Desalination

Efficient solar thermal conversion is crucial for renewable clean energy technologies such as solar thermal power generation, solar thermophotovoltaic and seawater desalination. To maximize solar energy conversion efficiency, a solar selective absorber with tailored absorption properties designed for solar applications is indispensable. In this study, we propose a broadband selective absorber based on amorphous carbon (a-C) metamaterials that achieves high absorption in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (Vis) and near-infrared (NIR) spectral ranges...

Metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes with rich functionality and tunable pore system are promising for precise molecular separation; however, it remains a challenge to develop defect-free high-connectivity MOF membrane with high water stability owing to uncontrollable nucleation and growth rate during fabrication process. Herein, we report on a confined-coordination induced intergrowth strategy to fabricate lattice-defect-free Zr-MOF membrane towards precise molecular separation. The confined-coordination space properties (size and shape) and environment (water or DMF) were regulated to slow down the coordination reaction rate via controlling the counter-diffusion of MOF precursors (metal cluster and ligand), thereby inter-growing MOF crystals into integrated membrane...

BACKGROUND: Distributional data on planktonic, benthic and sympagic copepods collected in the framework of the XXXIVth Expeditions of the Italian National Antarctic Programme (PNRA) to the Ross Sea sector from 2018-2019 are here provided. These occurrences correspond to specimens collected from the 25 μm filters used in the desalination plant of the Italian research station "Mario Zucchelli" (MZS), located in the Terra Nova Bay area (TNB; Ross Sea, Antarctica). This dataset is a contribution to the Antarctic Biodiversity Portal, the thematic Antarctic node for both the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (AntOBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Antarctic Biodiversity Information Facility (ANTABIF)...

Pesticides are used in agriculture to protect crops from pathogens, insects, fungi and weeds, but the release of pesticides into surface/groundwater by agriculture runoff and rain has raised serious concerns not only for the environment but also for human health. This study aimed to investigate the impact of surface properties on the performance of seven distinct membrane types utilized in nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO) processes in eliminating multiple pesticides from spiked water...

Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) is emerging as an effective method for water desalination, known for its efficiency and adaptability. This study delves into the performance of DCMD by integrating two powerful analytical tools: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The research thoroughly examines the impact of various factors, such as inlet temperatures, velocities, channel heights, salt concentration, and membrane characteristics, on the process's efficiency, specifically calculating the water vapor flux...

Membrane distillation technology could utilize low-grade heat to desalinate brine, but the membrane material often suffers from disadvantages of low permeation flux and weak robustness to contaminants. To address these issues, the commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was modified by cost-effective chemicals of tannic acid and (3-Aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (APTES) to construct hydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic nano-rough structures on the surface to enhance its flux and oil-fouling resistance in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD)...

Solar-driven steam evaporation technology, known for its low energy consumption and environmental friendliness, has emerged as a promising approach for seawater desalination, wastewater purification, etc. However, creating a low-cost solar evaporation system that simultaneously achieves rapid water transport, efficient light absorption, and salt tolerance remains challenging. Here, a dual-layer evaporator based on reed roots has been developed after a simple H2 O2 delignification treatment and flame treatment, which exhibited enhanced water transport performance and photothermal properties...

Chemically converted graphene oxide laminate membranes, which exhibit stable interlayered nanochannels in aqueous environments, are receiving increasing attention owing to their potential for selective water and ion permeation. However, how the molecular properties of conversion agents influence the stabilization of nanochannels and how effectively nanochannels are stabilized have rarely been studied. In this study, mono-, di-, and tri-saccharide molecules of glucose (Glu), maltose (Glu2), and maltotriose (Glu3) are utilized, respectively, to chemically modify graphene oxide (GO)...

Desalinated seawater (DSW) has emerged as a promising solution for irrigation in regions facing water scarcity. However, adopting DSW may impact the existing cultivation model, given the presence of potentially harmful elements, among other factors. A three-year experiment was carried out to assess the short-term effects of four irrigation waters-freshwater (FW), DSW, a mix 1:1 of FW and DSW (MW), and DSW with low boron (B) concentration (DSW-B)-on a 'Rio Red' grapefruit orchard. These irrigation waters exhibited varying levels of phytotoxic elements, some potentially harmful to citrus trees...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with customizable geometry and redox centers are an ideal candidate for supercapacitors and hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI). However, their poor intrinsic conductivity and micropore-dominated pore structures severely impair their electrochemical performance, and the synthesis process using organic solvents brings serious environmental and cost issues. Herein, a 2D redox-active pyrazine-based COF (BAHC-COF) was anchored on the surface of graphene in a solvent-free strategy for heterointerface regulation...

Recently, hydrogels have been widely applied as draw agents in forward osmosis (FO) desalination. This work aims to synthesize bioartificial hydrogel from a blend of sodium alginate (SA) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) using epichlorohydrin (ECH) as a crosslinker. Then this prepared hydrogel was applied as a draw agent with cellulose triacetate membrane in a batch (FO) cell. The effects of the PVA content in the polymer blend and the crosslinker dose on the hydrogel's swelling capacity were investigated to optimize the hydrogel's composition...

Single-walled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been explored for various applications, ranging from water desalination to osmotic power harvesting. However, no simulation work so far has modeled the changes in the partial charge distribution when a flat sheet is rolled into a tube, hindering the ability to perform accurate molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of water flow through BNNTs. To address this knowledge gap, we employ electronic density functional theory (DFT) calculations to precisely estimate quantum-mechanically derived partial charges on boron (B) and nitrogen (N) atoms in BNNTs of varying lengths and diameters...

Membranes are important in the pharmaceutical industry for the separation of antibiotics and salts. However, its widespread adoption has been hindered by limited control of the membrane microstructure (pore architecture and free-volume elements), separation threshold, scalability, and operational stability. In this study, 4,4',4'',4'''-methanetetrayltetrakis(benzene-1,2-diamine) (MTLB) as prepared as a molecular building block for fabricating thin-film composite membranes (TFCMs) via interfacial polymerization...

Saudi Arabia (SA) is one of the world's arid, most water-scarce nations without permanent water resources. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of Saudi Arabia's water resources availability and reliability in terms of water supply, demand, and the major challenges that water faces. Saudi has an annual water supply of roughly 89.5 m3 per person as consumption is rising in parallel with the country's rapid population growth and development. SA produces the most desalinated seawater in the world, accounting for 22% of worldwide consumption...

Interfacial properties, such as wettability and friction, play critical roles in nanofluidics and desalination. Understanding the interfacial properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials is crucial in these applications due to the close interaction between liquids and the solid surface. The most important interfacial properties of a solid surface include the water contact angle, which quantifies the extent of interactions between the surface and water, and the water slip length, which determines how much faster water can flow on the surface beyond the predictions of continuum fluid mechanics...

Desalination could solve the grand challenge of water scarcity, but materials-based and conventional thermal desalination methods generally suffer from scaling, fouling and materials degradation. Here, we propose and assess thermodiffusive desalination (TDD), a method that operates entirely in the liquid phase and notably excludes evaporation, freezing, membranes, or ion-adsorbing materials. Thermodiffusion is the migration of species under a temperature gradient and can be driven by thermal energy ubiquitous in the environment...

The rapid development of the industrial world causes wastewater containing dyes to continue to increase. Even in recent years, the food, textile, cosmetic, plastic, and printing industries have developed the use of dyes. Methylene blue (MB) is one of the cationic dyes widely used in dyeing silk, wood, and cotton because of its absorbency and good fastness to materials. The adsorption process is the best technique and preferred in removing dyes from wastewater due to excellent selectivity, high efficiency from high-quality treated effluent, flexibility in design, and simplicity...

The microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a bio-electrochemical system that exhibits the ability to oxidize organic compounds, produce energy, and decrease the saline concentrations within the desalination chamber. The selective removal of ions from the desalination chamber is significantly influenced by the anion and cation exchange membranes. In this study, a three-chamber microbial desalination cell was developed to treat seawater using a synthesize Fe3 O4 magnetite nanoparticle (MNP)-modified anode. The impact of different performance parameters, such as temperature, pH, and concentrations of NPs, has been investigated in order to assess the performance of three-chamber MDCs in terms of energy recovery and salt removal...

An interfacial solar steam generation evaporator for seawater desalination has attracted extensive interest in recent years. Nevertheless, challenges still remain in relatively low evaporation rate, unsatisfactory energy conversion efficiency, and salt accumulation. Herein, we have demonstrated a biomimetic bilayer composite aerogel consisting of bottom hydrophilic and vertically aligned EVOH channels and an upper hydrophobic conical Fe3 O4 array. Thanks to the design merits, the 3D Fe3 O4 /V-EVOH evaporator exhibits a high evaporation rate of ∼2...

Solar powered water evaporation is a green and environmentally friendly water treatment technology, which is a hot research topic for water purification at present. Advanced structural design and hydrophilic photothermal materials have achieved efficient solar evaporation of pure water, but the long-term stability of high salinity desalination has become a problem that cannot be ignored in practical applications. In order to solve this problem, a hydrophobic honeycomb structure MXene/AuNFs composite membrane was proposed in this paper, which used the three-dimensional highly porous microstructure of MXene and multibranched structure of gold nanoflowers particles to improve the light absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency of MXene/AuNFs...