Drinkable water extracted with solar-powered desalination system | Hacker News Reader

Drinkable water extracted with solar-powered desalination system

eandt.theiet.org

34 pointsGys11 comments

I looked into this space. The major problem with the evaporative approach is that takes way too much energy. Reverse osmosis is ~50x more efficient. The best way to get fresh water is to use solar panels to generate electricity and use it for reverse osmosis.

- 540kcal/liter Evaporate

- ~10kcal/liter RO

I was initially afraid this was going to be a solar self-filling water bottle KS. [0]

So, it's basically a porous mirror of the tried-and-true emergency solar water collector design. It seems legitimately legit.

I wonder if an extremely dark material (nanotube appliqué[1]) on a porous material would be able to process water faster?

The trillion dollar question is: How much material do you need to generate enough fresh water for an average human? And, can it be made more durable than a diaper?

0. https://youtu.be/aPvXnmBIO7o

1. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b08290

The slightly smaller (billion dollar) question is fresh water to live, or, fresh water to wash cars/water gardens/et al? In my state the average resident uses ~120 gallons a day which I believe is far too much.

Were there plenty of water would you think the same? Is proscribing asceticism and passing judgement morally superior to engineering abundance?

Looking at nature, excess/waste often leads to deterioration of a system, or atleast ups the probability of deterioration. In that sense, efficient systems are more sustainable, and nature rewards naturally selects that which sustains. Thats my moral opinion on efficiency vs abundance.

Live. Like survival desert island-style.

I think it refers to this research: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0047390

There is so much energy we receive from the sun that is untapped - I wonder what will be the scientific breakthrough that will allow us to harness it fully? Solar panels aren't there yet, as they are inefficient and require a battery, making the whole setup costly and unviable in the long term.

In this case the battery is not necessary. You don't need to store electricity to create water during off-peak hours, you just need to store excess water created during peak hours.

Also the article is not about solar panels, but a novel solar thermal distillation device.

In case it wasn't clear, I wasn't commenting about the desalination process, but about harnessing the potential solar power in general. In this context, I feel solar panels that generate electricity still have a long way to go to be affordable and efficient.

Sounds like it would have a application in wilderness survival kits if they can find a way to do without the quartz top of the box.

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