Current traditional thermal drying techniques are common in a wide variety of industries, particularly those dealing with biomass materials such as food or paper. Such processes account for 15-25% of all energy consumed in industry. A phenomenon known as electro-osmosis is a promising alternative to energy-intensive thermal drying methods.
Electro-osmosis occurs when an electric field applied to a material with both surface charges and the resulting electrical double layer. Ions near the surface are pulled away due to the electric field, and these ions drag water molecules along and out of the material. Heat is not directly applied, and the removed water remains in the liquid form, two key factors in avoiding the large amount of energy required to turn water from a liquid to a gas.
While electro-osmosis is used commercially for wastewater treatment, its incorporation into other biomass industries is yet to take place. Issues such as undesired gas evolution, large pH gradients within the material, thermal damage from Ohmic heating and the loss of dissolved components are not as significant in wastewater treatment but prevent the commercial use of electro-osmosis to dry biomass.
This project involves the design and construction of bench-scale systems, which will be used to explore electro-osmotic dewatering of various biomass materials.
Contact information:
Alexander Lamb
Helix - STO 0.49
Email: a.c.lamb@tue.nl