Is it possible to convert seawater to drinking water

The MOF, on the other hand, has multiple adjacent pores. Finally, the MOF has more structural integrity than other materials. In most materials, scientists have to drill tiny holes in order to create the needed pores, which limits the amount that can be created per surface area. But thanks to its honeycomb structure, MOF is intrinsically porous. This allows a higher ratio of pores to surface area. The differences between the MOF and other typical membranes are notable, both in terms of how quickly water passes through and how many ions are rejected.

A desalination plant can have billions of pores, raising its efficiency exponentially. We need to provide fresh water for many underprivileged people. Solar-powered desalination, the theory and practice of a zero-carbon approach, has been under development since the start of the 21st century, but the challenge has been in collecting hard evidence of viability in terms of costs and scale. Finally, the breakthrough has come at Neom , the megacity under development in Saudi Arabia.

It is due to be 33 times the size of New York City and planned to be a living lab for futuristic urban technologies. The city is being built in 10, square miles of the desert in the Tabuk Province near the Red Sea. Such a vast and concentrated human population needs water supplies at a scale that can only be provided by a combination of technologies. Concentrated solar energy from a neighboring field of large mirrors that concentrate the sunlight by up to 50 times are used to speed up the natural process of evaporation within the domed greenhouse structures, which can be up to 80 meters in diameter and made up of a glass-conductive steel structure.

Seawater enters the dome either by gravity or pump. It then evaporates, while distillation takes place in a separate unit adjacent to the dome. Once the process is complete, the freshwater is piped by gravity flow into a system of reservoirs, at which point it can be directed to meet local needs.

It might go to municipal water utilities or everglades of agricultural wetlands. In principle, it can be used as part of a process to reverse desertification, using imported top soils for reforestation of the desert. From start to finish, the domes provide a large-scale, carbon-neutral and sustainable solution. Desalination plants take in salt water straight from the ocean and can kill or harm fish and other small ocean life as water travels from the source to the plant.

A pipeline to a desalination plant in the Red Sea near Nuweiba, Egypt. Image: Flickr: prilfish. Lastly, salinity levels in oceans are predicted to rise , which would make filtering water more expensive. The more salt there is to filter out, the more energy required. But brackish water is not as prevalent as ocean water. But companies are working on it. Israel invested in a large desalination plant in and will be producing enough water to supply half the country by the end of Yes, building desalination plants is very costly 1 billion USD for the largest plant in the US but it is a safety net for places where drought conditions persist and freshwater is limited or lacking entirely.

California is building seventeen new desalination plants after years of severe drought. Desalination is being used as a last resort in California. Cities in California have tried investing in infrastructure for desalination previously. Santa Barbara built a desalination plant years ago and is just now restarting it after initial costs were too high to run the plant previously. It will cost 55 million USD to restart and maintain. Water obtained from desalination costs twice the amount of water from freshwater sources.

The only way desalination can be a good option to solving the water crisis is if renewable energy is used, costs are lowered, and environmental protections are put in place for marine life too. Companies and countries and trying to lower the amount of energy needed to desalinate water and look into using cleaner energy sources. For example, Saudi Arabia has pushed to use solar energy to power desalination plants.