Session: 09-01 Industrial Process Heat and Waste Heat

Paper Number: 107078

107078 - Scalable and Sustainable High-Performance Condensation for Waste Heat Recovery 

Rising energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission have led to the development of energy-efficient and environment-friendly technologies. Thermal energy representing a large fraction of the total energy consumption is discharged as low-grade waste heat. The efficient utilization of low-grade heat is the key aspect. The various industrial processes still rely on conventional filmwise condensation which provides a large thermal resistance for waste heat recovery. Tremendous research has been focused to promote dropwise condensation by achieving a non-wetting state on superhydrophobic surfaces and a slippery state on liquid-infused surfaces, but the severe durability challenges limit their potential applications. Here, we propose scalable and sustainable high-performance dropwise condensation on durable mussel-inspired quasi-liquid surface for efficient waste heat recovery. The slippery and durable coating is developed by mussel-inspired chemistry of polydopamine cofunctionalized with aminopropyl-polydimethylsiloxane. The versatile adhesion and functionalization of mussel-inspired polydopamine provide a substrate-independent coating strategy with extraordinary durability. The reaction mixture can be conveniently applied by dip or spray coating method to coat on large surfaces and provide a scalable coating. Moreover, the coating has self-cleaning and anti-scaling properties. The dropwise condensation with discrete liquid droplets could achieve up to 3 times higher heat transfer coefficient compared to conventional filmwise condensation. Furthermore, the mussel-inspired quasi-liquid surface could achieve sustainable high-performance dropwise condensation at high temperatures for a prolonged period under continuous steam condensation. Such a sustainable high-performance condensation with high waste heat recovery has the potential for a large reduction in energy consumption, operation cost, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Presenting Author: Deepak Monga The University of Texas at Dallas

Presenting Author Biography: Deepak Monga is a Ph.D. student at The University of Texas at Dallas. He is working as Research Assistant at Bioinspired Thermal Fluid Lab under the supervision of Dr. Xianming Dai. His research interest includes condensation heat transfer, thermal management, surface science, and waste heat recovery.