© MIT
Researchers at MIT have looked into transforming seawater into drinking water, but without the constraints that are normally associated with it. The result ? Salt water that turns into drinking water using just a suitcase, a solar panel and a battery.
It’s the kind of invention that could change the lives of millions of people. These MIT researchers assumed that the machines used so far to desalinate water are too expensive and impractical. Their solution is as impressive as it is effective.
Drinking water at the touch of a button, or almost
It was last April that researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) showed their portable desalination unit, which does not use any filters or high-pressure pumps as is currently the case with this type of device. This new device uses electricity to remove particles from the water, which requires much less maintenance than other portable systems.
The device, no bigger than a briefcase, uses Ion Concentrating Polarization (ICP). This process was launched 10 years ago by Jongyoon Han and a team of researchers. An electric field is applied to the membranes below and above the water, which has the effect of repelling the particles that cross its path.
However, ICP alone is not enough to remove all of the salt particles in the water. To get rid of it permanently, researchers are also using electrodialysis, which uses direct current to move ions through membranes to remove the salt. A duo that works perfectly insofar as they have managed to transform seawater into drinking water.
A convincing demonstration
The researchers see many use cases for their invention, which could serve isolated people living on an island as well as soldiers on a mission, people working on cargo ships or refugees fleeing a natural disaster. In short, all situations where having a source of drinking water can be problematic.
To demonstrate their invention, the researchers went directly to the beach with the briefcase. The latter must be electrically powered, the installation also requires a solar panel and a battery. An installation that is both minimalist for what it can do and relatively easy to transport.
Once the installation is ready, one of the scientists throws the pump into the sea water and places the pipe intended to accommodate the drinking water above a glass. The process is not instantaneous: it took about 30 minutes for the machine to fill the equivalent of a third of the glass of water.
This is not the first time that researchers have used seawater to find innovative solutions. We remember for example this powerful and ecological battery based on sea water which could be used in electric vehicles. In another category, we recently presented to you the important advances of researchers at Deakin University around powdered hydrogen that could change everything.
MIT