The shortage of fresh water is one of the acute challenges that the world is facing now and, thus, energy efficient
desalination strategies can provide substantial answers for the water-crisis. Current desalination methods utilizing
reverse-osmosis and electrodialysis mechanisms required high power consumptions/large-scale infrastructures which do
not make them appropriate for disaster-stricken area or underdeveloped countries. In addition, groundwater
contamination by heavy metal compounds, such as arsenic, cadmium and lead, poses significant public health
challenges, especially in developing countries. Existing water purification strategies for heavy metal removal are not
readily applicable due to technological, environmental, and economical barriers. This presentation elucidates a novel
desalination/purification process, where a continuous contaminated stream is divided into filtered and concentrated
stream by the ion concentration polarization. The key distinct feature is that both salts and larger particles (cells, viruses,
and microorganisms) are pushed away from the membrane, in continuous flow operations, eliminating the membrane
fouling that plagues the membrane filtration methods. The power consumption is less than 5Wh/L, comparable to any
existing systems. The energy and removal efficiency, and low cost manufacturability hold strong promises for portable,
self-powered water purification/desalination system that can have significant impacts on water shortage in
developing/rural part of the world.
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