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Turning saltwater into fresh drinking water using solar energy
Although 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, only 3 % of it is fresh and only 0.4% can actually be accessible. There is indeed a water shortage on our planet, but there is new hope. Earlier this year, a team of engineers in Italy, by using solar energy more efficiently, have successfully improved the current desalination technology with the potential to help alleviate the water shortage problem for millions of people around the globe.
Inspired by plants and especially those that survive in the marine environments, the researchers from the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Torino have designed a new prototype to desalinate seawater in a low-cost and sustainable way. A floating device was designed to collect seawater using a low-cost porous material. The collected seawater is then heated up by the sun, which sustains the separation of salt from the evaporating water. The developed technology is in fact able to double the amount of water produced at given solar energy.
While conventional desalination technologies need costly mechanical or electrical components (such as pumps and/or control systems) and require specialised technicians for installation and maintenance, the desalination approach proposed by the team at Politecnico di Torino is based on spontaneous processes occurring without the aid of ancillary machinery. Hence, this new desalination technology can be applied in the aftermath of floods, tsunamis and typhoons, or to benefit communities in isolated coastal regions with little access to drinking water but an abundance of solar energy.
References:
http://www.denerg.polito.it/en/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190107131242.htm
https://worldwaterreserve.com/water-crisis/percentage-of-drinkable-water-on-earth/
Inspired by plants and especially those that survive in the marine environments, the researchers from the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Torino have designed a new prototype to desalinate seawater in a low-cost and sustainable way. A floating device was designed to collect seawater using a low-cost porous material. The collected seawater is then heated up by the sun, which sustains the separation of salt from the evaporating water. The developed technology is in fact able to double the amount of water produced at given solar energy.
While conventional desalination technologies need costly mechanical or electrical components (such as pumps and/or control systems) and require specialised technicians for installation and maintenance, the desalination approach proposed by the team at Politecnico di Torino is based on spontaneous processes occurring without the aid of ancillary machinery. Hence, this new desalination technology can be applied in the aftermath of floods, tsunamis and typhoons, or to benefit communities in isolated coastal regions with little access to drinking water but an abundance of solar energy.
References:
http://www.denerg.polito.it/en/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190107131242.htm
https://worldwaterreserve.com/water-crisis/percentage-of-drinkable-water-on-earth/
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