A new solar desalination system takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight. The system flushes out accumulated salt, so replacement parts aren’t needed often, meaning the system could potentially produce drinking water that is cheaper than tap water.

MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids salt-clogging issues of other designs.

More details in their paper here

  • lnxtx@feddit.nlEnglish
    221·
    1 year ago

    The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.

    But can it be scaled up even more? Like cubic meters per hour?

    • sin_free_for_00_daysEnglish
      16·
      1 year ago

      I just keep waiting for them to actually produce the small suitcase sized product. It sounds like a excellent option for me, as opposed to the $4-5k desalinators that are the options now.

    • merde alors@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      42·
      1 year ago

      but why “if”?

      if they’re making this research, why wouldn’t they “scale up to the size of a small suitcase” and get rid of the “if”?

      • Genrawir@lemmy.worldEnglish
        15·
        1 year ago

        That’s just how research works most of the time. The experimental setup required to build a working prototype and prove the initial hypothesis is always going to be larger and more complex than a mass market appliance. If that appliance ever gets built depends on a huge number of factors too. If the process scales as expected, how complex the device is to produce and if a company thinks that it can make money on it. The researchers, meanwhile, are probably more worried about their next grant funding.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        We already have plenty of salt for that.

        Plus the places that are good for solar power don’t tend to need salt in the winter…

        • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Hmm, good points. Though if it is produced as a “waste” product, is there a chance it could be cheaper/greener than our current sources of salt?

          • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            4·
            1 year ago

            Maybe - but desalination comes up a lot and nobody seems to have identified an option yet.

            If you produce too much you’ll crash the price of salt. And it’s so cheap I suspect most of the cost is in processing and shipping. I’m finding costs for road rock salt in the US of $60-$150 per US ton.

            Putting it back in the ocean isn’t a bad idea per se. The problem is when it’s put back in one spot which increases salinity locally. If they distributed it into the ocean it would be fine. But the added cost makes the whole process more expensive and you can’t get a headline saying your new process is “cheaper then tap”.