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posted by martyb on Saturday February 10 2018, @11:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the nobody-ever-heard-of-a-still? dept.

Researchers from the University of Alicante's research group in applied electrochemistry and electrocatalysis have developed a stand-alone system for desalinating and treating water through electrodialysis. The system is directly powered by solar energy and can be applied in off-grid areas.

Designed only for desalinating water, this is a sustainable, eco-friendly technology, as its energy is supplied by solar photovoltaic panels in a CO2-free process, thus not contributing to climate change.

According to research group director Vicente Montiel, "the new system requires no batteries and has none of the economic and environmental costs involved in managing empty batteries. Furthermore, it can be adapted and applied for treating water of many different origins, such as seawater, wells containing brackish water, treatment plants, industrial processes, etc., which makes it particularly well-suited to remote, off-grid areas." In this sense, this equipment can be employed to obtain clean water for human consumption, irrigation, street cleaning and others, both when there is no energy grid available and after natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods or fires.

Montiel also points out that "the technology we designed can be a potential solution to drought, just like osmosis plants."

The research group already has a pilot and demonstration plant able to generate a cubic metre of drinking water every day. They are looking for companies interested in the commercial exploitation of the technology through licence and/or technical cooperation agreements.

Science Daily


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday February 11 2018, @12:57AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 11 2018, @12:57AM (#636189) Journal

    So existing desalinization method but hooked a solar panel onto it for power.

    The most used desalination method on industrial scale is reverse osmosis.
    This seems to work based on photochemistry.

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  • (Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday February 11 2018, @01:07AM

    by frojack (1554) on Sunday February 11 2018, @01:07AM (#636195) Journal

    RO is something of a maintenance headache, and it doesn't take much to have it go wrong, get contaminated, etc.
    Its energy intensive, uses delicate membranes, requires hi-pressure pumps, etc.

    Any solution approximating a free-flow powered only by a small solar plant would be better.

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