Water Food Energy Nexus Salinity Gradient Power

"Bringing Innovative Water Food Energy Nexus Solutions to a Developing World"

700 Chevy Chase Drive

Safety Harbor, Fl 34695

Phone: 727-409-0770

^{Contact: Dr. Clifford R. Merz, PE - President/Founder}

cmerz@dialytics.com

Visit Dr. Merz's LinkedIn Profile at: http://lnkd.in/bh_XPv9

Small Business

DUNS: 141607825

CAGE Code: 33LC8

Mission Focus

Research, Development, and Commercialization of sustainable and interdisciplinary solutions to Water Food Energy Nexus challenges.

About Us

Advancing and promoting innovative and sustainable Water Food Energy Nexus renewable solutions.

Dialytics’ mission is to actively pursue and apply innovative and sustainable approaches to Water Food Energy Nexus opportunities.
Dialytics is a university start-up technology company focused on innovative concepts such as:
- Salinity Gradient Power energy generation technology;
- Micoalgae (Diatom) production for Aquaculture, Biofuel, Plastics, and Nutraceutical Development;
- Methods, development, and applications of ion and water migration control through filtration, osmotic and ion exchange membranes.
Dialytics is a University of South Florida CONNECT Tampa Bay Technology Incubator member in good standing.

Investment inquiries welcome with interested parties.

Related Research and Presentations

Dr. Merz was the Sustainable Aquaculture Technologies Session Chair and presented a paper entitled "Microalgae (Diatom) Production - The Aquaculture and Biofuel Nexus" at the Oceans'14 MTS/IEEE Conference in St. John's Newfoundland, Canada on September 18th, 2014.
Dr. Merz chaired two Marine Renewable Energy Sessions and presented on Salinity Gradient Power at the Oceans'13 MTS/IEEE Conference in San Diego, California on September 25, 2013.
Dr. Merz was the Ocean Energy Session Co-Chair and presenter of "Recent Developments in Salinity Gradient Power" at the 2010 Florida Energy Systems (FESC) Summit on September 28, 2010 at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando, Florida.
PhD. Dissertation - “Investigation and Evaluation of a Bipolar Membrane Based Seawater Concentration Cell and Its Suitability as a Low Power Energy Source for Energy Harvesting/MicroElectrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Devices” by Clifford R. Merz. University of South Florida, December 2008.

Click here to download Dr. Merz's PhD Dissertation.

Related Publications
"Microalgae (Diatom) Production - The Aquaculture and Biofuel Nexus". Merz, Clifford R., Main, Kevan L., Oceans'14 - St. John's, 14-19 September 2014 Newfoundland, Canada, pp. 1-10. IEEE Xplore DOI:10.1109/OCEANS.2014.7003242.

Click here to download the article.

"Salinity Gradient Power (SGP): A Developmental Roadmap Covering Existing Generation Technologies and Recent Investigative Results into the Feasibility of Bipolar Membrane Based Salinity Gradient Power Generation". Merz, Clifford R; Moreno, Wilfrido A; Barger, Marilyn; Lipka, Stephen M. Technology and Innovation, Vol. 14:3/4, pp. 249-275, December 2012. Cognizant Communication Corporation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3727/194982412X13500042168857

Click here to download the article.

"Consideration of a Variable Frequency Energy Conversion System for Marine and Onshore Wind Energy Extraction". Merz, Clifford R. Marine Technology Society Journal, Volume 47, Number 4, pp. 218-225, July/August 2013. Marine Technology Society DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.47.4.11.

Click here to download the article.

"A Critique of Alternative Power Generation for Florida by Mechanical and Solar Means". Weisberg, Robert H., Liu, Yonggang, Merz, Clifford R., Virmani, Jyotika I., Zheng, Lianyuan. Marine Technology Society Journal, Volume 46, Number 5, pp. 12-23, September/October 2012. Marine Technology Society DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4031/MTSJ.46.5.1.

Click Here to download the article.

Background

Besides wind and solar based renewable energy technologies, marine energy sources such as Salinity Gradient Power are under investigation.
The worldwide Salinity Gradient ocean/river resource has been estinated at 2.6 TW (Wick and Schmitt, 1977).
The world's 2008 energy consumption was estimated at 16.9 TW with the net electrical generation at 2.2 TW (IEA, 2011).
Salinity Gradient Power is an attractive marine renewable resource because it possesses not only the largest energy potential but likely the largest total available resource as well.
Salinity Gradient Power produces no climate altering emissions, requires little or no fuel costs, and the salts are not consumed in the process.
Unlike wind or solar, Salinity Gradient Power is non-periodic, renewable and sustainable via the earth's continuous evaporation/precipitation hydrological cycle.
Considering the vastness of the potential resources available, even inefficient extraction can be acceptable as long as there is an adequate return on investment and commitment to required Research, Development and Deployment.

Salinity Gradient Power Processes Under Investigation

Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) - utilizes the phenomena of chemical potential equalization via differential osmotic pressure differences across nonionic membranes to generate osmotic power via a rotating turbine; and
Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) - utilizes the electrochemical properties of solutions of differing saline concentrations (salinity) separated by charged semipermeable ion-exchange membranes to generate energy via direct ion migration and electron transfer.

Salinity Gradient Power Development Issues and Challanges

Both Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) and Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) Salinity Gradient Power processes are membrane based technologies.
Dialytics investigated several commercially available Bipolar membranes, examining both performance and possible use as a drop in replacement for use in either style of Salinity Gradient Power systems.
During research laboratory investigations, it was observed that extended duration Bipolar membrane test fixtures operated at room temperature produced power densities of approximately 10 nanoWatt/cm^2.
This power density is extremely small and lower than existing Salinity Gradient Power processes currently under investigation.
Although true that existing power densities are low in output, Bipolar Membrane based Salinity Gradient Power production is in its infancy.
Applied research and development is needed to evaluate and optimize present day Bipolar membranes for future Salinity Gradient Power based applications.
The challenge is in the Research, Development and Deployment of these new, optimized, Bipolar membranes.

Ongoing Research and Development Has Resulted In:

A PhD dissertation in Salinity Gradient Power applications in 2008.
Issued US Patent 7,736,791 - "Dialytic Power Generator Using Diffusion Gradients", Merz, 2010.
A peer reviewed summary technical journal paper in 2012.
A submission of a second patent application in 2013.
Discussions with interested parties regarding Salinty Gradient Power Bipolar membrane development.