Low Cost Desalination System Developed

David Trammel's picture

A low cost passive system using solar light has been developed by researches at MIT and in China, which could be very helpful in providing water to arid coastal regions.

Simple, solar-powered water desalination

The paper on more details is here: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/ee/c9ee04122b#!divAb...

Wonder if it would work on lake or river water as well?

Sweet Tatorman's picture

No reason it would not work with fresh water. Solar distillation can handle all sorts of mostly water solutions. Problems are only likely to occur when there are toxic volatiles present with vapor pressure characteristics that cause them to evaporate and condense along with the water.

Blueberry's picture

When making sunshine you always pour out the first liquid. Methanol has a boiling point of 148.5F(64.7C). play it safe so you do not rain on your sunshine. Sunshine has a boiling point of 172.8F(78.2C).