Seawater Desalination with Light Energy Incorporating Artificial Transpiration Stream Using Gas Injection Tube

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  • Fujiwara Masahiro
    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (RICPT, Tohoku Center)
  • Tomita Kisho
    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (RICPT, Tohoku Center) Tohoku Gakuin University
  • Kikuchi Masaki
    National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (RICPT, Tohoku Center) Tohoku Gakuin University

Abstract

<p>Transpiration is a function of plants to evaporate water from their leaf stomata, which enables plants to take up ground water from their roots to their leaves through the xylem. This water flux function is called the transpiration stream. This paper shows the application of the concept of a transpiration stream to seawater desalination using sunlight as a single energy source. This approach uses a simple mimic of plants using a glass gas injection tube, where its inside channel, porous glass part and small pores of the porous part are paralleled with xylem, leaf and stomata of plants, respectively. Aqueous solutions of a dye (methylene blue) absorbing visible light were evaporated from the porous part under visible light irradiation and upward pumping of a dye solution was observed in the channel. When the porous part of the glass gas injection tube was modified with solvent black 5 as non-water-soluble dye, the vaporization and the upward pumping of water in the tube were observed. Recovered vaporized water from artificial seawater was successfully desalinated. Using the mechanism of a transpiration stream, desalination and automatic supply of seawater were achieved only using sunlight.</p>

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