Assoc. Prof. Ir. Ts. Dr. Melvin Gan Jet Hong awarded the Kurita Overseas Research Grant (KORG) Best Research 2023 Award

This award is presented based on his project entitled "Hydrothermally carbonized waste sawdust for solar vapor generation towards seawater desalination", funded by Kurita Water and Environment Foundation (KWEF) with the amount of JPY 400,000 for the period from Oct 2023 to Sept 2024. In this study, hydrochar is derived from abundant and low-cost waste sawdust using hydrothermal carbonization in distilled water with a series of temperatures (150, 200, and 250 °C) and times (2 and 3 h), where the hydrochar characteristics are evaluated towards its application as a solar absorber. The hydrochar-based solar absorber is fabricated and tested using outdoor solar vapor generation under direct solar radiation with an average solar intensity of 1.26 kW m⁻². The solar absorber incorporated with hydrochar derived at the temperature of 250 °C for 3 h displayed the best average efficiency (71.35 ± 0.90%) and evaporation rate (1.30 ± 0.04 kg m⁻² h⁻¹). The collected clean water salinity (below 300 ppm) and pH (6.72 – 7.23) from the solar absorber are within the safe drinking water limit by the World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, the hydrochar-based solar absorber can be used to generate clean water from seawater desalination using solar vapor generation.

The related contents of this study have been published in journals:
https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.202400367   
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41779-024-01063-1.