Removing Salt from Water Using Solar Power

As time passes, solar powered energy is becoming a far more affordable and flexible power source. One area where it really is used with little fanfare is desalination of water.

Removing Salt from Water Using Solar Power

It is quite ironic that most our world is covered in water, but thousands of people come in areas experiencing water shortages. The type of the irony is clear almost immediately. The oceans of the planet contain salt water, a mix we just can't drink.

For the longest time, there's been discussion about converting saltwater into usable, drinkable water. This technique is recognized as desalination. If the procedure may be used on a big scale in an inexpensive manner, it'll resolve lots of the water issues nowadays if they exist in third or first world countries.

Desalination is really a term useful for removing salt and minerals from ocean water. The name suggests one methodology, but there are many. Reverse osmosis happens to be typically the most popular and is actually a filtration process. It really is popular in countries that now have desalination plants such as for example those within the Mideast and Caribbean. The procedure can be gaining more fascination with China and america where certain regions are suffering habitual water shortages.

One of the problems that arise with desalination may be the energy cost. Most plants are powered by fossil fuels, although Russia happens to be studying a plant elope nuclear energy. With global warming and energy price concerns on the forefront, most are now seeking to renewable energy platforms being an power source for these plants. Solar technology is among the options.

Solar desalination plants usually do not work in the manner it might seem. Solar energy isn't used to supply capacity to the desalination process, though it probably could possibly be. Instead, the energy of sunlight is built in to the system. The theory would be to heat saltwater and transform it right into a vapor. The vapor is then tell you a condenser system that turns it back to liquid water.

Solar desalination systems work differently, however the idea would be to separate the water from salt utilizing the natural system one finds in the oceans. As you almost certainly know, water evaporates from the ocean to create clouds in the atmosphere. Once the proper conditions occur, these clouds subsequently become rain clouds and release the saltless water. Solar desalination tries to mimic the procedure.

The double concern of rising energy prices and global warming are stimulating research in the renewable energy field. Solar desalination represents just one single area where this research is producing tangible benefits.