Solar thermal devices are formed from a block of wood, where the natural cell lumens of the wood form an interconnected network that transports fluid or material therein. The block of wood can be modified to increase absorption of solar radiation. Combining the solar absorption effects with the natural transport network can be used for various applications. In some embodiments, heating of the modified block of wood by insolation can be used to evaporate a fluid, for example, evaporating water for extraction, distillation, or desalination. In other embodiments, heating of the modified block of wood by insolation can be used to change transport properties of a material to allow it to be transported in the interconnected network, for example, heating crude oil to adsorb the oil within the block of wood.

The present disclosure is drawn to an example evaporation panel, which can include an evaporation shelf that is laterally elongated and horizontally oriented and can include an upper surface and a lower surface. A second evaporation shelf can also be included that is laterally elongated and positioned in parallel beneath the evaporation shelf. The second evaporation shelf can have a second upper surface. The evaporation panel can further include a support column between the first evaporation shelf and the second evaporation shelf. The support column can include a plurality of stacked and spaced apart evaporation fins oriented in parallel with the evaporation shelf.

The present disclosure evaporation panel systems including a plurality of evaporation panels. The evaporation panels can include a plurality of evaporation shelves that are laterally elongated, vertically stacked, spaced apart from one another, and horizontally oriented; and a plurality of vertical support columns positioned laterally along the plurality of evaporation shelves to provide support and separation to the plurality of evaporation shelves. The evaporation panels can also include a plurality of female-receiving openings which are individually bordered by two evaporation shelves and two support columns; and a plurality of male connectors positioned at lateral ends of both the first evaporation panel and the second evaporation panels. The first evaporation panel and the second evaporation panel can be orthogonally connectable via the male connectors of the first evaporation panel and the female-receiving openings of the second evaporation panel.

Evaporation panel securing system can include first and second evaporation panels, and a security fastener to secure a male connector (first evaporation panel) within a female-receiving opening (second evaporation panel) in an orthogonally joined orientation, for example. The evaporation panels can include a plurality of evaporation shelves that are laterally elongated, vertically stacked, spaced apart from one another, and horizontally oriented; a plurality of vertical support columns positioned laterally along the plurality of evaporation shelves to provide support and separation to the plurality of evaporation shelves; a plurality of female-receiving openings individually bordered by two evaporation shelves and two support columns; and a plurality of male connectors positioned laterally at ends of the plurality of evaporation panels, wherein the male connectors of the first evaporation panel are releasably joinable with female-receiving openings of the second evaporation panel.

A wastewater evaporative separation system can include an evaporation panel assembly and a wastewater delivery system. The evaporative panel assembly can include at least 10 individual evaporation panels laterally joined together and fluidly coupled to a body of wastewater. The evaporation panel assembly can be configured for receiving wastewater from the body of wastewater and evaporating water therefrom as the wastewater cascades down the evaporation panel assembly and contaminants generally become more concentrated. The wastewater delivery system can be associated with the body of wastewater and can include a fluid directing assembly delivering wastewater from the body of wastewater to an upper portion of the evaporation panel assembly.

The present invention relates to a gas-redirecting device presenting an upper plane and a plurality of gas-redirecting tubes comprising an inlet end and an outlet end. For each gas-redirecting tube, the orthogonal projections of the inlet end and the outlet end onto the upper plane have an over-lapping area of at most 50% of the total area of the upper plane covered by the orthogonal projections. Also provided is a liquid-gas contacting column comprising a gas-redirecting device, a floating support comprising a liquid-gas contacting column, at least two packed beds and a method for improving the efficiency of a liquid-gas contacting column which is based on redirecting the gas from a wetted zone of a lower packed bed to a wetted zone of the higher packed bed.

A solar vapor generator system and method are provided. In some embodiments, the system has near perfect energy conversion efficiency in the process of solar vapor generation below room temperature. Remarkably, when the operation temperature of the system is below that of the surroundings, the total vapor generation will be higher than the upper limit that can be produced by the input solar energy.

The present disclosure includes systems and methods for enhancing evaporation rates of a fluid, such as fluid including dissolved solids (e.g., a wastewater pond). In one example, a system includes a pump configured to pressurize air and an agitation assembly fluidly coupled to the pump, where the agitation assembly is configured to emit an air stream that impacts a top surface of the fluid body to generate droplets.

A purification system can provide for efficient heating of liquid via film heating, which, rather than heating a large volume of liquid, can heat a thin layer of liquid thus reducing the amount of energy required to evaporate the liquid. Film heating can enable evaporation of liquids using less energy than other methods. In addition, when liquids (e.g., seawater) having dissolved solids (e.g., salts) are heated, both the liquid and the solids must be heated. As evaporation occurs, the concentration of solids increases and more energy must be supplied to the liquid in order to cause evaporation. Because purification system can heat only a layer of liquid, less energy is required to heat the solids, which can allow for higher energy efficiencies in purifying liquids. These efficiencies can lead to decreased cost of potable water. Related apparatus, systems, techniques, and articles are also described.

A system for enhancing evaporation from a body of liquid, in which heated or unheated air is distributed through a pipe network that is submerged in the evaporation pond, with the air being injected into the pond to produce air bubbles in the water. The air may be combined with water prior to the injection. The water may be drawn from the pond. The air and/or water may be heated by solar heating, electric heating, fuel burning, or waste heat recovery. In the case of solar heating, any of a transpired solar collector, a packed bed solar collector, a flat plate solar collector, a linear Fresnel collector, a parabolic solar collector, a paraboloid dish solar collector, or other could be used. The pipe network may be maintained at a desired depth below the upper surface of the pond by various means, with one example being flotation devices, from which the pipe network is suspended.