Water Desalination at Very Low Cost
In a world where clean and fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce, water desalination unlocks the vast potential of our oceans providing a sustainable and reliable source of drinking water to communities across the globe. In this context a new desalination method at very low cost was developed in collaboration with Scientechnix-France. This new method called MUDT (Multitask Unconventional Desalination Technology) offers a sustainable solution to water shortage by addressing the 3 problems of water desalination: Water cost, Energy cost and Climate cost in terms of air and water pollution. This unconventional method is based on flash evaporation accomplished in a reservoir for the first time and was patented in the most important industrial countries. Because it uses free energy (such as power plants waste heat or solar energy) and cutting-edge technology, the method achieves a very low OpEx with a Specific Energy Consumption less than 1 kWh/m3 of produced fresh water, compared to 2 to 4 kWh/m3 for Reverse Osmosis.
The current focus of the project is to significantly reduce the CapEx that mainly results from the cost of the heat exchangers and condensers used in the process. To address this problem, two directions are being explored:
- The use of plastic heat exchangers, and the objective here is to develop composite materials consisting of a polymer such as PPS with graphite filler and other additives to obtain a light material having a high thermal conductivity and low water absorptivity.
- The use low-cost carbon steel heat exchangers with special surface coating based on epoxy in order to avoid corrosion, reduce fouling and achieve drop-wise condensation in the case of a condenser.
Interested students are expected to work on the above two topics. This includes conducting first a literature review in order to explore the different aspects of the topics (required equipment, raw material, manufacturing process, tests to be conducted …). Then, more detailed technical and economic studies must be carried out in order to propose viable solutions to develop both R&D topics in our labs.
Desired Disciplines
Mechanical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Petroleum Engineering
Materials Science
Thermal Science
Team Leaders
Industrial Partner
SCIENTECHNIX (France)