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MIT Passive Desalination system could produce freshwater that is cheaper than tap water, scales down to the size of a suitcase. (news.mit.edu)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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According to MIT, this technology works even at small scale, with one the size of a suitcase able to desalinate 6 litres per hour, and only needing to be serviced every few years.

Here's a video detailing how it works.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (4 children)

A person uses some 200 litres per day.

One suitcase according to their description makes 144 litres per day. So this is pretty big if it actually scales.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Depends on the person - I have seen households where a person uses less than 20 liters per day. :)

Besides, seawater can be used to wash oneself or flush a toilet - I think it's the use of drinking water that makes a difference.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

Saltwater isn't great for utilities, because it's extremely corrosive. The saltwater would function ok for a while, but it would eventually destroy the toilet. Additionally, the saltwater would need to be sent down the sewage for waste disposal, which the entire processing flow would need to be updated to handle saltwater.

It's much cheaper to use freshwater to start with.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

200 liters is with bathing, cooking, toilets, and all the other conveniences of modern life in industrialized Western society.

This device is aimed at small scale off grid household use - people who don't have public water or sewer and naturally use much less.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

200 is on the high end, and not all of it needs to be desalinated

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Hydrohomies are statistical outliers and shouldn't be counted