Novel Membrane Systems for Energy Harvesting and Water Recovery

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorMaisonneuve, Jonathan JM
dc.contributor.authorMoussaddy, Sarah
dc.date.accessioned2024-09-25T21:21:48Z
dc.date.available2024-09-25T21:21:48Z
dc.date.issued2023-01-01
dc.description.abstractImproving energy efficiency is an important part of the transition for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This dissertation introduces two novel membrane processes that can improve the energy efficiency of key sectors: (1) energy recovery from exhaust gases for improved power plant efficiencies, and (2) fertilizer-based liquid desiccant systems for improved dehumidification of indoor plant farms.Regarding the first, large amounts of energy are currently wasted from gradients of gas mixtures that are released from power plant exhaust. The energy is estimated to be 1-2 of the plant’s overall power capacity. To recover this energy, this work introduces a membrane process that uses ambient air as a sweep gas to draw concentrated gases from an exhaust source to do mechanical work in the form of compressed permeate gas flow. The concept and the developed numerical model are experimentally validated with a polydimethylsiloxane membrane using a binary gas mixture of nitrogen (N2) and water vapor in a first study, where power density of 57 mW/m2 is observed under relatively conservative test conditions. In a second study, N2 and carbon dioxide (CO2) was used and power of up to 6.35 W/m2 is experimentally observed when pure CO2 is supplied as feed, and up to 0.37 W/m2 when 20 CO2 feed is supplied. Regarding the second application of membranes, the focus is on a solution to improve the efficiency of energy, water, and fertilizer used in agriculture. This work introduces the novel concept of using fertilizer as a liquid desiccant for energy efficient dehumidification of indoor plant environments. The first-ever experimental demonstration of the concept is done using a polydimethylsiloxane membrane and a water vapor flux of up 1.90 g/m2/h is obtained. Dehumidification is confirmed across a range of standard greenhouse conditions and operating parameters. A theoretical modelling analysis is also performed to investigate the effects of operating conditions on the specific energy. As a result, a specific energy as low as 0.15 kWh/ kg is obtained under certain conditions with optimized desiccant temperatures and air flow rates.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10323/18175
dc.relation.departmentMechanical Engineering
dc.titleNovel Membrane Systems for Energy Harvesting and Water Recovery

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Moussaddy_oakland_0446E_10355.pdf
Size:
4.76 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Mechanical Engineering