Engineers at the Institute of Thermal Physics Track a Faster Path to Clean Water
Researchers from the Institute of Thermal Physics, part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, have been exploring a novel approach to speeding up desalination and water treatment near nuclear and thermal power facilities. The team is examining a process that involves freezing contaminated liquid using a gas to form a solid hydrate, with the goal of yielding clean water when the material thaws. This development was shared with socialbites.ca and attributed to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.
Conventional desalination and water purification methods rely on multistage distillation or reverse osmosis. While effective, these techniques demand substantial energy inputs, which can drive up costs in power plant operations. In response, the researchers are investigating an alternative that leans on environmental efficiency by converting water and a forming gas into a hydrate state. This gas hydrate behaves like a structured ice that traps and carries pure water as it forms and remains stable until thawed for recovery.
The challenge with gas hydrates lies in their formation rate and the difficulty of separating the hydrate from the surrounding liquid medium. If the hydrate grows slowly or remains inseparable, the overall efficiency drops and practical deployment becomes problematic.
To address these issues, the team developed a method that uses a cycle of boiling and condensation of the hydrate-forming gas within the water volume. The approach enables the production of hydrates weighing more than a kilogram per hour with standard laboratory equipment. This rate represents a significant improvement over comparable techniques that can require a full day or more to generate a hydrate mass suitable for processing.
Researchers point out that the rapid production rate arises from several simultaneous actions: injecting large volumes of gas in a liquefied state, achieving thorough mixing, cooling the reaction mixture, and efficiently removing the heat released during hydrate formation. The work is presented as a collaboration with the Institute of Thermal Physics and highlights how refining these parameters can expand the practicality of gas-hydrate based purification in industrial settings.
Current experiments use freon 134a as a modeling gas to simulate the hydrate formation process. For hydrate creation with this gas, a controlled overpressure of not more than two atmospheres proves adequate, enabling researchers to visually observe the process and refine the key operational aspects of the apparatus under development.
The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can be adapted for water purification using a gas that is safe for human exposure, paving the way for potential real-world applications in environments tied to power generation facilities. The findings emphasize a path toward cleaner, more energy-efficient water treatment, with ongoing studies exploring optimization and scalability. The Institute of Thermal Physics continues to document progress and share insights with the broader scientific community and industry stakeholders. [Source: Institute of Heat Physics, socialbites.ca; attribution to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science]