Graphene Enhanced Adsorption Desalination System

Currently almost one billion people across the world have no access to a safe potable drinking water. According to UN statistics, by 2030 the water demand will exceed the supply by 40%. This means that up to two-third of the world’s inhabited areas would be water stressed. There are currently no commercially available small scale water desalination / purification units that could serve small communities with critical needs for potable water. Most desalination and purification units are centralized and consume a large amount of energy which contributes to the overall carbon footprint.

The research questions to be addressed by this project are:
1) Can new adsorbent systems be developed to allow efficient use of low grade energy for water desalination?
2) Can the technology be reduced in size of water desalination / purification units that to allow deployment on a small localised scale?
3) Could such a system utilise low grade, waste or renewable energy resources for a more sustainable environment?
4) How can sustainable water desalination units be produced that serve small communities at minimum installation and operational cost?