{"id":223009,"date":"2025-01-22T15:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T19:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/noticias\/engineers-present-innovative-technology-to-purify-seawater\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T19:32:18","slug":"engineers-present-innovative-technology-to-purify-seawater","status":"publish","type":"noticias","link":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/news\/engineers-present-innovative-technology-to-purify-seawater\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineers present innovative technology to purify seawater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Desalination of seawater<\/a><\/strong> could be made more sustainable and affordable thanks to a technology developed by engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University<\/strong> . The breakthrough uses carbon cloth electrodes to remove boron, a toxic pollutant, without the need for large amounts of chemicals. <\/p>\n\n

New approach to seawater desalination<\/h2>\n\n

Boron, which is naturally present in seawater, often exceeds the limits set by the World Health Organization for drinking water<\/a><\/strong> . This element is difficult to remove with conventional reverse osmosis<\/a><\/strong> membranes, forcing treatment plants to perform costly additional processes. <\/p>\n\n

According to Jovan Kamcev, a professor at the University of Michigan, the technology developed is scalable and energy efficient, offering a viable alternative to current methods.<\/p>\n\n

\"Carbon
Carbon cloth electrode in a flow cell for water desalination. Source: University of Michigan <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Economic and environmental advantages<\/h2>\n\n

The new electrodes reduce operating costs by up to 15% and also reduce the environmental impact of the desalination process. Weiyi Pan, a researcher at Rice University, says these improvements could translate into savings of up to $6.9 billion annually<\/strong> if applied globally. <\/p>\n\n

The operation of these electrodes is based on the splitting of water into ions, which allows the boron to be transformed into a negatively charged form that is easily trapped by chemical structures within the electrodes. This method eliminates the need for additional post-treatment<\/strong> , simplifying and optimizing the process.<\/p>\n\n

\"This
Diagram showing how boron is removed by the researchers’ electrodes. Source: University of Michigan <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Future implications<\/h2>\n\n

The development, in addition to addressing the boron problem<\/a><\/strong> , also has the potential to remove other contaminants such as arsenic, according to Menachem Elimelech, a researcher at Rice University. This opens the door to more versatile and efficient treatments for different water sources. <\/p>\n\n

With global demand for fresh water expected to outstrip supply by 40% by 2030, this breakthrough represents a key solution to addressing the growing water crisis<\/a><\/strong> . It also allows large plants, such as the one in Carlsbad<\/a><\/strong> , San Diego, to save millions of dollars annually by making seawater<\/a><\/strong> a more affordable and sustainable option. <\/p>\n\n

This study, published in Nature Water, marks a significant step towards sustainability in water treatment<\/a><\/strong> and highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in the search for innovative solutions.<\/p>\n\n

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Source and photos: University of Michigan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advanced electrodes transform desalination: less chemicals and lower cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9014,"featured_media":222983,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categoria_noticias":[13034,13078],"etiqueta_noticias":[],"class_list":["post-223009","noticias","type-noticias","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categoria_noticias-curiosities","categoria_noticias-innovation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/223009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticias"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/223009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categoria_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_noticias?post=223009"},{"taxonomy":"etiqueta_noticias","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inspenet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/etiqueta_noticias?post=223009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}