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Breakthrough technology purifies water using the power of sunlight - Monash University
11 Aug 2020 1:01 AM
- An international research team, led by
Monash University, has used a metal-organic
framework (MOF) to desalinate water with sunlight.
- The PSP-MIL-53 MOF can adsorb salts from brackish water and seawater, and provide clean drinking water in less than 30 minutes.
- The MOF can be regenerated for reuse within four minutes when the MOF crystals are exposed to sunlight.
- The entire desalination process is
energy-efficient, low cost and sustainable.
A global research team has been able to transform
brackish water and seawater into safe, clean drinking water in less than 30
minutes using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and sunlight.
In a discovery that could
provide potable water for millions of people across the world, researchers were
not only able to filter harmful particles from water and generate 139.5L of
clean water per kilogram of MOF per day, but also perform this task in a more
energy-efficient manner than current desalination practices.
The World Health Organization
suggests good quality drinking water should have a total dissolved solid (TDS)
of <600 parts per million (ppm). Researchers were able to achieve a TDS of
<500 ppm in just 30 minutes and regenerate the MOF for reuse in four minutes
under sunlight.
This world-first research was published in the prestigious journal Nature Sustainability.
Lead author Professor
Huanting Wang from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University
in Australia, said this work opened up a new direction for designing
stimuli-responsive materials for energy-efficient and sustainable desalination
and water purification.
“Desalination has been used
to address escalating water shortages globally. Due to the availability of
brackish water and seawater, and because desalination processes are reliable,
treated water can be integrated within existing aquatic systems with minimal
health risks,” Professor Wang said.
“But, thermal desalination
processes by evaporation are energy-intensive, and other technologies, such as
reverse osmosis, has a number of drawbacks, including high energy consumption
and chemical usage in membrane cleaning and dechlorination.
“Sunlight is the most
abundant and renewable source of energy on Earth. Our development of a new
adsorbent-based desalination process through the use of sunlight for
regeneration provides an energy-efficient and environmentally-sustainable solution
for desalination.”
Metal-organic frameworks are
a class of compounds consisting of metal ions that form a crystalline material
with the largest surface area of any material known. In fact, MOFs are so
porous that they can fit the entire surface of a football field in a teaspoon.
The research team created a
dedicated MOF called PSP-MIL-53. This was synthesised by introducing
poly(spiropyran acrylate) (PSP) into the pores of MIL-53 – a specialised MOF
well-known for its breathing effects and transitions upon the adsorption of
molecules such as water and carbon dioxide.
Researchers demonstrated that
PSP-MIL-53 was able to yield 139.5L of fresh water per kilogram of MOF per day,
with a low energy consumption. This was from desalinating 2,233 ppm water
sourced from a river, lake or aquifer.
Professor Wang said this
highlights the durability and sustainability of using this MOF for future clean
water solutions.
“This
study has successfully demonstrated that the photoresponsive MOFs are a
promising, energy-efficient, and sustainable adsorbent for desalination,”
Professor Wang said.
“Our work provides an
exciting new route for the design of functional materials for using solar
energy to reduce the energy demand and improve the sustainability of water desalination.
“These sunlight-responsive
MOFs can potentially be further functionalised for low-energy and
environmentally-friendly means of extracting minerals for sustainable mining
and other related applications.”
To download a copy of the
research, please visit https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0590-x
Professor Huanting Wang from the
Department of Chemical Engineering at Monash University led the study, with
research support from:
- Ranwen Ou (Monash University, Xiamen University)
- Dr Huacheng Zhang (Monash University, Department of Chemical Engineering)
- Vinh Truong (Monash Institute of Medical Engineering)
- Associate Professor Lian Zhang (Monash University, Department of Chemical Engineering)
- Dr Hanaa M. Hegab (Monash University, Department of Chemical Engineering)
- Li Han (Zhengzhou University)
- Jue Hou (Monash University, Department of Chemical Engineering)
- Professor Xiwang Zhang (Monash University, Department of Chemical Engineering)
- Professor Ana Deletic (The University of New South Wales)
- Professor Lei Jiang (Monash University, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
- Professor George Simon (Monash University,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering)
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