Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Converting seawater into fresh water economically!

As population growth increases the demand on existing sources of fresh water, desalination of seawater is becoming increasingly economical. Reverse osmosis, which involves forcing seawater through a membrane that only allows water molecules through, is the most popular desalination technology in the U.S.

Improvements in the membrane material that make it less likely to clog and longer-lasting are increasing cost effectiveness.

The concentrated salt solution that remains behind is typically dumped back into the ocean.

Several new technologies are being explored.

Freeze separation involves freezing seawater to get ice crystals of pure water.

In vacuum distillation, saltwater is vaporized at low pressure, which requires less heat than distillation at atmospheric pressure.

In electro-deionization, seawater passes between two parallel membranes on the inside of oppositely charged plates. Because ions in the seawater are attracted to the plates, the sodium, the chloride and other ions are pulled out through the membranes, leaving pure water behind.

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