Adsorption Desalination Quenches Global Thirst

Abstract

The search for fresh or potable water remains a pressing concern throughout many regions of the world. Although most of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans, the effort to provide for the world's inhabitants with fresh or potable water seems to be insurmountable; at least one billion people do not have access to clean and fresh water. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 41% of the Earth's population lives in water-stressed areas, and the number of people in the water scarce regions may climb to 3.5 billion by the year 2025. Thus, innovative and cost-effective desalination technologies for producing fresh water are needed to provide practical solutions.

Acknowledgments

Ng Kim Choon obtained his BSc. (Hons.) and Ph.D. from Strathclyde University in Glasgow, UK, in 1975 and 1980, respectively. He worked briefly at the Babcock Power Ltd. in Renfrew, UK, prior to joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the National University of Singapore in 1981, and he is now a tenured professor. His areas of research are two-phase flows, chiller testing and modeling, electro-adsorption chillers, and renewable energy. To date, he has written more than 80 peer-reviewed journals, holds four patents, and has co-authored a book entitled Cool Thermodynamics, published by CISP (UK). He is a member to the IMechE (UK) and the Institution of Engineer Singapore, a Chartered Engineer (UK), and a registered Professional Engineer (S). He is also an associate editor of Heat Transfer Engineering.

Bidyut Baran Saha obtained his B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. degrees from Dhaka University in Bangladesh in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan. He is currently working as an associate professor at the Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan. His main research interests are thermally powered sorption systems, heat and mass transfer analysis, and energy efficiency assessment. He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings. He has edited two books and holds five patents.

Anutosh Chakraborty received his B.Sc. Eng. from BUET, Bangladesh, in 1997. He obtained his M. Eng and Ph.D. degrees from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2001 and 2005, respectively. At present, he is working as a JSPS fellow at the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan. His areas of research are micro/nano-scale transport phenomena and energy conversion, thin film thermoelectric cooling, adsorption thermodynamics, and micro-electronics cooling. To date, he has authored 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and holds four patents.

Shigeru Koyama is a professor at the Department of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan. He is now the vice president of Commission B1 of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR). He received his Ph.D. in 1980 from Kyushu University, Japan. His main research interests are vapor compression systems, sorption systems, compact heat exchanger design, and heat and mass transfer analysis. He has published more than 190 articles in well-recognized journals, books, and proceedings, and is an editor of Thermal Science and Engineering, Japan.