(480c) Optimization and Scale-up of 3D Solar Interfacial Evaporation Systems for Water Treatment and Resource Recovery

Interfacial solar evaporation using photothermal materials has emerged as a promising, inexpensive technique for water treatment and resource concentration processes. Three-dimensional (3D) evaporator materials have been demonstrated to exceed the thermodynamic limit of photothermal evaporation by several fold, but challenges remain in optimizing the geometry to balance coupled mass and heat transport processes to achieve stable evaporation rates over extended periods of operation beyond the laboratory scale. In this study, we first systematically modified geometric parameters of 3D rod-shaped evaporators and found the evaporator height to be a critical parameter in governing the evaporation rate over time. We then evaluated the performance of optimized 3D evaporator devices in a large-scale array (1 square meter). This study elucidates the effects of neighboring evaporators on the total achievable evaporation rate depending on the array spacing and the geometric configuration—factors evaluated here for the first time. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic assessment (TEA) methods were also utilized to evaluate the environmental impacts of the evaporators for practical applications. These insights can be used to design more efficient evaporation ponds for resource extraction and more cost-effective systems for desalination and water reuse.