The interest in surface treatments promoting dropwise condensation has grown exponentially in the past decades. Savings in the operating and maintenance costs of steam processes involving phase changes are promised. Numerous surface preparation methods allow the formation of droplets during condensation. However, stable dropwise condensation has been hardly realized in industrial applications. This review aims to highlight the surface preparation techniques that promote dropwise condensation. It emphasizes on their durability and the resulting stability of dropwise condensation. Furthermore, the possibilities of implementation at an industrial level are discussed, apart from evaluating the economic feasibility through a case study. Despite years of research and numerous surface design possibilities, dropwise condensation cannot be maintained: coating deterioration and fluctuating process conditions commonly lead to surface flooding within hours or weeks. A more profound understanding of the mechanisms of dropwise condensation and innovative design concepts for self-renewing heat transfer surfaces may diminish encountered challenges.

The recently reported Al-based metal–organic framework MIL-53(Al)-TDC (TDC = 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylate) shows desirable water sorption properties towards adsorption-driven heat transformation applications with high thermal and solvent/pH stability as well as hydrothermal stability over 40 cycles. Water vapor sorption measurements at 25, 40 and 60 °C yielded an advantageous isosteric heat of adsorption of only 2.6 kJ g⁻¹, favoring the use of MIL-53(Al)-TDC in sorption based chilling where the released heat of adsorption corresponds to waste heat. The good cooling performance of MIL-53(Al)-TDC comes from desirable low desorption temperatures below 65 °C, with also desirable high condenser temperatures of around 40 °C and corresponding water exchange of almost 0.35 g g⁻¹. The thereby offered working window cannot be provided by common adsorbents and renders the material an ideal candidate for adsorption cooling applications.