Scaling fouling, poor energy efficiency, and lack of suitable commercial membranes have been identified as the major barriers for widespread application of membrane distillation using joule heating to…

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $379,346 cooperative agreement to Texas Tech University under the Water Desalination Research and Development program (CFDA 15.506). The award will support the design, development and optimization of superhydrophobic electroconductive laser induced graphene membranes that can be directly heated on the surface using Joule heating. Surface heating is expected to reduce the need for costly heat exchanging equipment and inefficiencies associated with heat transfer, while also significantly mitigating scaling and fouling issues that have hindered widespread application of membrane distillation technologies. Work will be performed in Lubbock, Texas through December 2024.

Scaling fouling, poor energy efficiency, and lack of suitable commercial membranes have been identified as the major barriers for widespread application of membrane distillation using joule heating to directly heat the membrane surface can obviate the need for the chain of heat exchangers, reduce the heat loss, and thereby, increase membrane distillation s overall energy efficiency the overall objective is to design, develop, and optimize superhydrophobic electroconductive laser induced graphene membranes that can be heated with joule heating only on the surface the central hypothesis is that the surface heating reduces the need for costly heating process equipment and reduces inefficiencies associated with the heat exchanging additionally, optimizing the heating conditions can significantly mitigate the scaling fouling obstacle