MIT team invents efficient shockwave-based process for desalination of water

Flow rates are very, very low. Note the reference to the fluid source being a "Harvard Apparatus Syringe Pump".[3] That's just a motorized device for very slowly pressing the plunger on a syringe, for very low flow rates. If they're using that after five years of work, the process is still limited to very low flow rates.

This is not necessarily a killer limitation. Reverse osmosis started that way, but has been scaled up to industrial scale. But the technology is not here yet.

[1] http://www.google.com/patents/US8801910 [2] http://web.mit.edu/bazant/www/papers/pdf/Schlumberger_2015_s... [3] https://www.harvardapparatus.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/h...

Initially at least, this process would not be competitive with methods such as reverse osmosis for large-scale seawater desalination. But it could find other uses in the cleanup of contaminated water, Schlumpberger says.

But it could help to make portable desalination modules:

Unlike some other approaches to desalination, he adds, this one requires little infrastructure, so it might be useful for portable systems for use in remote locations, or for emergencies where water supplies are disrupted by storms or earthquakes.

The rate and impact of discoveries vary by school, yet it seems like half the discoveries I read about come from MIT, and often via links directly to MIT press releases (i.e., not to coverage in the news). MIT is a great school, but they can't be that great.

That is quite the energy range...