Posted on 09/24/2018 6:12:23 AM PDT by ETL
Possibly, also using plastic to make condensation...............
Maria Temming
August 16, 2018
Smoothing out the rough patches of a material widely used to filter saltwater could make producing freshwater more affordable, researchers report in the Aug. 17 Science.
Desalination plants around the world typically strain salt out of seawater by pumping it through films made of polyamide — a synthetic polymer riddled with tiny pores that allow water molecules to squeeze through, but not sodium ions. But organic matter, along with some other waterborne particles like calcium sulfate, can accumulate in the pockmarked surfaces of those films, preventing water from passing through the pores (SN: 8/20/16, p. 22). Plant operators must replace the membranes frequently or install expensive equipment to remove these contaminants before they reach the filters.
Now researchers have made a supersmooth version without the divots that trap troublesome particles. That could cut costs for producing freshwater, making desalination more broadly accessible. Hundreds of millions of people already rely on desalinated water for drinking, cooking and watering crops, and the need for freshwater is only increasing (SN: 8/18/18, p. 14).
Manufacturers normally create salt-filtering films by dipping porous plastic sheets into chemical baths that contain the molecular ingredients of polyamide. These molecules glom onto the sheet, building up a thin polymer membrane. But that technique doesn’t allow much control over the membrane’s texture, says Jeffrey McCutcheon, a chemical engineer at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.
McCutcheon and colleagues made their version by spraying the polyamide building blocks, molecular layer by layer, onto sheets of aluminum foil. These polyamide films can be up to 40 times smoother than their commercial counterparts.
Such ultrasmooth surfaces should reduce the amount of gunk that accumulates on the films, McCutcheon says, though his team has yet to test exactly how clean its films stay over time.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/filter-turns-saltwater-freshwater-just-got-upgrade
Maybe they meant he collected rainwater with his shirt
I’m guessing that’s a translation error for VHF, i.e. a regular marine radio which has a range of 20 miles at best. A satellite emergency beacon would have brought rescue in hours.
"Aldi managed to catch fish and drink sea water through clothing in order to filter out some of the salt, The Telegraph reported."
Guess it all depends on the meaning of "some".
I suggest that we all need the same intervention in “drinking” the continual stream of filth pouring from the so-called news media.
Are you suggesting a dumb “journalist”? Nah.
Of course I have. But apparently the author of the article hasn't.
“A “small frequency radio”? /facepalm”
How about this:
“after managing to send a radio frequency to a tanker”
I wonder if English is not this person’s first language or if they are truly this ignorant.
Wow, great article. Amazing implications.
I think his problem was that he was in a tall wave ocean.
Paddle might have been more useful.
I’m betting on “truly ignorant”. The author appears to be a US native.
If an author is working from a translation into English, especially a computer translation, encounters nonsensical wording, it is his job to clarify the meaning for his readers. The problem comes when the author doesn’t recognize the nonsense, or doesn’t care.
Probably that, and the fluid from the fish kept him going.
Portable hand operated desalinators have been available for life rafts for many years. They can even be purchased through Amazon. But they and the filters for them are very expensive. Since they are emergency equipment, they are required to have annual inspections and maintenance. If the an inspection reveals that the unit needs repair, they generally have to be returned to the manufacturer to maintain their certification.
So the technology is available, but in a 3rd world situation like this one it is easy to see that it would be much cheaper and easier to keep a drum of water in a secure spot inside the hut. These “rompong” rafts look quite amazing actually. It is funny that the “journalists” felt that a paddle would have been somehow useful to the teen.
Looks like the hut from “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island”.
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