Water desalinization curosity

Gauntlet · Sep 30, 2017

I've always wondered about the planets fresh water source, and "shortages". This round is spurred by recent events in PR.

I've seen claims for as long as I can remember that desalinization is cost prohibitive. I find that hard to believe. I'm not saying it's not true, lol, I just don't believe it.

First off, where does water go? It evaporates, comes back as rain. What we ingest comes back as well, and follows the same cycle.

Our planet is 75% water.

How can you buy a gallon of distilled water at the grocery store for under $1? It's evidently profitable for someone to do it.

Say you desalinize sea water...ever seen sea salt for sale at the grocery store? Another profitable product.

I've seen those claims it's not an energy efficient process. Well, I'd say fresh water is kind of an important thing to have, so you'd think it'd be on the priority list, instead of the latest I-Phone, or a flying car :lol:

What's wrong with solar distillation? Especially in a place such as PR for example?

I know diddly-squat about the topic as a whole, anyone here familiar with the subject who can lend some thoughts? Or, even if you're not familiar with it :lol:

hawgdawg · Sep 30, 2017

Not familiar with it either. But it seems that an island would be looking into something like that.
They say it's pretty easy to filter out your urine for drinking water , but I'm not familiar with that either. :laughing:

Gauntlet · Sep 30, 2017

hawgdawg said:
Not familiar with it either. But it seems that an island would be looking into something like that.
They say it's pretty easy to filter out your urine for drinking water , but I'm not familiar with that either.

zeemang · Sep 30, 2017

To do on a small scale for say a gallon it's not that difficult, but when you start talking about MASSIVE quantities it is a whole other ball game. A large desalination plant looks like a petroleum distillery.
The basic idea is to heat it and put it under pressure and "flash evaporate" pure water vapor to be condensed, then it goes for a second flash evaporation cycle at higher pressure but lower temp.
The leftover sludge is not something you would want to put on your food...

Gauntlet · Sep 30, 2017

zeemang said:
To do on a small scale for say a gallon it's not that difficult, but when you start talking about MASSIVE quantities it is a whole other ball game. A large desalination plant looks like a petroleum distillery.
The basic idea is to heat it and put it under pressure and "flash evaporate" pure water vapor to be condensed, then it goes for a second flash evaporation cycle at higher pressure but lower temp.
The leftover sludge is not something you would want to put on your food...

So who's distilling all the (distilled) water selling in stores across the country (and world)?

I'm in the south, and the south is not exactly a stranger to the distillation process :cool:

So are you saying steam distillation is no good for drinking water? I've seen survivalists use plastic sheeting covering a hole dug in the ground to collect safe drinking water. It condensation from the ground when warmed by the sun. Granted, not a method for large quantities, but a simple process nonetheless.

I understand about the brine, but what "sludge" would be left from sea water? Once the water is steam distilled, what's left besides salt? Do a search for "how to make sea salt", looks pretty simple.

My whole point is, I just don't see it being as complicated as they say. I mean I could distill my own drinking water if need be for a very small investment. All that said, there wouldn't have to be one plant for an entire country (again, we'll use PR as example), a couple smaller ones would be a start.

GKL · Sep 30, 2017

Interesting article I found while searching this topic -

"Humans now have an easier and affordable way to turn salt seawater into the water which we can drink, all thanks to an Indian-American student."

http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/saltwater-is-drinkable-now-thanks-to-this-indian-teen-heres-how-it-works-how-much-it-will-cost/539350/

from the above link -

Karamchedu realised that the sea water is not saturated with salt and while working with an absorbent polymer, he discovered a cost-effective way to separate the salt. His approach was just the opposite of what the scientists have been boggling their minds with. While most of them worked for the 10 percent water molecule which was bonded with the salt, Chaitanya wanted to work with the 90 percent free water. This novel approach is a breakthrough in science and is sure to impact a huge population, especially those who do not have access to clean water. This is mainly because the technology is extremely cheap and accessible.

ohiochris · Sep 30, 2017

Gauntlet said:
So who's distilling all the (distilled) water selling in stores across the country (and world)?

I'm in the south, and the south is not exactly a stranger to the distillation process

So are you saying steam distillation is no good for drinking water? I've seen survivalists use plastic sheeting covering a hole dug in the ground to collect safe drinking water. It condensation from the ground when warmed by the sun. Granted, not a method for large quantities, but a simple process nonetheless.

I understand about the brine, but what "sludge" would be left from sea water? Once the water is steam distilled, what's left besides salt? Do a search for "how to make sea salt", looks pretty simple.

My whole point is, I just don't see it being as complicated as they say. I mean I could distill my own drinking water if need be for a very small investment. All that said, there wouldn't have to be one plant for an entire country (again, we'll use PR as example), a couple smaller ones would be a start.

Drinking distilled water could potentially kill you if you drank enough of it. Its fine for other uses but not a good way to produce drinking water. They could distill it and then re add the necessary minerals , etc. to it but then its back to a higher cost and less effective process again. That's why the more complicated , expensive , and less effective methods exist.

Gauntlet · Oct 1, 2017

GKL said:
Interesting article I found while searching this topic -

"Humans now have an easier and affordable way to turn salt seawater into the water which we can drink, all thanks to an Indian-American student."

http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/saltwater-is-drinkable-now-thanks-to-this-indian-teen-heres-how-it-works-how-much-it-will-cost/539350/

from the above link -

Karamchedu realised that the sea water is not saturated with salt and while working with an absorbent polymer, he discovered a cost-effective way to separate the salt. His approach was just the opposite of what the scientists have been boggling their minds with. While most of them worked for the 10 percent water molecule which was bonded with the salt, Chaitanya wanted to work with the 90 percent free water. This novel approach is a breakthrough in science and is sure to impact a huge population, especially those who do not have access to clean water. This is mainly because the technology is extremely cheap and accessible.

Dated from earlier this year, so a fairly new concept, and a claimed simple one at that.

ohiochris said:
Drinking distilled water could potentially kill you if you drank enough of it. Its fine for other uses but not a good way to produce drinking water. They could distill it and then re add the necessary minerals , etc. to it but then its back to a higher cost and less effective process again. That's why the more complicated , expensive , and less effective methods exist.

But doesn't tap water have the same potential? Only a very small portion of minerals come from our drinking water, most is derived from our diet. You would have to drink an abnormal amount of distilled water without eating before it would become an issue.

OK, forget distilling, I just mentioned it since it's a more well-known method. The above article Gary posted is a good example of "why hasn't this been done before".

Water desalinization curosity

Gauntlet

hawgdawg

Gauntlet

zeemang

Gauntlet

GKL

ohiochris

Elite Member

Gauntlet

Similar threads