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Ramezani M, Ellis SN, Riabtseva A, Cunningham MF, Jessop PG. CO 2-Responsive Low Molecular Weight Polymer with High Osmotic Pressure as a Draw Solute for Forward Osmosis. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:49259-49269. [PMID: 38162778 PMCID: PMC10753694 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c07644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
A key challenge in the development of forward osmosis (FO) technology is to identify a suitable draw solute that can generate a large osmotic pressure with favorable water flux while being easy to recover after the FO process with a minimum of energy expenditure. While the CO2- and thermo-responsive linear poly(N,N-dimethylallylamine) polymer (l-PDMAAm) has been reported as a promising draw agent for forward osmosis desalination, the draw solutions sufficiently concentrated to have high osmotic pressure were too viscous to be usable in industrial operations. We now compare the viscosities and osmotic pressures of solutions of these polymers at low and high molecular weights and with/without branching. The best combination of high osmotic pressures with low viscosity can be obtained by using low molecular weights rather than branching. Aqueous solutions of the synthesized polymer showed a high osmotic pressure of 170 bar under CO2 (πCO2) at 50 wt% loading, generating a high water flux against NaCl feed solutions in the FO process. Under air, however, the same polymer showed a low osmotic pressure and a cloud point between 26 and 33 °C (depending on concentration), which facilitates the recovery of the polymer after it has been used as a draw agent in the FO process upon removal of CO2 from the system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maedeh Ramezani
- Department
of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s
University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
| | - Sarah N. Ellis
- Department
of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
| | - Anna Riabtseva
- Department
of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s
University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
| | | | - Philip G. Jessop
- Department
of Chemistry, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6,Canada
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Forero-Martinez NC, Cortes-Huerto R, Ward L, Ballone P. Water Harvesting by Thermoresponsive Ionic Liquids: A Molecular Dynamics Study of the Water Absorption Kinetics and of the Role of Nanostructuring. J Phys Chem B 2023. [PMID: 37267503 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c01655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Ionic liquids (ILs) whose water solutions are thermoresponsive provide an appealing route to harvest water from the atmosphere at an energy cost that can be accessed by solar heating. IL/water solutions that present a lower critical solution temperature (LCST), i.e., demix upon increasing temperature, represent the most promising choice for this task since they could absorb vapor during the night when its saturation is highest and release liquid water during the day. The kinetics of water absorption at the surface and the role of nanostructuring in this process have been investigated by atomistic molecular dynamics simulations for the ionic liquid tetrabutyl phosphonium 2,4-dimethylbenzenesulfonate whose LCST in water occurs at Tc = 36 °C for solutions of 50-50 wt % composition. The simulation results show that water molecules are readily adsorbed on the IL and migrate along the surface to form thick three-dimensional islands. On a slightly longer time scale, ions crawl on these islands, covering water and recreating the original surface whose free energy is particularly low. At a high deposition rate, this mechanism allows the fast incorporation of large amounts of water, producing subsurface water pockets that eventually merge into the populations of water-rich and IL-rich domains in the nanostructured bulk. Simulation results suggest that strong nanostructuring could ease the separation of water and water-contaminated IL phases even before macroscopic demixing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy C Forero-Martinez
- Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | | | - Lainey Ward
- School of Physics, University College Dublin, UCD Belfield Campus, D04V1W8 Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Pietro Ballone
- School of Physics, University College Dublin, UCD Belfield Campus, D04V1W8 Dublin 4, Ireland
- Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, UCD Belfield Campus, D04V1W8 Dublin 4, Ireland
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Reddy AS, Wanjari VP, Singh SP. Design, synthesis, and application of thermally responsive draw solutes for sustainable forward osmosis desalination: A review. CHEMOSPHERE 2023; 317:137790. [PMID: 36626951 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging sustainable desalination technology; however, it is not a stand-alone process and requires an additional step to recover the water or regenerate the draw solute (DS), making it energy extensive. Therefore, incorporating inexpensive energy sources for DS regeneration is a viable solution to compete with reverse osmosis desalination technology. Hence, selecting suitable DS and its regeneration became a crucial research focus in FO desalination. Among various DSs reported, thermally responsive DSs (TRDS) provide an opportunity to integrate low-grade energy sources for DS regeneration. Utilizing such inexpensive energy will reduce fossil fuel energy demand, lower the cost of desalination, and minimize the carbon footprint. Hence, this review explores the TRDS for FO-based desalination with its design, synthesis, and applications. The manuscript has discussed the classification and selection criteria for the DSs, and how traditional and new-generation TRDSs are designed and synthesized from cationic and anionic moieties of ionic liquids, hydrogels, and other chemicals. The manuscript has also given importance to design criteria such as osmotic strength, viscosity, toxicity, and thermal stability for TRDSs. Furthermore, a detailed discussion on the FO performance, energy, and economic aspects of TRDSs has been reviewed, along with a discussion on the possible low-grade energy sources for the recovery of TRDS. Finally, the challenges and future directions for TRDSs have been discussed to drive FO toward sustainable desalination technology.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Sudharshan Reddy
- Environmental Science and Engineering Department (ESED), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - Vikram P Wanjari
- Centre for Research in Nanotechnology & Science (CRNTS), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - Swatantra P Singh
- Environmental Science and Engineering Department (ESED), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India; Centre for Research in Nanotechnology & Science (CRNTS), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India; Interdisciplinary Program in Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India.
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Distributed desalination using solar energy: A technoeconomic framework to decarbonize nontraditional water treatment. iScience 2023; 26:105966. [PMID: 36756368 PMCID: PMC9900398 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.105966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Desalination using renewable energy offers a route to transform our incumbent linear consumption model to a circular one. This transition will also shift desalination from large-scale centralized coastal facilities toward modular distributed inland plants. This new scale of desalination can be satisfied using solar energy to decarbonize water production, but additional considerations, such as storage and inland brine management, become important. Here, we evaluate the levelized cost of water for 16 solar desalination system configurations at 2 different salinities. For fossil fuel-driven plants, we find that zero-liquid discharge is economically favorable to inland brine disposal. For renewable desalination, we discover that solar-thermal energy is superior to photovoltaics due to low thermal storage cost and that energy storage, despite being expensive, outperforms water storage as the latter has a low utilization factor. The analysis also yields a promising outlook for solar desalination by 2030 as solar generation and storage costs decrease.
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Solvent-driven aqueous separations for hypersaline brine concentration and resource recovery. TRENDS IN CHEMISTRY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trechm.2022.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Gulotty EM, Sanadhya S, Tucker ZD, Moghaddam SS, Ashfeld BL. Controlling phase separation behavior of thermo-responsive ionic liquids through the directed distribution of anionic charge. J Mol Liq 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2022.119401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Yan F, Guo Y, Wang Z, Zhao L, Zhang X. Efficient separation of CO2/CH4 by ionic liquids confined in graphene oxide: A molecular dynamics simulation. Sep Purif Technol 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2022.120736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Forero-Martinez NC, Cortes-Huerto R, Benedetto A, Ballone P. Thermoresponsive Ionic Liquid/Water Mixtures: From Nanostructuring to Phase Separation. Molecules 2022; 27:molecules27051647. [PMID: 35268747 PMCID: PMC8912101 DOI: 10.3390/molecules27051647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The thermodynamics, structures, and applications of thermoresponsive systems, consisting primarily of water solutions of organic salts, are reviewed. The focus is on organic salts of low melting temperatures, belonging to the ionic liquid (IL) family. The thermo-responsiveness is represented by a temperature driven transition between a homogeneous liquid state and a biphasic state, comprising an IL-rich phase and a solvent-rich phase, divided by a relatively sharp interface. Demixing occurs either with decreasing temperatures, developing from an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), or, less often, with increasing temperatures, arising from a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). In the former case, the enthalpy and entropy of mixing are both positive, and enthalpy prevails at low T. In the latter case, the enthalpy and entropy of mixing are both negative, and entropy drives the demixing with increasing T. Experiments and computer simulations highlight the contiguity of these phase separations with the nanoscale inhomogeneity (nanostructuring), displayed by several ILs and IL solutions. Current applications in extraction, separation, and catalysis are briefly reviewed. Moreover, future applications in forward osmosis desalination, low-enthalpy thermal storage, and water harvesting from the atmosphere are discussed in more detail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy C. Forero-Martinez
- Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Staudingerweg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany;
- Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Robinson Cortes-Huerto
- Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Correspondence:
| | - Antonio Benedetto
- School of Physics, University College Dublin, 94568 Dublin, Ireland; (A.B.); (P.B.)
- Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, 94568 Dublin, Ireland
- Department of Sciences, University of Roma Tre, 00146 Rome, Italy
| | - Pietro Ballone
- School of Physics, University College Dublin, 94568 Dublin, Ireland; (A.B.); (P.B.)
- Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, 94568 Dublin, Ireland
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Iron Based Chitin Composite Films for Efficient Solar Seawater Desalination. Processes (Basel) 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/pr9071126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Seawater desalination provides a convenient method for the sustainable production of fresh water. However, the preparation of low-cost, high-efficiency solar absorbers remains a huge challenge. To this end, our research group designed and produced a cheap absorber—a membrane made of natural polymer chitin with black FeS and Fe3O4, respectively. Due to the hierarchical pore structure, excellent photothermal performance and good hydrophilicity of the film, their water evaporation rates reached 1.47 kg/m2/h and 1.55 kg/m2/h under one sunlight, respectively. Under about 10 suns, the highest desalination efficiency of FeS/chitin and Fe3O4/chitin are 90% and 74%, respectively, and their salinities are also in line with the World Health Organization drinking water standards. These results indicate the potential of chitin-based nanomaterials as high-efficiency solar absorbers to produce fresh water.
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