this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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153
Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water (news.mit.edu)
submitted 11 months ago by el_brujo_especial@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids salt-clogging issues of other designs.

More details in their paper here

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[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

We already have plenty of salt for that.

Plus the places that are good for solar power don't tend to need salt in the winter...

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hmm, good points. Though if it is produced as a "waste" product, is there a chance it could be cheaper/greener than our current sources of salt?

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Maybe - but desalination comes up a lot and nobody seems to have identified an option yet.

If you produce too much you'll crash the price of salt. And it's so cheap I suspect most of the cost is in processing and shipping. I'm finding costs for road rock salt in the US of $60-$150 per US ton.

Putting it back in the ocean isn't a bad idea per se. The problem is when it's put back in one spot which increases salinity locally. If they distributed it into the ocean it would be fine. But the added cost makes the whole process more expensive and you can't get a headline saying your new process is "cheaper then tap".