A new solar desalination system takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight. The system flushes out accumulated salt, so replacement parts aren’t needed often, meaning the system could potentially produce drinking water that is cheaper than tap water.

Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.

In a paper appearing today in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.

The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.

https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(23)00360-4

  • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1914·
    1 year ago

    “Could”. What kind of fucking title is this?

    Either it does or it doesn’t.

    • key@lemmy.keychat.orgEnglish
      242·
      1 year ago

      It’s a good title. They don’t know if it will be cheaper or not until they go and actually scale it up. Based on the prototype their projections say it should but it’s very likely they would run into issues that drive up the cost.

    • LesserAbe@lemmy.worldEnglish
      121·
      1 year ago

      They do say in the article that they haven’t scaled it up yet. If a large version works same as the small version it would do it. Hence “could”.