The University of Nevada, Reno, has devised a new system that could benefit the ecosystems of terminus lakes worldwide. Francisco Suarez, the brain behind the system, presented a portion of his solar pond research last month at the annual Fall AGU (American Geophysical Union) Conference in San Francisco. This discovery will desalinate water using a specialized low-cost solar pond and patented membrane distillation system powered by renewable energy.
Suarez is busy developing an artificial salt-gradient stratification process, which captures solar heat at the bottom of the solar pond. The collected energy is then used to power the membrane distillation system recently patented by the university. The primary focus of the design was to create a system that was capable of maintaining the ecosystems of these closed-basin regions where there is no outflow for the water and a high evaporation rate, leaving a high concentration of minerals and salts. The lower storage zone of the pond includes hot brine that can reach temperatures greater than 195 degrees Fahrenheit. It is capable of heating thermal desalination directly, or for other low-temperature thermal applications.
Suarez is working on this novel approach for sustainable production of freshwater with Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Professor and Chair Amy Childress and Professor Scott Tyler of the Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering. The team has already tasted the success of the process in a small-scale experiment using a 400-gallon tank, where dissolved solids and precise fiber-optic temperature sensing are being used to track the process as it desalinates the water. Now the research group is looking forward to building a pilot-project, demonstration-scale, low-temperature desalination system in an open environment.
Via: NevadaNews