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Techutante t1_j22k4ty wrote

Reply to comment by thatawesomedrunkguy in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

I think they just pump it in a big tank or open field and let it evaporate. Bulldoze it later.

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thatawesomedrunkguy t1_j22s905 wrote

Most desal plants are producing in the tens of millions of gallons per day range. In order to get a proper evaporation, you're going to need a whole lot of surface area. Just not practical.

Plus, not as simple as concentrating evaporating seawater to get salt. You gotta separate your other type of salts that will form once the brine saturates.

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Techutante t1_j22sq04 wrote

They apparently mine brine for various minerals and trace metals, I was just reading. Rare earth elements and whatnot.

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