A group of students from MIT recently put aside their gravity bongs and all night keggers to develop a portable solar powered water desalination system. The system can produce clean water in places where there is neither electricity nor clean water (nor?).
According to Steve Dubowsky, a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, "a small prototype desalination system can produce 80 gallons of water a day in a various weather conditions. A larger version could cost about $8,000 to construct and provide about 1,000 gallons of water a day."
The system uses reverse osmosis to remove salt from seawater. Electric power produced by the photovoltaic panel pushes seawater through various pumps. High-pressure water enters a vessel with a permeable membrane where minerals such as salt are removed as the water diffuses through the membrane.
I recently revisited Socotra via Google Earth (my favorite desert wasteland island teeming with somali pirates and burka clad housewives) and imagined myself plopping down one of these things along the coast. Would they welcome me and serve me some piping hot tea from their recently desalinated water? Perhaps they would put down their arms and get into the water business.
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