A new method for extracting fresh-water from saltwater uses sunlight and nanotechnology to stay off the grid.
The method is a new take on membrane distillation, a process that desalinates saltwater by heating the saline, which flows along one side of a membrane. Along the other side of the membrane, cool freshwater runs in the opposite direction. The temperature differential drives water vapor from the saline across the membrane, where it condenses into freshwater.
Because it requires a large amount of heating, membrane distillation is pricey. According to researchers at Rice Univ., the 18,000 water desalination plants operating today use a combined 75 terrawatt-hours annually, which represents 0.4% of the world’s electric power consumption. Energy costs make up 50% of desalination plants’ operating costs, so cutting energy usage would make desalination significantly cheaper.
Developed by a team at Rice, the new desalination system uses less energy by isolating the heat that drives the process to one portion of the membrane. That way, less energy is wasted heating the entire saline stream and less energy is lost to a decreasing temperature gradient across the membrane. The system also uses solar energy, so it can operate off...
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