Water‐Energy Nexus in Bio‐Based Systems

Author(s):  
Seyed Hashem Mousavi‐Avval ◽  
Asmita Khanal ◽  
Juliana Vasco‐Correa ◽  
Luis Huezo ◽  
Ajay Shah
Keyword(s):  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Wormser ◽  
Oded Nir ◽  
Eran Edri

<div> <div> <div> <p>The desalination of brackish water provides water to tens of millions of people around the world, but current technologies deplete much needed nutrients from the water, which is detrimental to both public health and agriculture. A selective method for brackish water desalination, which retains the needed nutrients, is electrodialysis (ED) using monovalent-selective cation exchange membranes (MVS-CEMs). However, due to the trade-off between membrane selectivity and resistance, most MVS-CEMs demonstrate either high transport resistance or low selectivity, which increase energy consumption and hinder the use of such membranes for brackish water desalination by ED. Here, we used molecular layer deposition (MLD) to uniformly coat CEMs with ultrathin layers of alucone. The positive surface charge of the alucone instills monovalent selectivity in the CEM. Using MLD enabled us to precisely control and minimize the selective layer thickness, while the flexibility and nanoporosity of the alucone prevent cracking and delamination. Under conditions simulating brackish water desalination, this compound provides monovalent selectivity with negligible added resistance—the smallest reported resistance for a monovalent-selective layer, to date—thereby alleviating the selectivity–resistance trade-off. Addressing the water–energy nexus, we show that using these membranes in ED will cut at least half of the energy required for selective brackish water desalination with current MVS-CEMs. </p> </div> </div> </div>


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2029
Author(s):  
Gösta F.M. Baganz ◽  
Manfred Schrenk ◽  
Oliver Körner ◽  
Daniela Baganz ◽  
Karel J. Keesman ◽  
...  

Aquaponics, the water-reusing production of fish and crops, is taken as an example to investigate the consequences of upscaling a nature-based solution in a circular city. We developed an upscaled-aquaponic scenario for the German metropolis of Berlin, analysed the impacts, and studied the system dynamics. To meet the annual fish, tomato, and lettuce demand of Berlin’s 3.77 million residents would require approximately 370 aquaponic facilities covering a total area of 224 hectares and the use of different combinations of fish and crops: catfish/tomato (56%), catfish/lettuce (13%), and tilapia/tomato (31%). As a predominant effect, in terms of water, aquaponic production would save about 2.0 million m3 of water compared to the baseline. On the supply-side, we identified significant causal link chains concerning the Food-Water-Energy nexus at the aquaponic facility level as well as causal relations of a production relocation to Berlin. On the demand-side, a ‘freshwater pescatarian diet’ is discussed. The new and comprehensive findings at different system levels require further investigations on this topic. Upscaled aquaponics can produce a relevant contribution to Berlin’s sustainability and to implement it, research is needed to find suitable sites for local aquaponics in Berlin, possibly inside buildings, on urban roofscape, or in peri-urban areas.


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