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Reverse electrodialysis heat engine with helium-gap diffusion distillation: Energy efficiency analysis

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Abstract

The depletion of energy resources poses a significant threat to the development of human society. Specifically, a considerable amount of low-grade heat (LGH), typically below 100 °C, is currently being wasted. However, efficient utilization of this LGH can relieve energy shortages and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To address this challenge, reverse electrodialysis heat engine (REDHE) which can efficiently convert LGH into electricity has emerged as a promising technology in recent years. Extensive efforts have been dedicated to exploring more suitable thermal distillation technologies for enhancing the performance of REDHE. This paper introduces a novel REDHE that incorporates helium-gap diffusion distillation (HGDD) as the thermal separation (TS) unit. The HGDD device is highly compact and efficient, operating at a normal atmospheric pressure, which aligns with the operational conditions of the reverse electrodialysis (RED) unit. A validated mathematical model is employed to analyze the impacts of various operating and structural parameters on the REDHE performance. The results indicate that maintaining a moderate molality of the cold stream, elevating the inlet temperatures of hot and cold streams, lengthening hot- and cold-stream channels, and minimizing the thickness of helium gaps contribute to improving the REDHE performance. Especially, a maximum energy conversion efficiency of 2.96% is achieved by the REDHE when decreasing the thickness of helium gaps to 3 mm and increasing the length of stream channels to 5 m.

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Abbreviations

AEM:

Anion-exchange membrane

AGMD:

Air-gap membrane distillation

CEM:

Cation-exchange membrane

HC:

High-concentration

HGDD:

Helium-gap diffusion distillation

IEMs:

Ion-exchange membranes

LC:

Low-concentration

LGH:

Low-grade heat

MD:

Membrane distillation

MED:

Multi-effect distillation

MSRED:

Multi-stage reverse electrodialysis

RED:

Reverse electrodialysis

REDHE:

Reverse electrodialysis heat engine

SGE:

Salinity gradient energy

TDEG:

Thermal-driven electrochemical generator

TS:

Thermal separation

B :

Width, m

C :

Concentration of solution, mol·m−3

C p :

Specific heat of salt solution, J·kg−1·K−1

I :

Current, A

J v :

Mass flux of the vapor diffusion in the gap, kg·m−2·s−1

L :

Length, m

ṁ :

Mass flowrate, kg·s−1

m :

Molality, mol·kg−1

M NaCl :

The relative molecular mass of NaCl

N :

Number of gaps in HGDD

N cell :

Number of cells in a RED stack

P :

Output power, kW or pressure, Pa

Q :

Total LGH consumption by HGDD, kW

α :

Permselectivity of both ion-exchange membranes

γ:

Water latent heat of evaporation, kJ·kg−1 or mean ion activity coefficient

δ :

Thickness of solution compartments, m

δ c :

Thickness of gap, m

ΔP :

Pressure drops, Pa

η :

Energy conversion efficiency

η pump :

Efficiency of pump

Φ :

Specific volume, m3·kg−1

af:

Water-vapor-partial pressure at the gap and condensate-water-film interface

b:

Brackish solution

c/cold:

Cold-stream channel or helium gaps

h:

Hot-stream channel

ha:

Water-vapor-partial pressure at the gap and porous-medium interface

in:

Inlet flow

out:

Outlet flow

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was sponsored by the Fundamental Research Program of Shanxi Province, China (No. 20210302123095) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2021M702418).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Electrical and Power Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Junyong Hu, Yukun Sun, Yali Hu, Haiyu Liu, Jiajie Zhang, Suxia Ma, Jiaxin Huang, Xueyi Tan & Ling Zhao

  2. Key Laboratory of Cleaner Intelligent Control on Coal & Electricity, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Junyong Hu, Haiyu Liu, Jiajie Zhang & Suxia Ma

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  1. Junyong Hu
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  2. Yukun Sun
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Correspondence to Junyong Hu.

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Hu, J., Sun, Y., Hu, Y. et al. Reverse electrodialysis heat engine with helium-gap diffusion distillation: Energy efficiency analysis. Front. Energy (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-024-0947-3

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