Desalination plants:
From polymer-based to graphene-based:
Whether graphene-based sieves can efficiently filter out salts?
Whether the pore-size down to the atomic-scale (closer to 1 nano-meter that is equivalent to the size of the water molecule) will really be efficient - when large-scale production is involved?
How about the potential health effects associated with the epoxy-resin compounds that are essentially used as building walls on either side of the graphene-oxide membranes that prevent the swelling up of "salt particles" (salt particles are larger in size and subsequently, they fail to pass through the nano capillary tubes)?
To what extent, the epoxy resins will influence the selective separation of water molecules from ions?
main hurdle of desalination is the concentration gradient leading to osmotic pressure which has to be compensated for. Therefore in essence I do not see a large benefit in using graphene or CNT.
Dear Prof. Titus,
Thanks for your reply.
As RO is really approaching its thermo-dynamical limit of nearly 1 kWh/m**3,
an alternate to RO sea-water desalination deserves special attention.
However, the recent
Coupled FO and PRO (pressure retarded osmosis) process for a combined desalination and water reuse
AND
The coupled FO - RO process (osmotic dilution - both energy and maintenance savings resulting from lower fouling tendency) - with an improved permeation flux - for a combined wastewater and seawater streams
do not seem to serve satisfactorily at a larger scale.
In addition,
the impact of "hydraulic pressure" apart from the fundamental osmotic driven process for such a small pore size (nano-pore) remains to be investigated before deducing its energy efficiency, I suppose.
Do you think that will be spensive to set up an entire desalination plant with that tecnology?
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