New method turns ocean water into drinking water, without waste

5 hours ago

A novel solar-powered desalination system uses black metal etched with femtosecond lasers to efficiently produce fresh water from seawater without chemical additives.
The system features a self-cleaning design that prevents clogging by redirecting salts to passive regions, leveraging the 'coffee ring' effect for continuous operation.
Unlike traditional methods that leave harmful brine waste, this approach extracts nearly 100% of salts in solid form, allowing for the recovery of minerals like lithium.
Researchers successfully tested the technology with real ocean water from multiple sources and demonstrated lithium extraction from Great Salt Lake samples.
The method aims to address global water shortages and sustainably meet growing mineral demands, supported by scalability and potential for resource recovery.

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