[HN Gopher] Nanofiber membrane makes seawater drinkable in minutes
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       Nanofiber membrane makes seawater drinkable in minutes
        
       Author : starkd
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2021-07-10 16:09 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.inceptivemind.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.inceptivemind.com)
        
       | scott_paul wrote:
       | Article is gibberish. Link to the actual study:
       | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03767...
        
       | nayuki wrote:
       | > They used a new nanofiber membrane distillation process that
       | could desalinate water with 99.99% efficiency.
       | 
       | The article doesn't say much about the process, but it seems like
       | membrane distillation does involve water vapor in some way:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_distillation
       | 
       | > Unfortunately, reverse osmosis uses a tremendous amount of
       | energy, and in the process of desalting water in this way,
       | harmful waste is generated, which is usually discharged back into
       | the sea or ocean.
       | 
       | I believe every desalination process, including this one,
       | inherently needs to discharge salty wastewater back to the ocean.
        
         | thisrod wrote:
         | Every desalination process uses a lot of energy, too! However
         | fancy a membrane they're using, they need to force the salt
         | water through it, and push hard enough to beat the osmotic
         | pressure.
         | 
         | This is a reversible process, as you can get the energy back by
         | using the osmotic pressure to drive a piston. A desalination
         | process that used a lot less energy would let you build a
         | perpetual motion machine, and is seriously against the laws of
         | physics.
        
       | awestroke wrote:
       | Looking forward to reading about the effects of strands of these
       | nano fibers ending up in the environment and in our cells
        
         | fredfoobar wrote:
         | It's not a consumer product, you can achieve 100% recycling by
         | defining a process for it.
        
           | jvanderbot wrote:
           | If you don't make laws about it, I'm skeptical anyone would
           | recycle unless theres a magic rare occasion where it's
           | abaolutely necessary to keep profitable.
        
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