Posted on 11/10/2006 11:58:15 AM PST by ckilmer
This is a Big Deal.
Cool!, but what about poison?......
Thinking through this a bit.... They might be able to save more energy using bigger pores and a multistage approach. Moreover, I suspect that the "leavings" from this process are also commercially attractive, in terms of mineral extraction.
What happens to the salts and other so called impurities that are a by product of this process. Does anyone know?
can we sell it to the arabs for $70 barrel? lol
Sounds like this would be more energy efficient means of desalinization.
Yes. What's happening in materials research is the same as what happened in bio tech in the 90's and computers in the 80's. There's a revolution happening now.
One consequence will be that the cost of solar panels (photo voltaics) and semi permiable membranes will collapse at speeds that approach those of semi conductors.
The consequence of this will be that in under 10 years the cost of water desalination and transport will be 1/10th of today's costs --thereby making it economically feasible to turn the deserts of the world green and double the size of the habitable planet.
There are political consequences to this change in technologies.
Flushed away back into the water source. They are not particularly concentrated in the process.
Not all of them necessarily good. Just think of the power inherent in owning the land over which the water pipeline travels to provide water to a land-locked country...
I have had several "conventional" watermakers on boats over the last 15 years. The salt water is pumped up to about 800 psi run over a membrane filter and about 90% is washed over the membrane and dumped overboard as extra salty brine. The membrane is basically self cleaning. The pressure is recovered in the cycle to aid in efficiency. My current boat has a capacity to generate about 6.g GPH at 12 volts @ 8 amps.
(100 watts)
Don't you know how much better off we would all be if every human were gone? And here we are destroying the natural balance created by nature (a non-living thing that should be worshipped as if it were God.)
[/SARCASM]
This is great news for Florida. Tampa is building a huge desalination plant. I hope this membrane can be adapted to the Tampa plant. Then other Florida cities might tap the vast oceans for fresh water.
Interesting.
Penguins have a tiny little gland in their head that does precisely this. They drink seawater, and it converts it into fresh water.
Likewise, there are seaside iguanas who do the same thing. They ingest seawater and they have a gland that strains out the freshwater from it. They squirt the brine out through pores on their backs.
Looks like we've figured out tech to do the same sort of thing.
What is the cost per watt now? It was about $5 25 years ago.
They get concentrated in the water that doesn't pass through the membrane, and become a "waste stream" that is returned to the environment. For sea-water desalination, they are simply pumped back into the ocean.
Interesting.
Of course, this technology will lead to lower sea levels and an environmental catastrophe. Oops, sea levels are set to rise to dangerous levels due to global warming. So the answer is more humans consuming more water from salt water to keep the sea level under control. Gotcha. Works for me.
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