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Electrolyte-separating membrane for selective transfer of cations through the membrane and process for manufacturing said membrane

A desalination and brine technology, applied in the field of desalination devices, can solve the problems of excessive cost, large amount of energy, and high cost

Inactive Publication Date: 2015-11-04
BOARD OF RGT THE UNIV OF TEXAS SYST
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, existing desalination processes, including distillation and reverse osmosis, require large amounts of energy and dedicated expensive infrastructure
Therefore, desalination is currently expensive, and often prohibitively expensive in developing regions of the world, compared to most traditional water sources

Method used

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  • Electrolyte-separating membrane for selective transfer of cations through the membrane and process for manufacturing said membrane
  • Electrolyte-separating membrane for selective transfer of cations through the membrane and process for manufacturing said membrane
  • Electrolyte-separating membrane for selective transfer of cations through the membrane and process for manufacturing said membrane

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

Embodiment 1

[0122] Example 1: Desalination Using a Microfluidic Amphoteric Electrode Device

[0123] An ultramicroelectrode electrochemical cell comprising a desalination cell spanned by a single bipolar electrode (BPE) and auxiliary channels is used to desalinate seawater along a locally generated electric field gradient in the presence of pressure-driven flow (PDF). Seawater desalination is achieved by applying a bias voltage between parallel desalination cells and auxiliary channels to drive chloride oxidation at the anode of the bipolar electrode. At the cathode, water reduction occurs to support current flow.

[0124] Oxidation of chloride at the anode of the BPE leads to an ion depletion region and subsequent electric field gradient. The electric field gradient directing the ions through the desalination cell into the branched microchannels creates a brine flow, while the desalinated water continues to flow forward when the rate of pressure-driven flow is controlled. Therefore, se...

Embodiment 2

[0154] Example 2: Desalination using a microfluidic electrode device

[0155] Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices

[0156] PDMS / glass hybrid microfluidic devices were prepared using microfabrication methods known in the art. The structure of the microfluidic device is schematically shown in FIG. 1 . The device includes a desalination unit and a single electrode.

[0157]Ti electrodes were coated with Pt on glass slides (1 inch x 1 inch). The photoresist was spin coated onto slides at 3500 rpm for 45 seconds, followed by soft baking on a hot plate at 100° C. for 1 minute to remove excess solvent. The device was then exposed to a UV lamp with a patterned mask on top to reveal the electrode (100 μm wide by 6.3 mm long) design. Excess photoresist is then removed by developing to expose the original glass. The device was then placed in an e-beam vacuum chamber where the first 10 nm of Ti was deposited. Then, 100 nm of Pt was deposited to form a Pt electrode. Excess photoresi...

Embodiment 3

[0165] Example 3: Desalination Simulation

[0166] Fabrication of Microfluidic Devices

[0167] In addition to the examples above, numerical simulations were used to model desalination. A computational approach was used to model the desalination of a 50mS / cm NaCl solution, similar to Figure 10B Example 1. The three-dimensional geometry of the simulated system is (5.0 mm long and 22 μm high), with 100 μm wide inlet channels and 50 μm wide dilute and concentrate outlet channels. Computer models simulate the flow initiated in the desalination channel and the distribution of local ion concentrations and local electric fields. Cl – Oxidation is assumed to be a Faradaic reaction occurring only at the anode. Developing the model based on a numerical scheme with inherent parallelism allows simple implementation at modern high-performance computing platforms (supercomputers).

[0168] The model is based on equations describing hydrodynamic, mass / charge transport and electrostati...

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Abstract

Disclosed are microfluidic devices and systems for the desalination of water. The devices and systems can include an electrode configured to generate an electric field gradient in proximity to an intersection formed by the divergence of two microfluidic channels from an inlet channel. Under an applied bias and in the presence of a pressure driven flow of saltwater, the electric field gradient can preferentially direct ions in saltwater into one of the diverging microfluidic channels, while desalted water flows into second diverging channel. Also provided are methods of using the devices and systems described herein to decrease the salinity of water.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 61 / 740,780, filed December 21, 2012, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. [0003] Statement Regarding Federally Sponsored Research or Development [0004] This invention was made with Government support under Agreement DE-FG02-06ER15758 awarded by the US Department of Energy and Contract EP-D-12-026 awarded by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The government has certain rights in this invention. technical field [0005] The present application relates generally to devices, systems and methods for desalination of water. Background technique [0006] The global demand for fresh water is growing rapidly. Many traditional freshwater resources, including lakes, rivers and aquifers, are rapidly becoming depleted. As a result, fresh water is becoming a limited resource in many regions. In fact, the United Nations est...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(China)
IPC IPC(8): C02F1/469
CPCC02F1/4604C02F1/4696C02F2001/46128C02F2103/08
Inventor R·M·克鲁克斯K·N·克努斯特R·K·珀杜
Owner BOARD OF RGT THE UNIV OF TEXAS SYST
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