Iranian Student Develops New Solar-Powered Desalination System

Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for treating saline water and wastewater with high rejection factors, which cannot be accomplished by conventional technologies. MD is a thermally driven separation process in which only the vapor molecules pass through a microporous hydrophobic membrane.

Mojtabi Jahanshahi, a 29-year-old PhD student in mechanical engineering, energy conversion from Babol city, succeeded in making a solar water desalination machine using membrane distillation (MD) method.

In response to the question of “How did you come up with the idea of making a solar water desalination system?” he said,adding, “The idea of developing this device for the PhD thesis was based on the assessment of the needs for such a device in the country given water challenge and the need for optimal management of energy consumption.”

“The initial evaluation studies of this project have been completed and its first phase is being completed. Also, with the follow-ups carried out by the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and also the National Elite Foundation, as well as the guidance of the supervisors, I am in the stage of registering the intellectual property of the work. In case of necessary support, we can implement and operationalize this project and began its comemrcialization on industrial scale and at national level,” he said about the current stage of the project to produce the system.

“Considering that water and energy are two important issues in the country's mother industries, power plants, food and pharmaceutical industries, special attention has been paid to solving both water and energy challenges in this project,” Jahanshahi added.

He explained more that the designed device is solar-powered and does not need electricity, which makes a whole project green and eco-friendly.

“Currently, most of the industrial and laboratory water desalination projects in the country have been launched by using electric energy and installing electric kits, which, due to the necessity of constant connectivity, they consume a high amount in terms of electrical and thermal power, but for the first time in Iran in this project, in addition to removing the electrical mechanism, thermal energy waste has been used in order to optimize the process and manage energy consumption,” he added.

“There are different methods for desalinating water, the most important of which is the combination of membrane and thermal methods, so that we can benefit from the advantages of both methods,” the researcher said, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology has the proper facilities for carrying out the project.

“If the industries and investors of the private sector support and welcome this project, we can bring it to the commercialization stage,,” Jahanshahi concluded.