Desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from saline water to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption and irrigation. This technology is particularly crucial in regions where fresh water is scarce, such as arid and semi-arid areas or islands. The two most common methods of desalination are thermal distillation and reverse osmosis. Thermal distillation involves heating saltwater until it evaporates, leaving the salts behind, and then condensing the vapor into fresh water. Reverse osmosis, on the other hand, uses a semi-permeable membrane to filter out salt and other impurities under high pressure. While desalination provides a critical solution to water scarcity, it is energy-intensive and can have environmental impacts, such as the discharge of brine (highly concentrated salt water) into oceans, which can harm marine ecosystems. Nonetheless, advancements in technology are continually improving the efficiency and reducing the costs and environmental footprint of desalination.
MIT researchers have uncovered that light can induce evaporation, not just heat, demonstrating this across various natural and synthetic water surfaces. This discovery could impact…
A newly identified process could explain a variety of natural phenomena and enable new approaches to desalination. Evaporation is happening all around us all the…
MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids the salt-clogging issues of other designs. Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to…
ISE technology offers sustainable solutions for clean water production, with researchers proposing strategies for practical applications. Interfacial solar evaporation (ISE) is a promising desalination technology…
Researchers have found that the accepted theory of reverse osmosis, based on concentration gradients, is incorrect. Instead, pressure changes within the membrane drive the process,…
Novel membranes can remove salt from water. A team led by King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) has shown how ultrathin polymer-based ordered…
The future of desalination: Using a Teflon-like membrane to purify water Water scarcity is a growing problem around the globe. In Africa alone, it is…
Researchers build a portable desalination unit that generates clear, clean drinking water without the need for filters or high-pressure pumps. MIT researchers have developed a…
Passive solar evaporation system could be used to clean wastewater, provide potable water, or sterilize medical tools in off-grid areas. An estimated two-thirds of humanity…
The desalter uses a cylinder and a solar collector. Ural Federal University (UrFU) power engineers have developed a new desalination technology. It will significantly reduce…
Adding absorbent nanoparticles to polymer membranes simplifies desalination. University of California, Berkeley, chemists have discovered a way to simplify the removal of toxic metals. like…
A new alternative seawater desalination membrane to produce drinking water. According to the World Health Organization, about 785 million people around the world lack a…
Crystallizing salts can grow “legs,” then tip over and fall away, potentially helping to prevent fouling of metal surfaces, researchers find. About a quarter of…
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles decorated by gold absorb about 96% of the solar spectrum and turn it into heat. The material can accelerate the evaporation in…
Scientists develop a low-cost, highly efficient technique that uses solar energy to remove salt from seawater, producing safe drinking water. Despite the vast amount of…
Fast, one-step assembly at room temperature yields high efficiency at low cost. Seawater makes up about 96% of all water on earth, making it a…
A desalination membrane acts as a filter for salty water: push the water through the membrane, get clean water suitable for agriculture, energy production and…
Producing clean water at a lower cost could be on the horizon after researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Penn State solved…