Case 13865

Method and Process of Water Desalination Using Selectively Dissolving Solvent

Keywords:

Water desalination, Solvent, Edible oils, Waste heat, Membrane-free

Applications:

Removal of salt from sea water to make it fit for drinking or agricultural and industrial use

Problem:

    Energy efficiency and large system size of water desalination facilities

Technology:

This invention introduces a completely new approach of water desalination. Certain solvents such as some edible oils and fatty acids possess an unusual characteristic of being able to dissolve water while not dissolving other water soluble substances such as sodium chloride. In addition, this quality of these selectively dissolving solvents enhances significantly with increasing temperature. This phenomenon is exploited to develop a novel process of membrane-free desalination of sea water without involving a phase-change of water using low quality heat. This heat can come from terrestrial heat sources or from the sun. It is also anticipated that in large systems, heat recovery will be used to improve the overall system efficiency.

Advantages:
  • Easy to use
  • Utilizes low temperature heat
  • Membrane-free method
  • Suitable for off-grid and small scale applications
  • Significant energy and economic savings over present desalination methods

Inventors:
  • Professor Gang Chen (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)
  • Professor Borivoje B. Mikic (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)
  • Professor John H. Lienhard (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)
  • Anurag Bajpayee (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)
  • Daniel Kraemer (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)
  • Andrew J. Muto (Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT)

Intellectual Property:

US Utility Patent Application 12/950504 filed 11/19/2010

PCT Patent Application PCT/US2010/57446 filed 11/19/2010

Publications:

N/A

Last revised: April 6, 2012

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