Transpiration-powered desalination water bottle

Cornish, Gracie A.; Eyegheleme, Ndidi L.; Hudson, Laurel S.; Troy, Kathleen J.; Vollen, Maia M.; Boreyko, Jonathan B.

doi:10.1039/d1sm01470f

Title: Transpiration-powered desalination water bottle

Journal Article · 19 January 2022 · Soft Matter

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1sm01470f · OSTI ID:1982221

Cornish, Gracie A. ^[1]; Eyegheleme, Ndidi L. ^[2]; Hudson, Laurel S. ^[3]; Troy, Kathleen J. ^[4]; Vollen, Maia M. ^[5];

^[2]

Cornish School of the Wise, Williamsburg, VA (United States)
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Cave Spring High School, Roanoke, VA (United States)
James Madison High School, Vienna, VA (United States)
George Mason High School, Falls Church, VA (United States)

Inspired by mangrove trees, we present a theoretical design and analysis of a portable desalinating water bottle powered by transpiration. The bottle includes an annular fin for absorbing solar heat, which is used to boost the evaporation rate of water from the interior synthetic leaf. This synthetic leaf comprises a nanoporous film deposited atop a supporting micromesh. Water evaporating from the leaf generates a highly negative Laplace pressure, which pulls the overlying source water across an upstream reverse osmosis membrane. Evaporated water is re-condensed in the bottom of the bottle for collection. The benefit of our hybrid approach to desalination is that reverse osmosis is spontaneously enabled by transpiration, while the thermal evaporation process is enhanced by heat localization and made more durable by pre-filtering the salt. Finally, we estimate that a 9.4 cm diameter bottle, with a 10 cm wide annular fin, could harvest about a liter of fresh water per day from ocean water.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1982221

Journal Information:: Soft Matter, Journal Name: Soft Matter Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 18; ISSN SMOABF; ISSN 1744-683X

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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