Adsorption desalination: Advances in porous adsorbents

With the continuous growth of the world population, the demand for fresh water is ever increasing. Water desalination is a means of producing fresh water from saline water, and one of the proposed solutions in the scientific community for solving the current global freshwater shortage. Adsorption is foreseen as a promising technology for desalination due to its relatively low energy requirements, low environmental impact, low cost and high salt removal efficiency. More importantly, chemicals are not required in adsorption processes. Active carbons, zeolites, carbon nanostructures, graphene and coordination framework materials are amongst the most investigated adsorbents for adsorption desalination, which show different performances regarding adsorption rate, adsorption capacity, stability and recyclability. In this review, the latest adsorbent materials with their features are assessed (using metrics) and commented critically, and the current trend for their development is discussed. The adsorption mode is also reviewed, which can provide guidance for the design of adsorbents from the engineering application point of view.