551
submitted 1 year ago by Gsus4@feddit.nl to c/technology@lemmy.world

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

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Faresh@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

The massic heat capacity of water is 4184 J⋅kg⁻¹⋅K⁻¹. To heat one 1 Liter (1 kg) of water from 30ºC to 100ºC it would take 4184×(100-30) = 2.929e5 J. We want 4 liters however, so we multiply that by 4 and get 2.929e5 J × 4 = 1,172e6 J To then turn that heated water into vapor it would require some more energy. The vaporization enthalpy of water is 4,066e4 J⋅mol⁻¹, and has a molar density of 1,80153e-2 kg⋅mol⁻¹(so 4 liters (4 kg) of water in moles would be 4 / 1,80153e-2 = 2,22033e2 mol), which means that to vaporize the four liters of water we would need 2,22033e2 × 4,066e4 = 9,028e6 J (I think I might have made a mistake here somewhere, because I don't think it would only need 8 times more energy to completely vaporize the water, compared to the amount of energy required to heat it, but I can't find the problem). So the total energy to heat and vaporize 30 ºC water would be 9,028e6 + 1,172e6 = 1.020e7 J

Let's take a 55x40x23 cm suitcase. And let's assume a solar irradiance of 1000 W⋅m⁻² (which is what this site says is a normal solar irradiance to be expected on a clear day on the equator). Let's assume three faces are exposed to the sun and all equally so (three faces receive 1000 W⋅m⁻² while the other three receive none, which would not happen since on a rectangular cuboid, like a suitcase, you can't have all three faces facing directly towards the sun). The box would be receiving (0.55×0.40+0.40×0.23+0.55×0.23)×1000 = 438.5 W, which means that over one hour (3600 s), it would receive 438.5×(3600) = 1,5786e6 J, which is less than the required 1.020e7 J (by almost an order of magnitude), so it wouldn't be possible to heat and vaporize 4 liters of water in an hour.

What am I missing?

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
551 points (97.3% liked)

Technology

59598 readers
2364 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS