Kerri Hickenbottom

Interests

Research

• Novel engineered systems for resource recovery and reclamation of concentrate streams• Technical, economic and environmental life cycle impacts of a hybrid, membrane-based process (pressure retarded osmosis-membrane distillation) for energy generation from low-grade heat• Forward osmosis for advanced treatment and recovery of drilling wastewater from hydraulic fracturing• Membrane distillation for management of concentrate streams• Concentrate management• Novel membrane processes for advanced resource recovery from waste streams• Environmental life-cycle assessment

Teaching

• CHEE 370: Environmental Water Engineering• CHEE 400: Water Chemistry for Engineers• CHEE 474/574: Fate and Transport Processes in Environmental Engineering• CHEE 476A/576A: Water Treatment System Design• CHEE 476B/576B: Wastewater Treatment Design System • CHEE 676: Advanced Water and Wastewater Treatment

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Hickenbottom, K. (2016). Pressure retarded osmosis: applications. In Sustainable Energy from Salinity Gradients. Woodhead Publishing – Elsevier.

Journals/Publications

• Achilli, A., Norwood, R. A., Betancourt, W. Q., Ikner, L. A., Saez, A. E., Hamilton, K., Larkin, L., Morrison, D., Hickenbottom, K., Quon, H., Ashraf, A., Amoh-Asante, N., Shafae, M., Jung, Y., & Wilson, A. M. (2025).

  Public risk perceptions of advanced water purification in an arid urban region of the US southwest: A mixed methods study.

  . Science of the Total Environment, 180558.
• Felix, V., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2025). Comparative life cycle assessment of membrane distillation for inland concentrate management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 513(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.145646
  More info

  Membrane Distillation (MD) is an emerging thermally-assisted desalination process that can produce high-quality water from high-salinity streams using low-grade heat, thus supporting near-zero liquid discharge. To adopt MD as a concentrate management technology, it is essential to compare environmental and economic implications of MD to conventional management alternatives. This work presents a comparative environmental life cycle and cost assessment of MD and conventional concentrate management technologies (i.e., evaporation ponds, deep well injection (DWI), mechanical concentrators) for the treatment of saline streams. Environmental impacts are quantified as a single score in points/m3 (pt/m3). Results indicate that MD has the second lowest environmental impact scores, with a range between 0.02 and 0.04 pt/m3 and cost from 0.81 to 1.52 USD/m3. Although evaporation ponds and DWI have some of the lowest environmental impacts (0.01–0.13 pt/m3) and disposal costs (1.05–6.77 USD/m3), the application of these technologies are limited to geographical constrains (e.g., climate and geology). Additionally, despite the low environmental impact of evaporation ponds and DWI, they do not place value on resource recovery. Finally, although brine concentrators offer a modular and scalable approach to concentrate management, they have the highest impacts and costs ranging from 1.04 to 1.18 pt/m3 and 7.47–7.94 USD/m3, respectively. In each system, the main environmental and cost stressors can differ, signifying the lowest cost does not always align with the lowest impact – underscoring the need for tailored treatment solutions. Overall, results support MD as a cost-competitive concentrate management technology with low environmental impacts and the added benefit of producing high-quality water.
• Karimi, L., Shinh, R., Laisure-Pool, C., Green, M., Yacuel, L., Ashby, J., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2025). Energy and water dynamics in data center cooling: Insights from a modeling study in hot-arid climates. Applied Thermal Engineering, 276(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2025.126802
  More info

  The rapid growth of data centers (DCs) has led to increased energy and water consumption for cooling, which is heavily influenced by climate conditions. Optimizing DC cooling performance is crucial to reducing environmental impacts, lowering costs, and ensuring sustainable operations. This study developed novel 8760-energy and water models to estimate hourly energy and water use in Phoenix, AZ DCs, and examined three cooling systems (air-cooled chillers, water-cooled chillers, and evaporative cooling) with a particular emphasis on seasonal effects. The models estimate year-round energy and water savings in DCs using air-side and water-side economizers (ASE and WSE). This study fills a critical gap in the literature by providing a high-resolution, dynamic assessment of DC cooling performance that captures hourly, seasonal, and annual variations in energy and onsite and source water use. Results indicate that air-cooled chillers consume the most energy and source water, while water-cooled chillers have the largest annual onsite water use. ASE integration achieves about 22% energy and source water savings for air-cooled chillers and 29% onsite water savings for water-cooled chillers. Pre-cooling in air-cooled chillers results in 11% annual energy savings. While chillers can operate year-around, evaporative systems with ASE provide cooling for only 64% of the year. With computer room cold aisle containment (CAC), ASE can cool DCs for 35% of the year, while WSE can provide cooling for 12% of the year. These findings offer actionable insights to optimize energy and water usage in DC cooling, minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing DC operation and sustainability.
• Presson, L. K., Hegetschweiler, M. J., Felix, V., Shingler, J., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2025). Targeted chemical cleaning preserves high water flux and water quality in long-term pilot-scale membrane distillation for potable water reuse. Desalination, 608. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2025.118839
  More info

  Long-term, continuous operation of membrane distillation (MD) is limited by the lack of knowledge on scaling and wetting resistance. In this study, a pilot-scale vacuum-assisted air gap MD (V-AGMD) system with 25.92 m2 of membrane area is used to purify reclaimed water from a membrane bioreactor. The V-AGMD system produced 600–700 L/day with a 75 % recovery rate of water for approximately three months. A decline in water flux from the initial value of 1.1 LMH was observed and routine chemical cleaning procedures were employed in response. Cleaning with hydrochloric acid (HCl) was effective at recovering water flux, but after one month of weekly acid cleaning, some evidence of fouling and scaling remained. Additional chemical cleaning procedures were tested, including chlorination and the use of chelating agents. Chlorination was ineffective because minimal organic fouling was present, and, without rinsing procedures, generated disinfection byproducts that were detected in the distillate. The chelating agent (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA) recovered water flux by the removal of gypsum. Despite evidence of membrane scaling, the water quality of the distillate remained high. Rejection of dissolved contaminants temporarily decreased during the second month of operation but was recovered by cleaning with EDTA. The cleaning procedures were also critical in maintaining the energy efficiency of the V-AGMD system as they lowered the channel backpressure and improved the heat recovery after fouling and scaling. This study demonstrates that high water quality and water flux can be maintained in long-term MD operation through chemical cleaning that targets specific foulants and scalants.
• Tariqi, A. Q., Cruzado, L., Straub, A. P., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Karanikola, V. (2025). Synergistic solutions: reverse osmosis and nanofiltration configurations for efficient brackish water desalination. npj Clean Water, 8(Issue 1). doi:10.1038/s41545-025-00515-w
  More info

  Pilot testing using feed water sourced from the Yuma Desalting Plant (~2 g/L) (Arizona, USA), an inland brackish water desalination facility, was conducted using either tight Dupont Filmtec Nanofiltration (NF) NF90 membranes or looser NF270 membranes as integrated, pre-treatment, or brine recovery for Reverse Osmosis (RO). The hybrid configurations that include both NF270 and RO membranes exhibited the highest RO water flux, 37– 41 Lm−2 h−1, with over 99% salt rejection. However, the cost was strongly influenced by the volume of brine produced compared to the energy consumption, resulting in the lowest cost in the NF270 brine recovery configuration. Both the pilot study and modeling data indicate that NF270 and RO membrane hybrid configurations are an economically viable treatment for water purification in inland areas where brackish water is a prevalent water source.
• Wilson, A. M., Jung, Y., Shafae, M., Amoh-Asante, N. A., Ashraf, A., Quon, H., Hamilton, K. A., Morrison, D., Larkin, L., Hickenbottom, K., Sáez, A. E., Ikner, L. A., Betancourt, W., Norwood, R. A., & Achilli, A. (2025). Public risk perceptions of advanced water purification in an arid urban region of the U.S. southwest: A mixed methods study. Science of the Total Environment, 1002. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180558
  More info

  As water utilities implement potable reuse technology, there is a need to understand how to increase public acceptance and trust in public water supplies. The study objective was to use surveys and interviews in a large metropolitan area in Arizona to characterize tap water and advanced purified water acceptability, and factors contributing to (un)acceptability. Participants were recruited through a water utility email listserv for participation in an online REDCap survey and/or 1-hr Zoom interview. Surveys and interviews inquired about perceptions of tap water safety, familiarity with water reuse terms, acceptability of direct potable reuse (called “advanced water purification” in our study for consistency with state messaging), and rationales related to acceptance. Four hundred seventy-nine individuals participated in the survey, and twenty-two individuals participated in the interviews, with roughly comparable demographics for our city of interest but with slightly higher levels of household income and education. Only 36 % of survey respondents use their tap water for drinking water supplies, but (42 %) would be open to drinking advanced purified water. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2024 on risk-based thinking to evaluate how advanced purified water may compare to current drinking water safety and analyzed with inductive thematic analysis. Survey and interview participants wanted more reassurances (e.g., third party testing and opportunities for hands-on testing). Water utilities should prioritize transparent communication strategies, including sharing detailed third-party testing data and direct community engagement initiatives, to enhance public acceptance. Utilities can build trust through clear comparisons between advanced purified water and current tap water quality.
• Felix, V., Hardikar, M., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2024). Concentrate circularity: A comparative techno-economic analysis of membrane distillation and conventional inland concentrate management technologies. Desalination, 574(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.desal.2023.117213
  More info

  Inland desalination with reverse osmosis (RO) offers a promising alternative to increase potable water resources. However, large volumes of concentrated brine are generated as a byproduct of the process. Concentrate disposal for inland regions displaces valuable water resources and can make up to 33 % of the total cost of desalination. Conventional disposal systems are limited by location, hydrogeology, climate, and policies, and few place value on resource recovery, thus limiting the implementation of desalination facilities in water-stressed regions. Membrane distillation (MD) is an alternative technology that can minimize disposal volume while maximizing water recovery for beneficial reuse. MD uses thermal energy gradients to desalinate the concentrate stream achieving near zero-liquid discharge. Furthermore, several MD configurations include heat recovery, making MD an energy-efficient alternative. A techno-economic assessment (TEA) of air-gap MD (AGMD) for RO concentrate management was performed and compared to three conventional concentrate management systems: evaporation ponds, deep-well injection (DWI), and concentration-crystallization. TEA results indicate that compared to DWI at 1.09 $/m3, evaporation ponds at 1.47 $/m3, and concentrators at 6.2 $/m3, respectively, AGMD is a competitive concentrate management technology producing water at 0.90 $/m3 when operating conditions are optimized and low-grade heat is available. When operating at high salinity (>70 g/L) the selection of operating conditions, specifically module length and circulating flowrate, is critical. Results of this study support the economic viability of AGMD in contrast to current industry standards and highlight the importance of resource recovery to promote a circular water-energy economy for regions relying on reuse and desalination.
• Malaguti, M., Presson, L. K., Tiraferri, A., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2024). Productivity, selectivity, and energy consumption of pilot-scale vacuum assisted air-gap membrane distillation for the desalination of high-salinity streams. Desalination, 582. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2024.117511
  More info

  The implementation of air gap membrane distillation systems is limited by a lack of overall performance predictions which rely on few available pilot-scale studies. This study evaluates the productivity, energy consumption, and selectivity of a pilot-scale air gap membrane distillation system by combining experiments and modeling activities. The effect of operating conditions, i.e., applied vacuum, feed flow rate, and feed stream salinity, was investigated to identify regulating factors and quantify dependencies. Response surface methodology was applied to model the phenomena and provide statistical analysis. Increasing flow rates produced a near linear increase of productivity within the investigated range. Operating at higher applied vacuum also translated into enhanced productivity, though the distillate flux increased by a maximum of 10 % when vacuum increased from −100 mbar to −500 mbar. Flow rate and vacuum also governed the observed salt flux by a similar magnitude because salt flux resulted mainly from liquid pore flow phenomena. The trans-membrane pressure regulated the membrane rejection: increasing the pressure difference led to a lower rejection. Moreover, high feed stream salinity lowered both the productivity and the distillate quality. The productivity gains were typically achieved at the expense of an increase in specific thermal energy consumption; however, an interesting relation was observed with feed stream salinity, with a minimum of specific thermal energy consumption of roughly 300kWhth⋅m−3 identified in the treatment of a stream with a salinity of 150g/L.
• Hardikar, M., Felix, V., Presson, L. K., Rabe, A. B., Ikner, L. A., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2023). Pore flow and solute rejection in pilot-scale air-gap membrane distillation. Journal of Membrane Science, 676. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2023.121544
  More info

  Membrane distillation (MD) is a desalination technology with promising applications in treating brines generated by reverse osmosis. Theoretically, MD can achieve 100% rejection of non-volatile contaminants such as organic and inorganic solutes and pathogens because only the vapor phase permeates through the membrane. However, polymeric membranes are subject to a wide distribution of pore sizes that may result in pore flow or liquid flux through even a new membrane resulting in poor contaminant rejection. In pilot-scale MD systems, a larger membrane area increases the hydraulic pressure in the flow channel and the transmembrane hydraulic pressure difference, thus increasing the probability of pore flow of non-volatile contaminants through the membrane and providing enhanced resolution of contaminant detection. This work reports membrane rejection of organic and inorganic non-volatile solutes in a pilot-scale air-gap MD (AGMD) element and quantifies, for the first time, transport of non-volatile solutes through the membrane because of pore flow. Pathogen rejection in the pilot-scale MD system was also measured using enteric virus surrogates MS2 and PhiX174 as tracers. Organic and inorganic solutes and both viruses were detected in the distillate, suggesting the presence of pore flow. No difference between organic and inorganic solute rejection was observed, and both decreased (from 2.5-log10 to 1.5-log10) with an increase in air-gap vacuum (from 50 to 500 mbar). At 50 mbar and low evaporator inlet temperature (40 °C), virus rejection (2.4 -log10) was higher than organic and inorganic solute rejection (1.7-log10).
• Hardikar, M., Felix, V., Rabe, A. B., Ikner, L. A., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2023). Virus rejection and removal in pilot-scale air-gap membrane distillation. Water Research, 240. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.120019
  More info

  Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally-driven process that can treat high concentration streams and provide a dual barrier for rejection and reduction of pathogens. Thus, MD has potential applications in treating concentrated wastewater brines for enhancing water recovery and potable water reuse. In bench-scale studies, it was demonstrated that MD can provide high rejection of MS2 and PhiX174 bacteriophage viruses, and when operating at temperatures greater than 55 °C, can reduce virus levels in the concentrate. However, bench-scale MD results cannot directly be used to predict pilot-scale contaminant rejection and removal of viruses because of the lower water flux and higher transmembrane hydraulic pressure difference in pilot-scale systems. Thus far, virus rejection and removal have not been quantified in pilot-scale MD systems. In this work, the rejection of MS2 and PhiX174 at low (40 °C) and high (70 °C) inlet temperatures is quantified in a pilot-scale air-gap MD system using tertiary treated wastewater. Both viruses were detected in the distillate which suggests the presence of pore flow; the virus rejection at a hot inlet temperature of 40 °C for MS2 and PhiX174 were 1.6-log10 and 3.1-log10, respectively. At 70 °C, virus concentrations in the brine decreased and were below the detection limit (1 PFU per 100 mL) after 4.5 h, however, viruses were also detected in the distillate in that duration. Results demonstrate that virus rejection is lower in pilot-scale experiments because of increased pore flow that is not captured in bench-scale experiments.
• Inkawhich, M., Shingler, J., Ketchum, R. S., Pan, W., Norwood, R. A., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2023). Temporal performance indicators for an integrated pilot-scale membrane distillation-concentrated solar power/photovoltaic system. Applied Energy, 349(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121675
  More info

  Management of concentrate streams in inland applications has uncertain long-term environmental impacts. This study investigates an intensified solar-energy capture desalination system that integrates membrane distillation (MD) with a hybrid concentrated solar power (CSP)/photovoltaic (PV) collector to realize self-sustained zero-waste discharge for effective management of concentrate streams in inland and off-grid applications. The demonstration-scale CSP/PV system can produce up to 178 kWh of thermal energy and 4 kWh of electrical energy per day. The thermal and electrical energy from the CSP/PV system is directly supplied to the air gap MD (AGMD) pilot-scale system producing up to 288 L of distilled water per day. Experiments were performed on the hybrid AGMD-CSP/PV system to evaluate system performance under various operating conditions including AGMD and CSP flow rates, CSP system pre-heating, and AGMD vacuum pressure. Experimental results indicate that doubling the AGMD flow rate results in a 119% increase in thermal energy utilization and a 71% increase in distillate production. Compared to the winter months, operating the system in summer months when direct normal irradiance (DNI) is highest results in nearly double the distillate production (88 L in winter and 168 L in summer) and nearly three times the amount of thermal energy consumption (15 kWh in winter and 43 kWh in summer). Operating with vacuum resulted in a 34% increase in distillate production and allowing the thermal storage reservoir to preheat in the winter resulted in a 61% increase in distillate production. Overall, experimental results highlight the tradeoff between distillate production and thermal and electrical energy production and consumption under various environmental conditions and the potential for AGMD-CSP/PV to be a stand-alone desalination system.
• Presson, L. K., Felix, V., Hardikar, M., Achilli, A., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2023). Fouling characterization and treatment of water reuse concentrate with membrane distillation: Do organics really matter. Desalination, 553. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2023.116443
  More info

  Membrane distillation (MD) for the treatment of concentrated brines has been limited in part by membrane fouling, resulting in subsequent flux decline and membrane wetting. This study provides new insight into the identification of fouling and scaling mechanisms and pretreatment strategies for mitigating flux decline with MD treatment of water reuse reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC). Bench-scale direct contact MD experiments were performed with untreated and pretreated ROC. Biological activated carbon (BAC), chemical water softening, or fluidized bed crystallization reactor coupled with ion exchange (FBCR-IX) were selected as pretreatment strategies to isolate the effects of organic fouling and calcium scaling. Organic and inorganic compounds were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Calcium ions were found to be the major contributor to flux decline despite the high organic content in the ROC. Minimal organic fouling is likely because the organic matter in the ROC is hydrophilic, limiting hydrophobic-hydrophobic interactions between the organics and the membrane. Furthermore, the water flux declined by 63 % after removing organic compounds by BAC pretreatment, with 60 % of the calcium mass precipitating from the solution. Whereas, the water flux remained constant after removing multivalent ions with fluidized bed crystallization. Cleaning the membrane by acid washing and temperature reversal recovered 73 % and 12 % of the water flux, respectively. The analyses outlined in this study can assist in selecting appropriate fouling and scaling mitigation strategies for water reuse ROC and a wide range of feed solutions used in MD applications.
• Achilli, A., Hickenbottom, K. L., Hardikar, M., Felix, V., & Presson, L. (2022). Fouling Characterization and Treatment of Water Reuse Concentrate with Membrane Distillation: Do Organics Really Matter. Desalination. doi:doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2023.116443
• Achilli, A., Hickenbottom, K., Betancourt, W. Q., Presson, L., Felix, V., Alhussaini, M., & Chaves, B. (2022). Extending the life of water reuse reverse osmosis membranes using chlorination. Journal of Membrane Science, 119897.
• Farrell, J., Hickenbottom, K., Achilli, A., Phakdon, T., & Xu, J. (2022). Pretreatment of Reverse Osmosis Concentrate from Reclaimed Water for Conventional and High-Efficiency Reverse Osmosis and Evaluation of Electrochemical Production of Reagents. ACS ES&T Water, 2(6), 1022-1030. doi:10.1021/acsestwater.2c00015
• Karimi, L., Yacuel, L., Johnson, J. D., Ashby, J., Green, M., Renner, M., Bergman, A., Norwood, R., & Hickenbottom, K. L. (2022). Water-energy tradeoffs in data centers: A case study in hot-arid climates. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 181, 106194.
• Souza-Chaves, B. M., Alhussaini, M. A., Felix, V., Presson, L. K., Betancourt, W. Q., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2022). Extending the life of water reuse reverse osmosis membranes using chlorination. Journal of Membrane Science, 642, 119897.
• Hardikar, M., Ikner, L. A., Felix, V., Presson, L. K., Rabe, A. B., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2021). Membrane Distillation Provides a Dual Barrier for Coronavirus and Bacteriophage Removal. Environ Sci Technol Lett, acs.estlett.1c00483.
• Hardikar, M., Ikner, L. A., Felix, V., Presson, L. K., Rabe, A. B., Hickenbottom, K. L., & Achilli, A. (2021). Membrane Distillation Provides a Dual Barrier for Coronavirus and Bacteriophage Removal. Environmental Science and Technology Letters, 8(Issue 8). doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00483
  More info

  The persistence of pathogenic microorganisms in treated wastewater effluent makes disinfection crucial to achieve wastewater reuse. Membrane processes such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (RO) have shown promising results for virus and other contaminant removal from treated wastewater effluents for reuse application. However, RO produces a concentrate stream which contains high concentrations of pathogens and contaminants that often requires treatment and volume reduction before disposal. Membrane distillation (MD) is a treatment process that can reduce RO concentrate volume while augmenting the potable water supply. MD is also a dual barrier approach for virus removal as it operates at a high temperature and permeates only the vapor phase through the membrane interface. The effects of temperature on viable virus concentration and membrane rejection of viruses in MD are investigated in this study using two nonenveloped phages frequently used as enteric virus surrogates (MS2 and PhiX174) and an enveloped pathogenic virus (HCoV-229E). At typical MD operating temperatures (greater than 65 °C), viable concentrations of all three viruses were reduced by thermal inactivation by more than 6-log10 for MS2 and PhiX174 and more than 3-log10 for HCoV-229E. Also, membrane rejection was greater than 6-log10 for MS2 and PhiX174 and greater than 2.5-log10 for HCoV-229E.
• Rabe, A., Presson, L., Felix, V., Hardikar, M., Hickenbottom, K., Achilli, A., & Ikner, L. A. (2021). Membrane distillation provides a dual barrier for coronavirus and bacteriophage removal. Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Miller-Robbie, L., Vanneste, J., Marr, J. M., Heeley, M. B., & Cath, T. Y. (2018). Comparative life-cycle assessment of a novel osmotic heat engine and an organic Rankine cycle for energy production from low-grade heat. JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION, 191, 490-501.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Miller-Robbie, L., Vanneste, J., Marr, J. M., Heeley, M. B., & Cath, T. Y. (2018). Comparative life-cycle assessment of a novel osmotic heat engine and an organic Rankine cycle for energy production from low-grade heat. Journal of Cleaner Production, 191(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.106
  More info

  A comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of an osmotic heat engine (OHE) and an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) for electrical energy generation from low-grade heat. The OHE is a novel membrane-based process that couples pressure retarded osmosis (an energy generating process) and membrane distillation (a working fluid regeneration process), whereas the ORC is an established power cycle. The LCA considered the material use for system construction and operation, and found that the environmental impacts for both the construction and operation stages of the OHE were higher than the ORC. The sensitivity analysis concluded that OHE environmental impacts could be reduced by 80% with future improvements to PRO membranes and membrane module performance. Additionally, with further improvements the OHE could be a viable energy production process that can increase energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions from coal and natural gas power plants by 20.5 and 11.9 million kg of CO2 per year, respectively.
• Kaviani, S., Kolahchyan, S., Hickenbottom, K. L., Lopez, A. M., & Nejati, S. (2018). Enhanced solubility of carbon dioxide for encapsulated ionic liquids in polymeric materials. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, 354, 753-757.
• Kaviani, S., Kolahchyan, S., Hickenbottom, K. L., Lopez, A. M., & Nejati, S. (2018). Enhanced solubility of carbon dioxide for encapsulated ionic liquids in polymeric materials. Chemical Engineering Journal, 354, 753-757.
• Vanneste, J., Bush, J. A., Hickenbottom, K. L., Marks, C. A., Jassby, D., Turchi, C. S., & Cath, T. Y. (2018). Novel thermal efficiency-based model for determination of thermal conductivity of membrane distillation membranes. JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, 548, 298-308.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Vanneste, J., Miller-Robbie, L., Deshmukh, A., Elimelech, M., Heeley, M. B., & Cath, T. Y. (2017). Techno-economic assessment of a closed-loop osmotic heat engine. JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, 535, 178-187.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Vanneste, J., Miller-Robbie, L., Deshmukh, A., Elimelech, M., Heeley, M. B., & Cath, T. Y. (2017). Techno-economic assessment of a closed-loop osmotic heat engine. Journal of Membrane Science, 535(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2017.04.034
  More info

  Osmotic power harnesses the energy of mixing between high salinity and low salinity streams to generate mechanical energy. The closed-loop osmotic heat engine (OHE) is a low-grade heat powered, membrane-based energy system that couples membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane process, with pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), an osmotically driven membrane process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of an OHE to generate electricity. Experimental data and previously established MD and PRO models were used to develop an OHE system model that calculates system efficiency (a ratio between the net energy output and thermal energy input), net power output, and electricity generation costs. Results show that the levelized cost of electricity generation by an OHE at the current state of the technology is 0.48 per kWh, which is not competitive with wholesale conventional U.S. grid electricity costs of 0.04/kWh [1], nor comparable to low-grade heat-powered Organic Rankine Cycle electricity generation costs (0.08–0.13/kWh). To investigate the robustness of the OHE model, a sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of select model inputs on electricity costs. Results indicate that improving PRO membrane power density has the highest potential benefit to reduce OHE electricity generation costs. Development of highly permeable and selective PRO membranes that are mechanically stable at increased hydraulic pressures is critical for maturation of PRO and OHE. Alternative working fluids capable of producing higher osmotic pressures and having lower reverse solute fluxes may aid in increasing OHE performance, but not substantially. Our analysis shows that substantial improvements to system operation and membrane performance could reduce electricity generation cost of large installations close to 0.10 per kWh.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Vanneste, J., & Cath, T. Y. (2016). Assessment of alternative draw solutions for optimized performance of a closed-loop osmotic heat engine. JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, 504, 162-175.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Vanneste, J., Elimelech, M., & Cath, T. Y. (2016). Assessing the current state of commercially available membranes and spacers for energy production with pressure retarded osmosis. DESALINATION, 389, 108-118.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., & Cath, T. Y. (2014). Sustainable operation of membrane distillation for enhancement of mineral recovery from hypersaline solutions. JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, 454, 426-435.
• Hickenbottom, K. L., Hancock, N. T., Hutchings, N. R., Appleton, E. W., Beaudry, E. G., Xu, P., & Cath, T. Y. (2013). Forward osmosis treatment of drilling mud and fracturing wastewater from oil and gas operations. DESALINATION, 312, 60-66.

Proceedings Publications

• Cath, T. Y., Hickenbottom, K. L., Coday, B. D., & Furtado, A. R. (2013). Forward osmosis and membrane distillation application for sustainable recovery of water and minerals from hypersaline brines. In AMTA/AWWA Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition 2013.
  More info

  In two recent studies, membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) were evaluated for their sustainable desalination and feed concentration of hypersaline brines. In the study we investigated and optimized the operation of MD and FO to sustainably concentrate hypersaline brine by sustaining high water flux, high salt rejection, and low scaling of the membranes. MD and FO experiments were performed with a feed stream of high salinity water from the Great Salt Lake (approximately 150,000 mg/L TDS). The systems were operated in a batch mode to closely monitor the performance of the membrane and flux decline as the feed solution became more concentrated. Both MD and FO were able to reject high percentage of inorganic salts and concentrate the feed solution to greater than twice its original concentration while recovering more than 50% of the initial feed volume. Membrane scaling mitigation techniques were developed and investigated to restore water flux to its original level and sustain desalination. Novel operating regimes were employed to prevent scale formation on the membrane surface, subsequently sustaining water flux and membrane integrity, and eliminating chemical consumption used in membrane cleaning. © 2013 American Water Works Association.
• Hickenbottom, K., Hutchings, N., Beaudry, E., Cath, T. Y., & Hancock, N. T. (2011, September/Fall). Reclamation and Reuse of Water from Oil and Gas Wells’ Drilling Muds and Fracturing Waste: A Novel Forward Osmosis Approach. In 26th Annual WateReuse Symposium.