MADMEC III:
Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest
"Materials Solutions for Alternative Energy"

Team Name: DMMD

Team Members:

Mishu Duduta, DMSE '10

Daniel Montana, DMSE '10

Abstract:
Given the expected increase in population worldwide, the demand for potable
water is predicted to increase significantly. One of the ways of meeting this demand is by
large-scale desalination.1 Currently, desalination is performed industrially via two
methods: reverse osmosis and multi-stage flash distillation. These techniques are
considered both to be energetically costly.2 Our proposal is to develop a system which
desalinates water via a solar driven evaporation and condensation, which requires less
energy per cubic meter of water. The innovative materials science aspect is the use of
superhydrophobic and superhydrophilic materials in increasing the rate of and reducing
the cooling needed for condensation.

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