With the problem of ever increasing population of the world, the water resources on Mother Earth are under great stress as demand is exceeding the supply…. and what with climate changes causing lesser rainfall these resources are not even replenished properly. Though 71 percent of the earth is covered with water but most of it is unsuitable for drinking as it is not potable water as it is salt water found in the oceans. Though there are technologies that can remove salt from ocean water but these technologies are extremely expensive especially in developing countries. In addition to this, these also consume huge amounts of energy. To combat both these problems, a team of researchers at Alexandria University in Egypt, have come up with a simple filtration technique.

In this technique, researchers use the process of pervaporation. In this process, salt water is first filtered though a membrane to remove larger particles. These filters contain cellulose acetate powder that, along with other components, will bind the salt particles as they pass through the membrane. Once filtered, the water is vaporized under heat in a second purification step.

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The vapour, containing pure water, is then condensed and collected for drinking purposes. The biggest advantage of this process is that made from materials common to Egypt and surrounding countries, the filters are affordable and can easily be produced in a laboratory setting. Ahmed El-Shafei, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering in Alexandria University says: “Using pervaporation eliminates the need for electricity that is used in classic desalination processes, thus cutting costs significantly.”

The team of researchers now hopes to scale-up production of saline removing membrane and also start work on a pilot desalination unit to test the efficacy of this technique on a larger scale.

Author:Technology Blog