Desalination & Water Purification

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Yuli Ban
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Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:44 pm

Desalination & Water Purification

Post by Yuli Ban »

Korean researchers have made a membrane that can turn saltwater into freshwater in minutes
The membrane rejected 99.99% of salt over the course of one month of use, providing a promising glimpse of a new tool for mitigating the drinking water crisis
Freshwater has become an increasingly precious resource. A major 2018 report warned that a quarter of the world’s population lives in areas that are under water stress. The climate crisis is worsening the situation by causing places that rely on snowpack for water to runoff earlier, an impact on display in California right now.

The new research published in the Journal for Membrane Science chronicles a unique way to desalinate water. The team designed a nanofiber membrane (a very good screen of extremely small things) which they say could turn seawater into drinking water in minutes.
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caltrek
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Re: Desalination & Water Purification

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Briefcase-Sized Device Turns Seawater into Drinking Water
by Jack Dunhill
May 4, 2022

https://www.iflscience.com/technology/b ... ing-water/

Extract:
(IFL Science)…research into desalination devices is at an all-time high, with the knowledge that a portable, cheap device could change the world – except, doing so is extremely difficult. Desalination requires energy, often large surface areas, and the waste product (brine) is a salty slurry that can cause damage to ocean ecosystems.

Now, researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts, have created a desalination device the size of a briefcase capable of creating clean drinking water from salty or brackish water, breaking through one of the largest barriers preventing desalination from reaching those that need it most.

The device is outlined in a paper published in Sustainable Systems. (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.es ... 66?ref=pdf)

Portable desalination devices would be the ideal solution to provide access to fresh water in extremely rural areas or those that are hit by natural disasters. However, current solutions rely on high-pressure pumps that are not suited to such scenarios.

To create a deployable and portable solution, the researchers looked to electrodialysis, a process where charged membranes separate ions from water, that has shown promise in desalination. Alongside the proven results, electrodialysis has seen energy efficiency improvements over the past years, making it a more viable option for a portable desalination device.
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weatheriscool
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Re: Desalination & Water Purification

Post by weatheriscool »

Researchers develop ultrahigh-water-flux membranes for seawater desalination
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-ult ... ation.html
by Li Yuan, Chinese Academy of Sciences
The supply–demand imbalance of clean water has resulted in a global sustainability crisis. The United Nations World Water Developments Report 2023 reveals that 2–3 billion people are suffering from a shortage of water.

Seawater desalination via membrane separation offers a promising approach to this crisis. However, most membranes are restricted by low water flux because the membrane quality is challenged by harsh conditions and/or complex processes in preparation, leading to low water productivity and low energy efficiency. Thus, it is essential to develop desalination membranes with a high flux.

A research group led by Prof. Zeng Gaofeng at Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Shi Guosheng at Shanghai University, has developed graphdiyne composite membranes that achieve nearly complete salt rejection and ultrahigh water flux in seawater desalination. Their results were published in Nature Water on Sept. 4.
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