Friday 26 August 2016

Solar powered structure could make sea water drinkable

A solar powered structure that could make sea water drinkable has been designed.

Khalili Engineers have submitted initial designs of 'The Pipe' to the 2016 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) in Santa Monica.

The cigar-shaped structure would sit offshore, using the 10,000MWh generated by its solar panels to make 4.5 billion litres of drinking water from the sea.

Conventional desalination technology such as reverse osmosis uses excessive electricity, generates lots of industrial waste and polluted water and requires expensive machinery.

Around 97% of seawater is pure water and only 3% is dissolved solids. All dissolved solids in water are ionised and manipulated with electromagnetic energy.

'The Pipe' would instead use a process called electromagnetic filtration, which is said to be energy efficient and rapid.

What results are two products: pure drinkable water that is directed into the city’s primary water piping grid and clear water with 12% salinity. The drinking water would be piped to shore while the salt water would be supplied to thermal baths for public use.