Mexico: Exciting Geothermal Research Projects from UNAM

I met Miguel Ángel Benítez Torreblanca, an Instrumentation Engineer – Graduate student at the Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) at the GRC Annual Meeting in Reno.

He thanked the GRC for running a short article on a Geothermal Desalination Unit that his research group was developing at the iiDEA (Instituto de Ingenierfa, Desalacion y Energfas Alternas) at UNAM in the May/June GRC Bulletin.

Miguel has followed up with some more information on the very interesting work his group are doing in geothermal energy. There is some exciting research happening in Mexico! Thanks Miguel!

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iiDEA (Instituto de Ingenierfa, Desalacion y Energfas Alternas) is an applied research group developing new technologies to satisfy three basic human needs: desalination of seawater, conservation of food through dehydration, and power generation.

Flash Evaporation Binary Cycle: iiDEA is currently working on a low-power generation cycle which may be used with waste heat, or low-enthalpy geothermal energy, this cycle is named Flash Evaporation Binary Cycle (FEBC) after one of its principles of operation.

Modular Geothermal Desalination Unit: While conventional desalination units use waste heat, needing up to 120 degrees C, the Modular Geothermal Desalination Unit (MGDU) uses low-temperature geothermal fluid, with temperatures as low as 90 degrees C, optimizing the exploitation of its thermal energy and showing good water recovery rates.

Geothermal Food Dehydrator: iiDEA has developed the Geothermal Food Dehydrator (GFD) to provide improved dehydrated products using low-enthalpy geothermal energy, reducing costs associated with packing, transportation and storage, guaranteeing a high-quality conserved food that may supply and meet population demand.

More information (in Spanish) on the El grupo iiDEA Website........

An online presentation of the group's research........

A White Paper summary of the iiDEA Research Projects........