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MIT Passive Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water, scales down to the size of a suitcase. (news.mit.edu)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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According to MIT, this technology works even at small scale, with one the size of a suitcase able to desalinate 6 litres per hour, and only needing to be serviced every few years.

Here's a video detailing how it works.

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[–] cynar 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Solar thermal power plants? I can definitely see large scale use of them. The salt is generally not the limiting factor building them, however.

It's often just easier to dump excess salt back into the sea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Dumping salt into the sea like that causes major problems in the local ecosystem.

[–] cynar 2 points 10 months ago

It depends where and how much. It would obviously need to be controlled, and spread out. You don't want to dump a lot of it into slow moving water, that's asking for problems. However, diluting it down, and dispersing it into stronger currents, over a large area should be fine (subject to proper environmental monitoring).

[–] GlendatheGayWitch 1 points 10 months ago

I was thinking instead of a nuclear plant for power, the salt could be used for the tower to power the desalination plants and prevent the salt from being dumped in the ocean, which can damage the ecosystem.