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Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50%
- jacknews 7y agoI believe this could be building on a previous project from 2012: https://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html https://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.h... They state 24% effiency there, so the new result implies 36% overall efficiency? I find articles which only state '50% improvement' without stating the end result, frustrating.
- sebazzz 7y agoTypical journalism. Percentages are always abused.
- agumonkey 7y agoI completely understand, but still, a 50% increase is enough to be state as is. Usually tech progresses by much less.
- jacknews 7y agoI agree a large advance is still newsworthy, but it's just laziness not to go on to say what that means, ag "giving a really rather good 36% overall" or "despite the still-low overall officiency, scientists are optimistic about future progress" etc. Then again how are they even measuring efficiency, is there a theoretical minimum energy required to remove the salt from water?
- mrguyorama 7y agoWould an average reader have a good concept of what "36% efficient overall" would mean here?
- skybrian 7y agoMore examples: https://mobile.twitter.com/justsaysrisks https://mobile.twitter.com/justsaysrisks
- cconcepts 7y agoIt surprises me that we haven't worked out a more efficient solar distillation process for desalination. Reverse Osmosis seems so energy intensive at a fundamental level when you consider that the sun naturally distils and desalinates water all day long. The process described in this article ("Membrane Distillation") seems like a hybridisation of the two techniques and the researchers have found a way to improve efficiency by concentrating heat using lenses. Why can't this concentration of heat be used in straightforward distillation and why does distillation always seem to come in second best in terms of efficiency compared to the use of membranes? Is it because of the large surface area required?
- baybal2 7y agoNot enough power. The absolute maximum you can get from sun is around 1-1.1kw per square metre. Thermal desalination plants on other hand, are often as powerful as powerplants.
- ben_w 7y agoThe main problem with distillation is it requires a phase change, which is extremely energy intensive especially in case of water.
- 7j 7y agoThat energy can be recuperated.
- mikekchar 7y agoIt's true that you could build a condenser and pump the steam through the next batch of water, but I doubt you will ever get anywhere near the efficiency you need to make it reasonable. I'd be incredibly happy to see any links that would prove me wrong, though!
- alan-crowe 7y agoThe process is called Multiple Effects Distillation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-effect_distillation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-effect_distillation It is a commercially successful process. For example Hitachi have build 8 plants delivering a total of 8,600m3/day https://www.hitachizosen.co.jp/english/products/products011.html https://www.hitachizosen.co.jp/english/products/products011....
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- HeavenBanned 7y agoTake that, overpriced desalination system in Sim City 3000!
- Tade0 7y agoFor example, LANP is developing a copper-based nanoparticle for converting ammonia into hydrogen fuel at ambient pressure. This is interesting as well. Ammonia is much easier to handle than hydrogen and the infrastructure is already there. On top of that liquid ammonia by volume contains more hydrogen than liquid hydrogen.
- agumonkey 7y agoMay I digress a little. Anyone familiar with micro and nano filtration ? I wonder if there's progress there (cost, technique)