Rapid prototyping of device &
Potential for resource recovery

In our recent npj Clean Water article, we showed how thermodiffusion can unlock faster, cheaper and more effective ways to treat challenging brines:

• Fast, low-cost fabrication: We built multichannel thermodiffusion devices using simple 3D printing. This prototype works just as well as conventional ones but costs about 1 / 100th as much and takes only a fraction of the time to make.
• Treating the hardest brines: The devices can process hypersaline and even near-saturation seawater brines while also recovering useful minerals. Unlike current technologies such as membranes or evaporation ponds, our approach becomes more efficient when the brine is more concentrated.
• Broad potential: The same technology can be applied to many other industrial brines, opening opportunities to recover resources like potash and lithium.

This work shows that 3D-printed thermodiffusion systems can be developed rapidly and affordably, bringing the technology much closer to real-world industrial use.