Researchers on track in designing new surface architecture to improve condenser performance

Researchers at U.S.-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been working on a new architecture design to improve hydrophobic (water-shedding) surface that could result in improved performance for condensers, which are crucial to modern power generation systems. About 80% of all power plants in the world use condensers to turn steam to water after it comes out of the turbines that turn generators. Condensers are also important elements in desalination plants, which contribute to the world’s supply of fresh water.
The researchers are optimistic that they are on to new discoveries with the technology they are developing, which will increase the efficiency of heat transfer in a power plant condenser, or the rate of water production in a desalination plant, with a minimal amount of lubricants. Using this new technique, the researchers were able to obtain for the first time direct and detailed images of droplets that condense on a surface. Such an interface between liquid and surface was hidden from view in the past. The technique could also be used to study many different interactions between liquids or gases and solid surfaces.
Further research is needed to quantify the exact improvement that can be achieved using the new technique in power plants, said Kripa Varanasi, Doherty Associate Professor of Ocean Utilization. “Even if it saves 1%, that’s huge in its potential impact on global emissions of greenhouse gases,” he added. (November 9, 2012)