2025/12/02 by Kumar, Tanay, Hongying Zhao, Zhao, Hongying +2
Energy · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Freezing and Crystallization Processes #Membrane Separation Technologies #Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.02939
openalex publication_date 2025/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/12/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Drying concentrated slurry waste is slow, particularly due to the entrapment and limited accessibility of water entrained between the particles in the slurry. A sailboat evaporator with a root-like structure is a new system that enables wind-assisted interfacial evaporation of concentrated particle slurries. In this work, we create access to the disconnected water pockets in concentrated slurry waste, facilitating faster water conduction and efficient evaporation at extremely high solid concentration. The evaporator's long roots effectively extracted water beneath 150 cm deep supernatant water layer. Through replantation of the evaporator to a separate location, an impressive evaporation rate (ER) of 4 kg/(m2*h) close to 80 wt% solid concentration, a 25% increase to a non-replanted sample. Furthermore, long periods of efficient of evaporation was achieved even at high solid concentration through hydrodynamic flushing of roots. Outdoor experiments achieved substantial volumetric reduction, yielding dried residues with over 75 wt% solid concentration. These results underscore the system's reliable performance against highly concentrated slurries, yet to be by conventional industrial methods, including flocculation and tail-lift drying. The integration of renewable energy coupled with efficient enhancement techniques makes the sailboat evaporator a scalable and sustainable pathway for industrial wastewater dewatering.