The device is especially useful for people who live in coastal places like California and who are dealing with droughts caused by climate change.
The new desalination device is roughly the size of a suitcase, weighs less than 10 kg and uses less energy than a mobile phone charger. With the push of a button, it can automatically produce drinking water that exceeds the quality standards of the World Health Organization. Ease of use was one of the main driving forces behind the development of this device.
MIT professor Jongyoon Han’s new device doesn’t rely on any filters like traditional desalination machines. Instead, it disintegrates seawater with an electric current to remove the minerals and salt particles in the composition. It is known that Professor Han’s research team took up to 10 years to produce this work.
Professor Han’s seawater filtration device.
The new device solves some of the problems that exist in most desalinators on the market.
Firstly, getting water through the pump and then through the filters is quite energy intensive, so it is difficult to create a compact and portable version. Instead, the MIT team’s device is based on a process called ion concentration polarization (ICP) that uses an electric field.
The electric current separates the charged particles and contaminants into a separate pipe to remove them. The remaining clean water will be filtered to an outlet pipe for human use.
The product is already good, but the researchers still want to continue working to improve the production speed and usability of the device. Not only is the device compact, the device must also be able to produce as much clean water as possible. Professor Han is targeting users who will be residents in areas where fresh water is scarce.
The professor also explained that he wants to tackle bigger challenges beyond desalination including detecting and removing heavy metals and pathogens such as viruses and bacteria in water supplies.
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