Team WUT Solar Tower

Presentation of the participants of the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016

WUT Solar Tower
Team leader:
Members:
Desalination technology: Multi effect distillation powered by solar thermal energy
WUT Solar Tower is a group of students and young engineers united by their passion for unconventional energy sources. We decided to take part in the TUM DeSal Challenge to prove ourselves in the pursuit for an effective and environmentally sound way to produce clean water.

We are well aware of the financial and logistical problems in most developing countries with water scarcity, therefore we come up with a desalination plant, that can be built almost entirely from locally made, or recycled materials. We want to prove, that a high-capacity desalination plant can be built by a local population with limited resources, and operated safely by virtually everyone.

We combine the advantages of a very big parabolic mirror and a unique, highly efficient heat recycle system to make a desalination plant, that is supreme in efficiency, affordability, resilience and versatility.
Institution: Warsaw University of Technology
Ranking at the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016: 9

 

Team vAqulon

Presentation of the participants of the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016

vAqulon
Team leader:
Members:
Desalination technology: Electro-static steam-compression
powered by photovoltaics
We are a team of researchers, engineers and students, but most of all we are friends! Our goal in this competition is to contribute to the developments in the field of environment-friendly desalination.
Our desalination system is based on the same principle as Mechanical Vapor Compression. The main difference is that our compressor unit is based on another physical principle (details cannot be published yet due to intellectual property reasons).
The plant‘s design will be very compact. Major expected advantages as compared to other desalination methods include low requirements for feed-water purity, high energy efficiency and low noise levels. 
Institution: Technische Universität München,
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Ranking at the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016: Not ranked

 vAqulon is sponsored by

 

KUS Kunststofftechnik

 

KUS Kunststofftechnik

 

Shapeways

 

shapeways

 

FutureBlech AG

 

FutureBlech AG

 

MEP Werke GmbH

 

MEP Werke GmbH

 

Rainer Szalata Systeme

 

Rainer Szalata Systeme

 

Steca Elektronik

 

Steca Elektronik

 

CanadianSolar

 

CanadianSolar

 

CanadianSolar

 

AC-Solar

 

Team The Thin Distillery

Presentation of the participants of the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016

The Thin Distillery
Team leader:
Members:
Desalination technology: Vaccum distillation powered by solar thermal energy and photovoltaics
We are group of friends who went together to high school and now we are studying or graduating in different fields, IT, math and marine biology. Our desalination system is based on the simple concept for desalinisation – the distillation, the most simple way to get pure water. To make water evaporate from water to gas we need to increase temperature and/or reduce pressure. To increase the temperature we will use concentrated solar power, and reducing the pressure using vacuum pumps.

We were not aiming to 'reinvent the wheel', distillation is a process known for a long time so we took the road of perfecting it, making it more efficient.

Initial inspiration for this design, but without vacuum component, has came from the systems  used in traditional alcohol distilleries, producing hard liqueur called 'rakija'.
Institution: University of Split
Ranking at the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016: 7

 

Team Still Waiting

Presentation of the participants of the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016

Still Waiting
Team leader:
Members:
Desalination technology: Solar still with external condenser
The basic principle of a Solar Still will be revised by adding an external condenser. However this desalination technology is still able to run just by solar power.

The huge benefit of the system is its simplicity, hence there‘s no great knowledge needed to handle it. Especially the property to produce potable water after a short initial period is another plus. Therefore, a felt textile is installed, which is moistened with the feed.  

The separation of evaporation and condensation results in the possibility to use heat recuperation which increases the performance. With access to brackish water, cleaning the plant to guarantee the long term use won‘t be a problem.

Due to its robustness and convenience, the plant is tailored for the application in areas where potable water is a scarce resource and on account of this urgently needed: in regions with high solar irradiation and economic as well as social backwardness.
Institution: Technische Universität München
Ranking at the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016: 5

 

Team SolarPura

Presentation of the participants of the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016

SolarPura
Team leader:
Members:
Desalination technology: Humidification-dehumidification powered by solar thermal energy and biomass
We are a team of international Masters students of Sustainable Resource Management at TUM, coming from Mexico, Chile, the USA and Germany.
We share the vision of creating an affordable and simple solution to provide isolated communities in water scarce costal regions with a self-sufficient, potable water source. More specifically, we are building a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) unit that could be made out of low-cost, local resources with high availa-bility that can be integrated into households and community kitchens, ensuring safe water supply to those in need.
The unique characteristic of our plant is the composition of the energy input, using both solar energy and waste heat from domestic wood-burning stoves, commonly used for cooking in rural areas. The aim is to develop a system that is easy to build, simple to maintain and provides high quality, low-cost potable water.
Institution: Technische Universität München
Ranking at the TUM DeSal Challenge 2016: 4

SolarPura Teamvideo

 

 

Team coverage on ChemistryViews.org