Desalination plants are a critical resource—they convert seawater to drinking water. Around 70 to 90 percent of the population in most countries in the Persian Gulf region relies on desalination for drinking water.
The major obstacle to using the sea to meet human water needs which the UN puts at between 50 and 100 liters per person per day is that it contains too much salt to drink, and actually causes dehydration. Reverse osmosis, today's dominant desalination method, uses high-pressure membranes to filter out the salt, leaving behind drinkable water. But every liter produced this way generates an almost equal volume of brine.
Japan has opened its first osmotic power plant, in the south-western city of Fukuoka. Only the second power plant of its type in the world, it is expected to generate about 880,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year enough to help power a desalination plant that supplies fresh water to the city and neighbouring areas. That's the equivalent of powering about 220 Japanese households, according to Dr Ali Altaee from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), who specialises in the development of alternative water sources.
Xi Shen and his team developed an aerogel that improves the desalination process, achieving higher efficiency in freshwater generation compared to previous methods. The aerogel enhances evaporation through better heat localization and improved transportation of water and vapor, addressing challenges faced by traditional desalination systems.
