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How would desalination cost water? You vaporize water, catch and cool it back to water, and there you go. The cost here is energy, which varies greatly dependin

How would desalination cost water? You vaporize water, catch and cool it back to water, and there you go. The cost here is energy, which varies greatly depending on the sun.

nxzero 11y ago
Unclear how much you know about the topic, but there are a number of ways to desalinate salt water, including just mixing non-toxic saltwater with drinkable freshwater; that said, it requires 31 liters of freshwater to make one liter of saltwater drinkable. Normal saltwater has a salt concentration of 3.5% and to be drinkable that must be reduced to 1000 ppm (parts per million); which is to say, say for 100 liters of saltwater, you'll lose at least 3.5 liters just to reclaim the freshwater itself. Beyond that it'll depend on the system how much additional volume is lost in the desalination process; quick Google finds some systems that lose 20% of the volume per unit processed. Lastly, your reference to energy consumption brings up an example of additional sources of water lose. Water used to cool systems, water used to clean systems, leaks/waste, etc.
- nxzero 11y ago
  Not that I post for rep, or for that matter care about downvotes, but if you're expressing that the above comment was not of use, on-topic, opinionated, bad tone, etc. - it's not clear why. Please comment so that I might be able to address your concerns. Cheers!
- arviewer 11y ago
  When you need 31 galles of freshwater to make 1 gallon salt water drinkable, you have 32 gallons of drinkable water. Those 32 gallons are not wasted. When you make one jeans or a t-shirt, you may need many more gallons. You cannot drink that water afterwards, so that totally different.
  - nxzero 11y ago
    Reference to using freshwater for desalination has nothing to due with waste, but to make the point that boiling saltwater is only one of many ways to desalinate saltwater.

How would desalination cost water? You vaporize water, catch and cool it back to water, and there you go. The cost here is energy, which varies greatly depending on the sun.

nxzero 11y ago

Unclear how much you know about the topic, but there are a number of ways to desalinate salt water, including just mixing non-toxic saltwater with drinkable freshwater; that said, it requires 31 liters of freshwater to make one liter of saltwater drinkable. Normal saltwater has a salt concentration of 3.5% and to be drinkable that must be reduced to 1000 ppm (parts per million); which is to say, say for 100 liters of saltwater, you'll lose at least 3.5 liters just to reclaim the freshwater itself. Beyond that it'll depend on the system how much additional volume is lost in the desalination process; quick Google finds some systems that lose 20% of the volume per unit processed. Lastly, your reference to energy consumption brings up an example of additional sources of water lose. Water used to cool systems, water used to clean systems, leaks/waste, etc.

nxzero 11y ago
Not that I post for rep, or for that matter care about downvotes, but if you're expressing that the above comment was not of use, on-topic, opinionated, bad tone, etc. - it's not clear why. Please comment so that I might be able to address your concerns. Cheers!
arviewer 11y ago
When you need 31 galles of freshwater to make 1 gallon salt water drinkable, you have 32 gallons of drinkable water. Those 32 gallons are not wasted. When you make one jeans or a t-shirt, you may need many more gallons. You cannot drink that water afterwards, so that totally different.
- nxzero 11y ago
  Reference to using freshwater for desalination has nothing to due with waste, but to make the point that boiling saltwater is only one of many ways to desalinate saltwater.