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Journal ArticleDOI

The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment

Menachem Elimelech, +1 more
- 05 Aug 2011 - 
- Vol. 333, Iss: 6043, pp 712-717
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TLDR
The possible reductions in energy demand by state-of-the-art seawater Desalination technologies, the potential role of advanced materials and innovative technologies in improving performance, and the sustainability of desalination as a technological solution to global water shortages are reviewed.
Abstract
In recent years, numerous large-scale seawater desalination plants have been built in water-stressed countries to augment available water resources, and construction of new desalination plants is expected to increase in the near future. Despite major advancements in desalination technologies, seawater desalination is still more energy intensive compared to conventional technologies for the treatment of fresh water. There are also concerns about the potential environmental impacts of large-scale seawater desalination plants. Here, we review the possible reductions in energy demand by state-of-the-art seawater desalination technologies, the potential role of advanced materials and innovative technologies in improving performance, and the sustainability of desalination as a technological solution to global water shortages.

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Citations
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A critical review on porous substrates of TFC polyamide membranes: Mechanisms, membrane performances, and future perspectives

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Recent developments in nanofiltration membranes based on nanomaterials

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Organic molecular sieve membranes for chemical separations.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed the concept of organic molecular sieve membranes (OMSMs) with a focus on the precise construction of membrane structures and efficient intensification of membrane processes.
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Capacitive Deionization of Saline Water by Using MoS2-Graphene Hybrid Electrodes with High Volumetric Adsorption Capacity.

TL;DR: It has been demonstrated that the adsorption capacity is significantly enhanced due to the rapid ion transport of MoS2 and high electrical conductivity of graphene, which opens a new avenue for miniaturizing future CDI devices.
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High-flux water desalination with interfacial salt sieving effect in nanoporous carbon composite membranes

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that nanoporous carbon composite membranes, which comprise a layer of porous carbon fiber structures grown on a porous ceramic substrate, can exhibit 100% desalination and a freshwater flux that is 3-20 times higher than existing polymeric membranes.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades

TL;DR: Some of the science and technology being developed to improve the disinfection and decontamination of water, as well as efforts to increase water supplies through the safe re-use of wastewater and efficient desalination of sea and brackish water are highlighted.
Journal ArticleDOI

Fast Mass Transport Through Sub-2-Nanometer Carbon Nanotubes

TL;DR: Gas and water flow measurements through microfabricated membranes in which aligned carbon nanotubes with diameters of less than 2 nanometers serve as pores enable fundamental studies of mass transport in confined environments, as well as more energy-efficient nanoscale filtration.
Journal ArticleDOI

Ultralow-Fouling, Functionalizable, and Hydrolyzable Zwitterionic Materials and Their Derivatives for Biological Applications

TL;DR: Mixed-charge materials have been shown to be equivalent to zwitterionic materials in resisting nonspecific protein adsorption when they are uniformly mixed at the molecular scale.
Journal ArticleDOI

State-of-the-art of reverse osmosis desalination

TL;DR: The most commonly used desalination technologies are reverse osmosis (RO) and thermal processes such as multi-stage flash (MSF) and multi-effect distillation (MED) as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI

A Survey of Structure−Property Relationships of Surfaces that Resist the Adsorption of Protein

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to determine the characteristics of functional groups that give surfaces the ability to resist the nonspecific adsorption of proteins from solution.
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