Scientists have discovered a way to desalinate water using only solar energy. This could be a major breakthrough in desalination techniques.
At the moment ti is very expensive to desalinate water. The desalination occurs in desalination plants, of which there are 18,000 in 150 countries . The plants boil the water, water vapour is being captured and condensed to produce distilled water. A huge amount of energy is needed to boil the water, half of the plant's cost comes from the energy requirements.
The new reaserch was led by the Center for Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) at Rice University in Texas and the new method is called Direct solar desalination. It is a game changer for the 1 billion people who lack access to clean drinking water.
This is an off grid technology which could provid sufficient clean water for family use in a compact footprint, and it can be scaled up to provide water for large communities.
The technique involves something called membrane distillation combined with engineered nanoparticles, which can convert sunlight into the heat. Adding these to the membrane makes it heats up by itself, so vast amounts of energy are not needed to turn the water hot. The technology is called nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation .
To prove that the concept works, the team used an NESMD chamber measuring the size of three postage stamps, and a few millimeters thick. They managed to get a water production rate of about 6 liters per meter squared per hour from their set-up.
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Source: http://www.newtcenter.org/
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/scientists-have-used-solar-energy-to-turn-salt-water-into-fresh-water/
Ah, now this founds interesting !
Desalination is one of the techs that seem poised to become a practical solution in the near future.
It's always interesting to read about new ways they are making it better :)
Our natural bodies of water are being poluted by our own actions, if we keep it up this way. Desalination might be our only way to go.
I hope we figure out some new ways to depolluting those water bodies too.
Some people are already working on depollution techniques, so let's hope they can come up with some efficient techniques
I couldn't agree more !
We need to used sustainable and renewable energy sources more and more!
Thanks for checking out the post !
No problemo :)
I simply adore reading up on new tech, especially the kind that can help mankind to live on this planet without burning it all to the ground XD
desalination is another example of suppressed technology. just like free energy and natural cures for diseases, the governments of the world have prevented such humanitarian technologies from succeeding for many many years. my hope is that as blockchain dismantles their power structure, techs like desalination will be allowed to succeed once and for all.
Agreed, I believe that the technologies are not being suppressed by the governments. It seems like it is being done by big companies and some private figures in power.
these groups and individuals have had near absolute control over the most powerful governments for an extremely long time. there are more powerful elites than the rothschilds for example, yet look at how long their family has been in power and the evidence we have against them. keep an eye on the alt news regarding the US political situation to understand how they exert such control over key politicians.
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thanks.
Done ! Thanks for reading ! :)