Posted on 01/14/2024 6:08:09 PM PST by SunkenCiv
IIRC, Israel desalinates commercially at $500/acre feet, which is considered cheap by most standards. Unless MIT beats that, it’s just fishing for government grants.
the two salt mines here are just huge desalination plants...
“The team envisions a scaled-up device could passively produce enough drinking water to meet the daily requirements of a small family.”
We’re gonna be rich!
I find that hard to believe, , the “Cheaper than tap water” part, other than possibly in places on or next to an ocean that has no fresh groundwater within say a hundred miles.
But I’m all for the continued development of desalinization systems. Eventually they might be able to make it economical to do in some places.
Be nice if someone other than Chinese could be developing technology at MIT.
the evaporative method is proven. Get the energy cost down and it becomes cost effective.
Yep. It’s a good thing our politicians are so committed to cheap and plentiful energy!
/s
On a serious note, desalinization is a winner. What they have done in Israel is amazing. We need to be careful though because the climate alarmists are increasingly looking at “water” as something they need to control.
A solar still that clogs less.
Singapore also uses it, much the same reason. Populous islands get that way in part because of water supply.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=singapore+desalination+%241+per+cubic+meter
Desalinization has been on Navy ships for years.... They used JP5 to give it a better taste 🤣🤣
If you are referring to a reverse osmosis unit, they are not affected by altitude. They are force fed by high pressure pumps.
I operated an industrial scale one at a hospital in the early 90’s. They were quite expensive, but they were very productive and efficient if properly maintained.
Another poster mentioned the Israelis purify water on a grand scale, I suspect their method is much more cost effective.
Regardless, trying to purify water via the evaporation by the sun is just a dumb as a solar panel, and most likely much less efficient than a solar panel.
:^)
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