Our study, titled "Advancing the Productivity-Selectivity Tradeoff of Temperature Swing Solvent Extraction Desalination with Intermediate-Step Release", has been published in ES&T Letters.
Temperature swing solvent extraction (TSSE) offers a membrane-less and non-evaporative approach to hypersaline desalination that is radically different from existing methods. However, its performance is constrained by an inherent productivity-selectivity tradeoff: as water recovery yields increase, salt rejection worsens. This study demonstrates the superior performance of the novel temperature swing solvent extraction with intermediate-step release (TSSE-IR) over the conventional single-step operation (c-TSSE). The astute introduction of an intermediate temperature step dramatically improves salt rejection while minimizing sacrifices in water recovery yields, thereby advancing the productivity-selectivity tradeoff that constrains c-TSSE. Further, the contribution of the intermediate step to solvent loss is insignificant. The findings of this study can expand the spectrum of viable solvents for hypersaline desalination to include greener chemicals that exhibit high water recovery yields but low salt rejections.
