Abstract
Water has always been crucial to combustion and hydroelectric processes, but it could become the source of power in membrane-based systems that capture energy from natural and waste waters. Two processes are emerging as sustainable methods for capturing energy from sea water: pressure-retarded osmosis and reverse electrodialysis. These processes can also capture energy from waste heat by generating artificial salinity gradients using synthetic solutions, such as thermolytic salts. A further source of energy comes from organic matter in waste waters, which can be harnessed using microbial fuel-cell technology, allowing both wastewater treatment and power production. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 313-319 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 488 |
| Issue number | 7411 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 16 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-I1-003-13
Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge support from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) by Award KUS-I1-003-13 (BEL), and the World Class University (WCU) Program (Case III) through the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (R33-10046) (ME).
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.