retentate concentration increasing from 1M to 4M, raised from 0.13 to 0.9 W/m2MP (MP: RED membrane pair). Overall, the proposed integrated membrane system allowed to extract about 10% of the energy not employed for water evaporation.
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- author
- Avci, Ahmet H. LU ; Santoro, Sergio ; Politano, Antonio ; Propato, Matteo ; Micieli, Massimo ; Aquino, Marco ; Wenjuan, Zhang and Curcio, Efrem
- publishing date
- 2021-07
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Photothermal Membrane Distillation, Plasmonics, Reverse Electrodialysis, Salinity Gradient Power, Water-Energy Nexus
- in
- Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification
- volume
- 164
- article number
- 108382
- pages
- 12 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85104970330
- ISSN
- 0255-2701
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cep.2021.108382
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
- id
- 2612b00f-60e1-485e-8402-9cc6f48b6078
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-13 10:45:35
- date last changed
- 2022-05-13 11:39:41
@article{2612b00f-60e1-485e-8402-9cc6f48b6078,
abstract = {{<p>Water and energy are two intimately interconnected issues of strategic relevance for a sustainable industrial development. Herein, we integrated light-harvesting/self-heating membranes and salinity gradient technology with the aim to implement the innovative concept of light-to-heat-to-power conversion. Novel photothermal membranes, prepared by immobilizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the top layer of microporous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix, were tested – for the first time – in a Sweep Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD) unit applied to the desalination of synthetic seawater solution (0.5M NaCl). As a result of the ability of noble metal nanofillers to act as localized thermoplasmonic nano-heaters at membrane-feed interface for efficient water evaporation, an increase of transmembrane flux under UV radiation by about 10-fold with respect to unloaded PVDF membrane was observed. The SGMD retentate, consisting in hypersaline brine (progressively concentrated up to 4M NaCl and rejected at about 40°C) was fed to a Reverse Electrodialysis unit with the aim to harvest electrochemical energy. The maximum power density, measured for a retentate concentration increasing from 1M to 4M, raised from 0.13 to 0.9 W/m<sup>2</sup><sub>MP</sub> (MP: RED membrane pair). Overall, the proposed integrated membrane system allowed to extract about 10% of the energy not employed for water evaporation.</p>}},
author = {{Avci, Ahmet H. and Santoro, Sergio and Politano, Antonio and Propato, Matteo and Micieli, Massimo and Aquino, Marco and Wenjuan, Zhang and Curcio, Efrem}},
issn = {{0255-2701}},
keywords = {{Photothermal Membrane Distillation; Plasmonics; Reverse Electrodialysis; Salinity Gradient Power; Water-Energy Nexus}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification}},
title = {{Photothermal Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation and Reverse Electrodialysis for light-to-heat-to-power conversion}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2021.108382}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.cep.2021.108382}},
volume = {{164}},
year = {{2021}},
}