ANALYSIS AND PERFORMANCE METRICS OF A CAPACITIVE MIXING ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICE
Date
2019-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Global warming calls engineers and scientists to work diligently to produce lowto-
no emission energy production devices and processes to aid with the global sustainability
agenda. Supercapacitors are devices that harvest and produce energy from clean
electrochemical or electro-kinetic mechanisms. Therefore, supercapacitors are gaining
interest for applications where the entropy of mixing can be utilized to control energy
storage and production. This analysis will cover the fundamental mechanism, practical
design aspects, and performance calculations of membrane-modified supercapacitors.
These supercapacitors are to be utilized in estuaries where the entropy of mixing is
proportional to energy releases on the order of common hydroelectric devices. Membrane
enhanced supercapacitors utilize the free energy from mixing fresh water with
salt water and capacitive Donnan potentials (CDP) to store energy via electro-kinetics.
Using membranes removes the auxiliary voltage requirement needed in current capacitive
mixing modules and desalination devices. Therefore, this technology presents a
more direct energy storage mechanism.
Description
Keywords
Mechanical engineering, Energy conversion device