Flash Atomisation of Saltwater Through Convergent-Divergent Nozzles: Implications for Marine Cloud Brightening—Thesis

[Geoengineering News]

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5142235

Authors

Chris Medcraft, Wayne A. Davis, Daniel P. Harrison

18 February 2025

Abstract

The potential feasibility of Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB) is currently limited by the efficiency and practicalities of technologies to generate the required flux of correctly sized aerosol particles. We find that spraying superheated salt water through convergent-divergent (de Laval) nozzles produced over one hundred times more particles per second than the effervescent technique currently used in proof-of-concept sea trials for MCB. The production rate from the de Laval nozzles appeared unaffected by the reduction of throat diameter despite a fourfold reduction in water and energy usage. The overall energy efficiency of a nozzle with a 0.5 mm diameter throat was shown to be twice that of the effervescent nozzle trialled for MCB on the Great Barrier Reef. These initial results are encouraging and imply significant further improvements in output can likely be obtained with this type of nozzle. The use of de Laval nozzles for MCB would provide for greatly simplified engineering plant, removing the requirement for a large volume of highly compressed air. 

Source: SSRN