Scientists in Canada have demonstrated a promising new device that can purify almost four liters of water (one gallon, 3.785 liters) a day, costing pennies. Additionally, it is made from old tires and can generate small amounts of electricity.
There is no shortage of water on Earth but, unfortunately, very little of it is potable, suitable for drinking. The oceans are salty and rivers and lakes are often too polluted, leaving many people unable to meet their basic needs.
This new device, created by researchers from the Dalhousie University in Canada, it could help collect drinking water at a low cost. The basic design is familiar: a floating solar still that absorbs water at its bottom, evaporates it using solar radiation, and then condenses it into a dome that directs the water into a bag for collection.
The device has passed tests, producing up to 3.79 liters of fresh water per day per square meter of material. That is approximately 1.5 times the amount of water a person needs each day. Can it be scaled up to serve an entire community? It seems simple, since we would simply have to create larger stills or a larger fleet.
Importantly, it is also cheap: the device can produce water at just 0.86 cents per liter. And, unlike similar devices that use precious metals (such as gold and silver), the main material used is old tires. That reduces cost and keeps waste materials out of landfills.
Tires are processed using pyrolysis, which involves heating them at high temperatures without oxygen to produce a carbon-rich material. It is then mixed with plasmonic titanium carbides, which capture light and convert it into heat to evaporate water.
There is another added advantage: the solar still can also be modified to generate a small amount of electricity through the thermoelectric effect. It won’t provide much power, but it could be enough to power small water quality sensors, according to the researchers.
Solar stills have been around for a long time with different designs. Some collect water from the air and those that float on the sheet of water, like this one. There are proposals that are more efficient and produce more water per day, but this It is much more economicalwhich gives it an advantage for use in developing countries or very isolated areas. The fact that it also produces electricity as a secondary activity gives it an extra point.
Via: iScience
