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In the Netherlands you can find a running experiment for power generation based on salt vs freshwater. It is using the osmotic pressure instead, but nevertheles
by memen 3y ago
In the Netherlands you can find a running experiment for power generation based on salt vs freshwater. It is using the osmotic pressure instead, but nevertheless, maybe interesting to know there is a pilot plant running and they acquired more subsidy to build a larger scale installation.
[0]: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/dutch-province-grants-e1-2-million-for-osmotic-power-pilot-scale-up/ https://www.offshore-energy.biz/dutch-province-grants-e1-2-m...
- fodkodrasz 3y agoisn't freshwater more valuable than to waste it this way?
- eigenspace 3y agoThe Netherlands has many rivers which run into the ocean. What do you suggest? That they bottle and store every drop if water that would otherwise flow into the ocean?
- fodkodrasz 3y agowell if you pump them away for running through this nano-fluidic device, where you mix them with saltwater to get electricity... you could just as well store them. Just build nuclear power plants to generate electricity if you need that. Those also don't only exist in simulations. This tech might have better utility if it can be ran in reverse as a deslinanator. (though there are also proven technologies for that already)
- eigenspace 3y agoStoring water is very different from placing a generator along where it flows. This osmotic pressure technology doesn't exist just in simulations, it’s already deployed in practice. You appear to be confused. I have no problem with nuclear energy but just bringing it up in a completely irrelevant context is obnoxious.
- fodkodrasz 3y agoGenerating electricity from salinity gradiens is very different from placing a generator along a waterflow
- thfuran 3y agoStore it for what and for that matter where? You're looking at making square kilometers of new reservoirs per day.
- fodkodrasz 3y agostore it in plants and groundwater by using it for irrigation for example. I see this technology a solution in need of a problem to solve. Using it for electricity production surely needs a lot of water treatment and pumping, a lot of energy investment, but not just submerging some magic membrane into the river deltas. It might have use in medical devices or some special niches, but not in the Netherlandish brackish waters.
- thfuran 3y agoStoring it in plants just increases the volume, since plants aren't pure water. Do you think transforming the environment into maximally dense foliage to store water is without energy cost or side effect? What's the point?
- mschuster91 3y ago> store it in plants and groundwater by using it for irrigation for example If there is one thing the Netherlands already has in abundance, it's greenhouses for agriculture.
- eigenspace 3y agoWow, what a good idea, please do get in contact with the government of the Netherlands and tell them about your genius idea to build canals and irrigation! Simply genius
- WJW 3y agoIn some places you'd be right. But this is a river that would otherwise just flow into the sea. The two biggest rivers in the Netherlands have an average discharge of ~750 thousand liters of water per second. We can spare a few M3/sec for generating electricity.
- fodkodrasz 3y agothen use that for cooling a nuclear power plant, which has meaningful power output. You cannot use this without water treatment and big pumping stations anyway.
- littlestymaar 3y agoYou can use sea water directly for the cooling though, no need for freshwater.