Fresh Water From Seawater?

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im looking for something that will remove metal salts from rising mine water.
This device might develop into a solution (no pun intended ) but the concept seems to be more about dilution and concentration of ions, leaving a problem of dealing with a more concentrated salt solution.
 
Most metal salts can be caused to precipitate fairly easily by introducing another cation that converts them to insoluble form chemically. You have to add the right amount of the right thing for what you've got.
 
yes, in a lab this would be the approach but in the field we have a broad range of flow variations and metal salt concentrations, with iron mostly precipitation out naturally by naturally forming terracettes within the site. Zinc lead cadmium and copper remain in high enough concentrations to upset invertebrates in the clean stream the mine water discharges into.

Flows vary from 20 litres a sec to 2 litres.
The total loadings are higher in low flows making summer flows the bigger environmental problem.
 

New desalination plant to start operating six months ahead of time​

A new desalination plant is ready to start operating, Israel National Water Company Mekorot announced on Tuesday.

Mekorot marked the completion of all the necessary work to connect the new facility in Sorek to the country’s water system in a ceremony earlier in the day. The new plant, the sixth in Israel, will increase the desalination output from the current 600 million cubic meters to 800 million cubic meters per year within a few months.

More:

 
Perhaps Lexan, which is by far the most stable form of plastic. I would suspect that very little in the way of plasticizers will leach out of this material. However, it is VERY expensive relative to the alternatives which would include acrylic sheets and plexiglass.
Lexan is polycarbonate which is produced in part with bisphenal A monomer

I don’t mind extractables but do not reactive ones

this is basically bullet proof glass

it’s durable but also doesn’t like high pH
 
So, it's not really a technology that preppers or the public will be utilizing any time soon, but it sounds pretty interesting:
...
Researchers at Nankai University in Tianjin, China, developed the concept of a solar-powered desalination system that produces fresh water by using smart DNA hydrogels that does not consume additional energy, compared to conventional desalination strategies currently in use, such as reverse osmosis, which use copious amounts of energy, according to a paper published in the journal Science Advances on Thursday.

The same process can be used simultaneously to extract uranium from seawater or treat uranyl containing nuclear wastewater, the researchers said.

The new solar-powered concept, which fabricates a DNA hydrogel matrix, incorporates the ability to absorb sunlight and reduce the amount of energy required to evaporate water.

In addition, the smart DNA hydrogels used in the new concept incorporate functional DNA molecules that can respond to various stimuli, such as changes in pH or metal ions, and therefore can be used to extract uranyl ions found in low concentrations in seawater, according to the paper.

The matrix uses DNA-tethered polyacrylamide networks geared to target uranyl and is also loaded with graphene oxide, a typical material used to absorb solar radiation, according to the study.

Uranium, the main fuel for nuclear energy, and other valuable minerals and resources will be able to be extracted from seawater with the new process, Guo said, adding that the DNA structures can be programmed to extract other targets, such as lithium ions.
...


The paper:

 
...
Cargo ships undertaking global trade are equipped with fresh water generator systems that produce clean drinking water by distilling sea water using heat energy harnessed from their engines. Traditionally, this system has been used to generate water for consumption only onboard the vessels. However, the excess water produced has been overlooked. Through this new project, this untapped resource has been capitalised on by optimising the process and storing the excess water in tank containers before delivering it to ports.

Each vessel can fill two tank containers on an average sea voyage between two ports. With the process optimised and tank containers stored at the right location onboard, two tank containers with a combined capacity of 50,000 litres can be filled with fresh water. ...

It seems like a no brainer. I'm surprised this wasn't done sooner.
 
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