24 hours a day and cheaper than any other type under development in Mexico. 40¢ per gallon as compared to $1 in other types. Baja California seems to be really into this form of providing fresh water in an area where it isn't plentiful. I had no idea there are already 70 small plants there with the big one due to open near Ensenada next year. Read more @ http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/students-work-desalination-system/
I think we dump a lot of fresh water into the oceans and rivers from our nuke plants. Those plants can turn sea water into fresh steam instantaneously.
Yes, I was thinking if they pumped in salt water into the steam turbines, instead of simply cycling the same water around in a circle, they could get fresh water without much more energy. The water is being turned into steam anyway, why not recover that as fresh water?
You have greater faith in the nuclear energy companies than I do. Tell you what, try capturing some of this nuclear reactor waste steam, condense it into fresh water, and sell it and see how many people are willing to buy it.
The water does not actually go into the reactor. They use a secondary cycle of water that gets pumped through the reactor to carry away the heat. This superheated water (it's under pressure) then flows through a heat exchanger to cause a separate cycle of water to turn to steam. There are actually three separate cycles of water, two of which are entirely enclosed and self-contained. https://courseware.e-education.psu.edu/courses/egee101/images/L02/L02_nuclear_schem_TVA.jpg
It does not matter. People will not like the idea of drinking water produced by nuclear reactors as people do not trust the industry. The image of large steam clouds being released from nuclear incidents when they are venting heat will forever associate reactor steam with danger in the public psyche.
That's why we need viable Fusion. The U.S. Military has had 3 sucessful tests with Low Temp. Micro Fusion Generators. Plus we need the Helium. AboveAlpha - - - Updated - - - Plus we can get all the pure drinking water we need using Reverse Osmosis. AboveAlpha
I personally think the better route is the more wide-spread use of compact reactors. Instead of amassing such a large quantity of fuel into a single location, disperse it so that if there is an incident, the dangers are lessened and localized. Won't happen in our lifetimes though because drumming up fear is good for the government bottom line and some redneck Congressman from Georgia or Alabama will go all over TV talking about what will happen when the Al queda operatives working at the 7-11 steal them some uranium, enrich it in the slurpee machine, and blow up the local gun and fishing expo.
The issue of Fusion Reactors has always been about CONTAINMENT. All that is going on is Hydrogen Atoms and being Fused to produce Helium Atoms and of course al LOT of Energy. Thus the goal was to develop LOW TEMP MICRO FUSION REACTORS. By low temp. I don't mean Room Temp. It mean's containable. AboveAlpha
Except in a few instances, fusion has always taken more energy to make happen then it produced, but I will grant that I have not read much about it in a couple years.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near here is another interesting article about the desalination plant near San Diego The crews are building what boosters say represents California's best hope for a drought-proof water supply: the largest ocean desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The $1 billion project will provide 50 million gallons of drinking water a day for San Diego County when it opens in 2016. I am all for it. like anything new it will cost a lot at first, much like alternative engery
All they need to do is pump Oceam Water into the Desert Areas......let the sun effect it and POW....Clean Drinking Water. AboveAlpha
You just pump massive amounts of sea water into large shallow pools.....then they are covered with a duel membrane and the evaporation gives you clean water. Another way is to pass an electrical charge through the sea water....seperate the water into H2 and O.....then collect the gasses pass enother electrical charge through and BAM!! Chemical Reaction and you get H20 AboveAlpha...p.s....you also get a lot of Sea Salt.
Just to add UV-Light can also be used instead of an electric charge to either seperate H20 into H2 and 0 or combined the two. AboveAlpha
It's not that easy, If it were, then the Saudis would be doing that instead of expensive Reverse Osmosis plants.
Getting people to buy it would be the problem, but we are discharging that condensed steam into the oceans and rivers as it is. The fish don't seem to mind.
No....the Saudi's are using a Plan and Plant provided to them in a proposal a DECADE AGO!! 2014-2015 Tech......pump sea water into the desert into shallow pools. Step 2.....completely encase them in an air tight double membrane 1st membrane water vapor permeable....send membrane...not. Step 3.....Sun creates H20 Evaporation.....only pure water is collected between the membranes. Electrical Costs.....ZERO%.....except for pumping. AboveAlpha
Link to this miraculous (and IMHO nonexistent) technology. The only thing I'm finding close to that is a Saudi desalination plant that works by way of PV, and the "Aquastiller" which is a solar still (old technology) basically for home use.
Non-Existent Tech??? Sea Water Evaporation Kits have been issued as standard in Life Boats for multiple decades!!! It is simple. Water evaporates....water vapor is collected. AboveAlpha
I'm amazed that after all these centuries, savages knew how to get fresh drinking water out of the air. They would dig a deep hole in the sand or soft earth - usually about 3' deep and 3' in circumference. They would then cover it with a cured animal hide weighted down with a stone. Get up in the morning to find water in the bottom of the hide good for drinking a cooking. In desert areas, simply look for trees and shrubs that need water to survive. Dig a deep hole around their roots and wait for ground water to pool up.
Exactly!!! And rather than build a NUCLEAR PLANT.....all California has to do is pump sea water inland to super hot and super dry former ANCIENT DRY LAKE BEDS......and these have heavy non-toxic Plastic Trays.....they are 10 Meters by 10 meters and 1 meter deep....and there are TEN'S OF THOUSANDS OF THEM!!! They are all independent and are filled on a constant filling of sea water to equal level of evaporation. They are covered with a dual membrane bubble sheets one membrane allows water vapor to pass through it.....the top membrane which is suspended by air pressure about 50 cm. above the first.....collects the water vapor as the vapor attaches to the 2nd membrane and collects and runs down the side of the second membrane as droplets of water to collection piping of which is angled in a 4 way spiral down to a central line collector for each 100 pans. After a certain amount of time is passed....the trays must be removed and SEA SALT.....is removed and screened and IS SOLD AS A SPICE!!! Solar Panels provide the Electricity needed for water pumping out.....but incoming water would require a large generator. It's a VERY SIMPLE AND OLD CONCEPT.....and is not expensive to make or set up and is capable of harvesting ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF FRESH WATER!!! AboveAlpha
It is very expensive to set up, because water has weight. It takes mucho energy to move it across a mountain range and into the desert. People examine the cost effectiveness of these things, people who would love to make a profit off of it. If it could be done easily and cheaply, it would have been done.
First of all the Water Delivery System does not need to be using an Electric or other Motor. Simple TIDAL MECHANISMS are capable of doing this. Now the further away we go from the California Shore....the deeper the water. Imagine......a VERY LARGE FUNNEL.....that is approx 500 Meters in Diameter across at it's widest point and it allows water in in an SPIRAL GROVE MANNER and although it is connected to the sea floor it has boyancy control. As the water enters the funnel and picks up speed as it enters an entry way that is perhaps 30 Meters in Diameter.....and as it spins around naturally in this Composite Material PVC Like Tunnel....as it goes down from the Ocean Surface the 30 meter tube along the inside of the funnel becomed 29 meters in diameter...then 28 meter....27 meters....and by the time it get's to the bottom of say this 1000 foot deep Funnel.....it has aquired so much pressure it can easly be pumped over mountains and hills in a 1 1/2 Meter in Diameter Composite PVC like Pipeline!!! AboveAlpha