From the Archive: Why can't we turn salt water into drinking water?
. But desalination is also costly and energy intensive. Many researchers are working to improve the technology so it can reach more people — and address climate change without contributing to it.
In the 1960s, a new technology called reverse osmosis began sweeping the desalination world. RO works by pushing saltwater at a very high pressure through a series of fine polymer membranes that let water molecules through but catch larger salts and minerals.
That’s not stopping researchers like Lienhard from trying to figure out how to reduce those energy costs further. For example, Lienhard’s group has done a lot of research on the benefit of desalinating in batches, rather than running the plant continuously, to save energy. Some researchers are looking at completely unique approaches, like using liquid solvents to separate water and salts with minimal energy.
Most brine is currently discharged into the sea and, if not done so responsibly, could threaten marine life that comes into contact with the super salty water and any chemicals left over from the desalination process. While the industry has ways of dealing with the waste, Qadir warns this could be a growing problem as the industry continues to scale up.