Egypt has developed an economical way to clean salt water in minutes
Bashny.Net
Finding a way to get clean drinking water for areas in need is a field of constant innovation. Desalination, the filtration of seawater, a process that aims to make it fit for human use, is perhaps the most common and researchers around the world are exploring ways to create cost-effective and portable desalination technology in rural areas where it is desperately needed.
Researchers at the University of Alexandria in Egypt have developed a promising, new method that can turn salt water into fresh water within minutes.
The new Egyptian method is based on the use of salt-retention membranes and heat for evaporation to convert dirty seawater into fresh water for human consumption and irrigation.
The researchers used membranes containing cellulose acetate powder, which is very inexpensive to produce in Egypt. The powder works in combination with other components, binding salt ions while they pass through the membrane. Essentially, it is a filter that is designed to trap salt and allow fresh water to pass through, when other types of similar filters trap only solid particles and microbes.
This is the first part of a two-phase process called pervaporation (evaporation of liquids, etc. through a semipermeable membrane to separate them). The second step involves heating the resulting water until it completely evaporates. Similar to distillation, the water vapor is then condensed to get rid of other small impurities, and then pure water is collected.
The researchers published their work last month in the journal Water Science and Technology, arguing that this method makes it possible to efficiently treat water that is contaminated with multiple contaminants – which is essentially a rather complex and time-consuming process for existing technologies.
This new method could help thousands of people gain easier access to clean water for consumption as well as irrigation, using an abundant resource like dirty seawater.
Materials from cheap locally produced products make this process more cost-effective for production and distribution. Another advantage is that this method does not require electricity. This technology keeps the cost low and allows this filtration method to be used almost anywhere, even in undeveloped rural areas. published
P.S. And remember, just changing our consumption – together we change the world!
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