Paper Title
Desalination Using Acrylic Acid Based Hydrogels

Abstract
The following report discusses acrylic acid-based hydrogel beads and their potential use for the process of desalination. The report explains the mechanism of the hydrogel beads and describes the advantages of using hydrogels compared to various other desalination processes such as multi-effect evaporator, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. The results included in this report are developed concentration profiles for tap water, concentration profiles at various temperatures from a range of 30 to 55℃, and concentration profiles at alkaline pH values. When placing the beads in solution, there is a higher increase in the concentration of tap water compared to sea water. At elevated temperatures, the beads have a higher absorption rate and show increased concentration readings. At a temperature range of 30 – 40℃, the hydrogels turn hydrophobic and release water and thus yield lower concentrations. The absorption rate of the hydrogel beads increases with alkaline pH values. However, acidic pH values again force the hydrogels to release water and thus can be used as a method to recover clean water stored inside the bead. Four other methods to recover water are also explained. These include, copper sulfate draw solution, drying (evaporation and condensation), ethanol draw solution and sunlight tubes. The report concludes with a summary of all experimental lab-scale results conducted in the lab to investigate desalination using acrylic acid-based hydrogel beads.