Geothermal desalination
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Geothermal desalination is an experimental process under development for the production of fresh water using heat energy extracted from underground rocks. Claimed benefits of this method of desalination are that it requires less maintenance than reverse osmosis membranes and that the primary energy input is from geothermal heat, which is a low-environmental-impact source of energy.
Around 1995, several entrepreneurs came together with an idea to use geothermal water directly as a source for desalination. The experiment was moved to northern Nevada. It was moderately successful, and was a proof of concept. The developers, Douglas Firestone and Adjunct Professor Ronald A. Newcomb, have designed a series of prototypes.
A total of five prototypes and three modifications demostrated that, with process water approaching 210 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) and a chill source about 35 °F (2 °C), a full-size device would produce about one-half acre foot (about 160,000 gallons or 600 cubic metres) of water per day. Salt concentration in the wastewater would only be about 10% above the level of the original water, thus, from, say, 35,000 to about 38,000 parts per million, well within the ability of osmoregulators to adjust.
[edit] See also
China
[edit] External links
- Aqua Genesis
- European Renewable Energy Council - Geothermal Desalination
- ScienceDirect - Heat Transfer and Evaporation in Geothermal Desalination Units
