Nanoparticle Desalination
Format
SOECS Senior Project Demonstration
Faculty Mentor Name
Rahim Khoie
Faculty Mentor Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Additional Faculty Mentor Name
Cherian Mathews
Additional Faculty Mentor Department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Abstract/Artist Statement
Salt water makes up 96.5 % of all the water on Earth and covers 71 % of the Earth’s surface. In addition, 780 million people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. Converting salt water to fresh water through the process of desalination could provide water to developing world communities who lack access to potable water. One emerging desalination technology is a solar still which uses nanoparticles to capture sunlight. The nanoparticles float on the surface of water and absorb a wide spectrum of incoming sunlight, heating up the surface of the water which efficiently increases the rate of evaporation, and therefore enhances the entire distillation process.
In this study, we present a device that we have built which will quantify how good nanoparticles are at converting salt water to fresh water. The apparatus will collect live data on evaporation rate, temperature gradient, and salinity of the salt water bath in the evaporation chamber, with nanoparticles floating on the surface. This data will be used to compare the performance of nanoparticles with different morphologies, such as varying size and shape, under different conditions. In addition, the measured temperature gradient within the salt water bath will be compared to the numerical solutions to a coupled system of differential heat transfer equations presented in previous studies.
Location
School of Engineering & Computer Science
Start Date
5-5-2018 3:30 PM
End Date
5-5-2018 4:30 PM
Nanoparticle Desalination
School of Engineering & Computer Science
Salt water makes up 96.5 % of all the water on Earth and covers 71 % of the Earth’s surface. In addition, 780 million people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. Converting salt water to fresh water through the process of desalination could provide water to developing world communities who lack access to potable water. One emerging desalination technology is a solar still which uses nanoparticles to capture sunlight. The nanoparticles float on the surface of water and absorb a wide spectrum of incoming sunlight, heating up the surface of the water which efficiently increases the rate of evaporation, and therefore enhances the entire distillation process.
In this study, we present a device that we have built which will quantify how good nanoparticles are at converting salt water to fresh water. The apparatus will collect live data on evaporation rate, temperature gradient, and salinity of the salt water bath in the evaporation chamber, with nanoparticles floating on the surface. This data will be used to compare the performance of nanoparticles with different morphologies, such as varying size and shape, under different conditions. In addition, the measured temperature gradient within the salt water bath will be compared to the numerical solutions to a coupled system of differential heat transfer equations presented in previous studies.