Water

PRODUCING CLEAN WATER AND ELECTRICITY BY OSMOSIS

Remote coastal communities often rely on diesel generators for power. Electricity rates in these locations can exceed 1 $/kWh. Also, many remote communities lack modern water treatment infrastructure and water quality is often compromised. We are developing osmotic processes to improve the efficiency of clean water and electricity generation in remote communities.

Thermally Enhanced Osmosis

We develop multi-domain models of water, salt, and heat transport to ensure the effective use of thermal energy to enhance osmosis.

More Info:

S. Chintalacheruvu, Y. Ren, and J. Maisonneuve, “Effectively using heat to thermally enhance pressure retarded osmosis,” Desalination 556 (2023).

Maximum Power Point Tracking

We develop active real-time controllers for feed flow rates, draw flow rates, applied pressures, and temperatures to greatly improve osmosis performance.

More Info:

J. Maisonneuve and S. Chintalacheruvu, “Increasing osmotic power and energy with maximum power point tracking,” Applied Energy 238 (2019).

Osmotic Power Generation

We develop osmotic processes to generate electricity in stand-alone power plants, or to recover energy from desalination plants.

More Info:

J. Maisonneuve, C. B. Laflamme, and P. Pillay, “Experimental investigation of pressure retarded osmosis for renewable energy conversion: Towards increased net power,” Applied Energy 164 (2016).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

maisonneuve@oakland.edu

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