overview of the clemson wec david a. ladner department of environmental engineering and earth...
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Overview of the Clemson WEC
David A. LadnerDepartment of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Representing the 43 WEC fellows
http://www.clemson.edu/ces/ladnergroup/WEC.pptx
Water-Energy Nexus
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Water for Energy (e.g., cooling water, oil extraction)
Water Energy
Energy for Water (e.g., desalination, wastewater treatment)
About the WEC
Multidisciplinary group of faculty assembled to address a global challenge: water-energy nexus
Broad perspective on sustainability to include the environmental impact of both water and energy systems
Established within a framework of existing research centers and institutes at Clemson University
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Vision: to promote global recognition of Clemson University as being at the forefront of research addressing the water-energy nexus.
Mission: to contribute research leading to technology innovations in water systems with a minimization of energy and carbon footprints as well as energy systems with a minimization of water and carbon footprints
Strategic Goal: to serve as a vehicle for attracting government and industry supported research.
Research Themes
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Theme 1Innovative, energy-efficient water/wastewater purification
processes and systems
Theme 2Improved water efficiency of
energy resource development and production processes and systems
Theme 3Material science in water and energy
processes and systems
Theme 4Water and energy
informatics, sensors, monitoring, and
modeling
Theme 5Water and energy
management, policy, and economics
Cross-Cutting ThemeTechnology demonstration and transfer
Cross-Cutting ThemeEducation and Mentoring
Theme 1
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Innovative, energy-efficient water/wastewater purification processes and systems
Grand Challenge: Energy neutral water/wastewater purification Decrease the energy required for water/wastewater treatment Drive water/wastewater treatment processes with renewable or waste energy Generate energy while treating water/wastewater (ties with Theme 2)
Water– Lakes and rivers – Brackish waters– Seawater
Wastewater– Municipal wastewater– Industrial wastewater (wide variety)
• e.g. Fracking/produced waters
Both municipaland industrial use(e.g. drinking and process water)
Water reuse and resource recovery are goals
In other words, ALL water and treatment types are within our purview.
Project Examples
Energy Sources
Solar (AC or DC) Wind Tidal Waste heat from power
production Salinity gradients
Water/Wastewater Treatment Techniques
Reverse osmosis Nanofiltration Ultrafiltration Microfiltration Membrane bioreactors Membrane distillation Engineered osmosis Activated algae Catalysis Multi-stage flash distillation Sorbents Hybrid processes
Creative coupling of energy sources with treatment techniques.
Theme 2
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Improved water efficiency of energy resource development, and production processes and systems
Focus: Reductions in water use/footprint in all aspects of electrical power generation.
Thermoelectric power generation is an important motivating example.
Domestic, 1%Public Supply, 13%
Mining, 1%
Thermoelectric, 41% Livestock, 1%
Industrial, 5%
Aquaculture, 3%
Irrigation, 37%
U.S. Freshwater Withdrawals (USGS/NREL)
Recapture of evaporated water from cooling towers using atmospheric condensation
Surface modification of porous materials with polymer layers for improved cooling of water in cooling towers
Efficient atomization of water for evaporative cooling in cooling towers (iStockPhoto)
Project Examples
Reduced water use in mining and natural gas development (e.g. fracking)
Use of saline and impaired water for power plant cooling Energy production from salinity gradients via pressure-
retarded osmosis
Theme 3
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Material science in water and energy processes and systems
Project examples New materials for capacitive
desalination New membranes for engineered
osmosis Computational design of fouling-
resistant water purification membranes Ceramic and magnetic nanoparticle
materials for removal of trace organics, e.g., pharmaceuticals, from water
Deployable wet-responsive materials for removing heavy metals
Fibrous materials for reuse of water and recycling
Theme 4
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Water and energy informatics, sensors, monitoring, and modeling
Big data and data mining Sensors and remote sensing Monitoring (real time, strategies) Geographic information systems (GIS) Modeling Decision support systems (DSS) Smart water and grid systems (including distributed systems)
Example: The Intelligent River® Research Enterprise
SOURCES:Someimagesusedonthisslidewereretrievedfrompublicwebsitesandmediaoutlets.Theiruseisbelievedtobecoveredunderfairusecopyrightprovisions.
Foundations for Innovation
Theme 5
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Water and energy management, policy, and economics
Water and energy management and policyEconomics including CAPEX versus OPEX tradeoffs, and carbon
tax implicationsSocietal issues (stakeholders) including communicationsWater and energy securityRegulatory/compliance issuesUrbanization, renewal of aging
infrastructure, and climate change as technology drivers
Regional versus global applicability of potential technologies
NSFPIREPROPOSAL• Preliminaryproposalacceptedforsecondround(SustainableDesalinationTechnologiesConsortium(SDTC))toNSF
• Clemson(lead)joinedbytheUniversityofTexas-Austin,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia,theUniversityofTexas-ElPasoaswellasinternationalpartnersfromKorea,Singapore,andSaudiArabia
• $5MBudgetover5years
Process DrivingForce
PotentialNiches
SeawaterReverseOsmosis(SWRO)
(Applied)Pressure
SeawaterDesalination
ForwardOsmosis(FO) OsmoticPressure
Desalination,ProducedWaterTreatment
MembraneDistillation(MD)
ThermalGradient
Desalination,ProducedWaterTreatment
Electrodialysis(ED) ElectricalGradient
BrackishWaterDesalination
PressureRetardedOsmosis(PRO)
SalinityGradient
SWROBrine
ReverseElectrodialysis(RED)
SalinityGradient
SWROBrine
Water Desalination and Salinity Gradient Energy Processes
NSFERCProposal
• Onthehorizon• PrimarytargetoftheWEC
• Tentativeworkingtitle:CenterforIntegratedWaterandEnergySystems(CIWES)
• AnERCwouldinvolve significantly more WEC fellowsthanotherinitiatives
• ExternalPartners• U.Arizona
• U.Texas–Austin
• U.SouthernCalifornia
• U.Texas–ElPaso
CIWES Research Themes
Industrial Affiliates Program
Member Recruiting is Ongoing– Engineering consulting firms– Public and private sector utilities– Manufacturers/companies
Each IAP member have a representative on the Industrial Affiliates Board (IAB)
Annual meeting with WEC to provide input on research WEC can respond quickly to the research needs of individual IAP
members 19
Who to Contact
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Gary AmyWEC CoordinatorEmail: gamy
David LadnerTheme 1 LeaderEmail: ladner
John SaylorTheme 2 LeaderEmail: jsaylor
Scott HussonTheme 3 LeaderEmail: shusson
Jason HallstromTheme 4 LeaderEmail: jasonoh
Jeffrey AllenTheme 5 LeaderEmail: jsallen
Innovative energy-efficient water/ wastewater purification processes and systems
Improved water efficiency of energy resource development, and production processes and systems
Material science in water and energy processes and systems
Water and energy informatics, sensors, monitoring, and modeling
Water and energy management, policy, and economics