Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.
In a paper appearing today in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.
The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.
We have destination where I live but the problem is this: the water often smells like fish. And it’s very hard because they use so many chemicals.
I don’t think desalination is the solution.
Solution to what?
Literally all rainwater comes from solar-powered evaporative desalination. There is nothing better than that, whatever the use.
This is not a chemical desalination. It’s a classic solar distiller. The output is distilled water. You actually want to cut it with a bit of seawater, because drinking distilled water pulls salts and minerals out of you, and then you die.
I mean you die if you only drink distilled water and never consume anything else, but the same is still true of mineral water
I was unclear - that’s exactly what I meant. I was thinking of a suitcase-sized still being used in an emergency or survival scenario, for a time anything other than “very short term.”
Around half of Israel’s drinking water is desalinated, and I’ve never encountered what you describe.
Not from Israel but our entire water system is desalinated and I’ve never experienced any issue with the taste, in fact the opposite is true. Pure clean drinking water.
I will agree with the hardness aspect but other than that it’s perfectly good, i’ve tasted worse bottled mineral water.
Producing clean water is a multi-faceted problem, your locale may require a different or multiple different solutions.
Multiple solutions are often nice cause you don’t have to rely on a single solution if one goes down or has issues.