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Vorsana Desalinator Investigation

University of Idaho Desalter Team

Sponsor: Vorsana Inc.

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Introduction• Water Crisis is

everywhere in the world!

• Global food crisis• Desalination of

seawater is the future!

California

China

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Existing Desalination Methods• Major desalination methods for recovery of fresh

water include both membrane technologies and thermal methods such as multi-flash distillation, multi-effect distillation and vapor compression.

• Reverse osmosis (RO)• High energy use• Limited in the salinity it can handle (reject brine disposal unsolved)• ~50% recovery

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Project Goals and Approach• Goal: Advance the scientific study of this patent and

prove the concept by treating brackish and contaminated water supplies, including extremely salty brine samples.

• Approach• Computational fluid dynamics using supercomputers and

experimental measurements• Two faculty: Dr. Tao Xing from ME and Dr. Herbert Hess from EcE• ME & EcE Shop Technicians• One ME graduate student (Austin Doutre)• One senior design team with 2 ME and 3 EcE students.• Budget: $100,000 ($97,065 for a research project + $2,935 or

more for a senior design team)

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The Innovation (Vorsana Inc.)• Alternate approach to removal of salts and chemicals from

water by using the differences in electrical potential, weight, and induced viscosity between the fractions

• Radio frequency (RF) energy from an inductor is added into the workspace to affect the viscosity and flow pattern of the conductive components, change the enthalpy of hydration, and cause nucleation seed crystals to form, increasing the crystallization of the salts and scale

• An induction coil which changes the flow characteristics of the ions in brine, while leaving the pure water unaffected, together with a radial counterflow forcing regime

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Challenges!• Small salinity reduction observed for our existing

technology• How to scale this up?

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Tasks• Deeper understanding of ion motions in electrical

and magnetic fields• Design high aspect-ratio rectangular channels and

electrical and magnetic fields for theoretical and experimental studies

• Measurements of the performance of a prototype machine shipped by Vorsana Inc.

• Propose new designs• Test new designs if applicable

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Milestones Achieved• University of Idaho Team has been sponsored by

Vorsana Inc. for a pilot study in 2012 and an initial study of the desalter model in 2014-2015.

Experimental layout in Vorsana Desalter Lab

Model Vorsana Desalter

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Milestones Achieved (Cont’d)

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Milestones Achieved (Cont’d)

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Milestones Achieved (Cont’d)• CFD with MHD model, magnetic field simulation,

and understanding of the role of vortices have been validated and successfully applied.

• ~2% and 10% salinity reduction were shown by experiments for a small model and prototype machines, respectively.

• Strength of the magnetic field and residence/exposure time are the two most important factors for an effective desalination

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Questions?