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this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Where's the cheaper part?
It's just a giant plastic bag. They catch the runoff with a giant cup.
As soon as I saw the words “powered by the sun” in the synopsis, I knew what this was. I learned this during survival training, it’s a great way to turn piss (or any other undrinkable water) into clean water. And yeah, all you need is some plastic and a cup. Let the water evaporate (power of the sun) and collect the droplets in something. Had no idea that needed a science paper.
Here’s the problem with desalination, tho: what do you do with the leftover super-brine? It’s pretty gnar stuff, like almost poison. Wide-scale desalination would produce tons of it every day. Most solutions i’ve heard are like “just dump it back in the ocean!” Which, yeah, how could that ever go wrong?
Did you read the article? You reject the slightly saltier water.
Also, this would be distilled water? Or do they have some process to add the necessary minerals afterwards? I didn't see anything about that. Because drinking distilled water isn't exactly good for you.
On a commerical scale the super brine may be economical to harvest the lithium. I know systems were getting close to being able to economically extract lithium from sea water. A more concentrated solution should make it easier.
Exactly, imagine how much water can you gather in a hot climate that doesn't evaporate untilyou get it or grow algae/fungi/protozoa/things that aren good for you.