Technology Solutions: Desalination, desalination everywhere

A new method for water desalination using microbial desalination cells.

Current water desalination techniques are energy intensive and some use membranes operated at high pressures. It is shown here that water desalination can be accomplished without electrical energy input or high water pressure by using a source of organic matter as the fuel to desalinate water. A microbial fuel cell was modified by placing two membranes between the anode and cathode, creating a ...

Microbial desalination cells for energy production and desalination

► Bacteria generate electricity while oxidizing organic matter in wastewater. ► Electricity produced can be used to desalinate salt water without any

Electrochemically mediated seawater desalination.

With global demand rising faster than availability, fresh water is quickly becoming a limited resource. In fact, the United Nations estimates one third of the world s population is living in water-stressed regions, and by 2025 this number is expected to double. Seawater desalination is an attractive solution to this problem because seawater accounts for more than 97% of the world s water supply...

A desalination battery.

Water desalination is an important approach to provide fresh water around the world, although its high energy consumption, and thus high cost, call for new, efficient technology. Here, we demonstrate the novel concept of a "desalination battery", which operates by performing cycles in reverse on our previously reported mixing entropy battery. Rather than generating electricity from salinity dif...

Desalination by Membrane Distillation