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USE OF MECHANICAL VAPOR COMPRESSION (MVC) SYSTEM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES IN RURAL AREAS OF DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Impact/Purpose:
The overall goal of the project is to design and construct a water purification device powered only by wind and solar energy. The system will be able to treat water with high salinity, bacterial contamination, sulfates, chlorides, total dissolved solids, and hardness. Water with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have a boiling point near or greater than water would need to be removed with secondary treatment (e.g., activated carbon filter).
Description:
Quality drinking water is scarce in many rural areas of developing countries. Currently, inland desalination for the supply of fresh water is not sustainable due to expensive and energy intensive desalination technologies. This project proposes the development of a renewable energy driven mechanical vapor compression (MVC) system that treats brackish water into a clean drinking water to communities in rural areas. The system will remove most contaminants (e.g., dissolved solids, bacteria, etc) from the brackish groundwater with the exception of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The proposed MVC system is different from existing technologies because, it runs entirely on renewable energy. The MVC system utilizes wind power to mechanically drive the system and utilizes solar power to pre heat the water. The proposed MVC system will improve the health of the people in the community by providing clean drinking water, will improve the prosperity of the community by stimulating the development of the community, and will improve the environment by eliminating the need for fossil fuels to provide clean drinking water to the community. The overall goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate a wind driven mechanical vapor compression system that treats brackish groundwater to clean drinking water for regions of the world where there are not enough high-quality water resources available. The result of this proposed project will be the construction and testing of a pilot-scale device. Success will be measured by collecting water quality data pertaining to the inlet and outlet streams as well as collecting data pertaining to the operation of the system (e.g., pressure, temperature, etc.). Various presentations will be given to educate the university and surrounding community about the importance of sustainability using the proposed project.