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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 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/technology@slrpnk.net
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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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[–] 1 point 2 years 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.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

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

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years 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).

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