The scientists of the Siberian Federal University have created the facility which reduces the cost of water desalination by ten times
11.11.2019
In comparison with the water-desalination technology using heating, the new method of water desalination developed by the scientist of the Siberian Federal University does not require high energy intensity.
MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/.
The elaboration of the scientists of the Siberian Federal University (SFU, Krasnoyarsk) will reduce tenfold the cost of obtaining drinking water by reducing energy intensity for heating and eliminating the use of chemicals, the Head of the Department of Heat Technology and Fluid Dynamics of Polytechnic Institute of the Siberian Federal University, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, Vladimir Kulagin told TASS on Friday.
The authors of the study developed a technology for obtaining fresh water due to the cavitation effect - a phenomenon in which vapor-filled cavities (cavitation micro-bubbles) are formed in a liquid under low pressure. When they collapse, there are high temperature up to 15 thousand degrees, shock waves up to 10 thousand atmospheres and jets in the form of needles, in which water moves at a speed of up to 500 meters per second. These effects are widely used in various technological solutions.
"During the desalination process with the help of special equipment, we use the cavitation effect to create a cavity like a soap bubble inside the flow of water. Water in the ocean, river or in your mug always evaporates, it happens on the surface. The water molecules on the inner surface of our "bubble" which is formed in water also evaporate, but inside, and are the purest, almost distilled fraction of the liquid. The indicators of this liquid can be easily brought to the indicators of drinking water by increasing the content of minerals and organic substances, " Mr. Kulagin said. He specified that the facility developed in the Siberian Federal University pumps out the molecules of pure water, and salts and other impurities are carried away with the flow of treated water.
Compared with the technology of desalination by heating, the method of the scientists of the SFU does not require high energy intensity, as well as the cost of chemicals used as an alternative way to make groundwater suitable for drinking and for a domestic use.
"In comparison with the mentioned methods, our technology can reduce the cost of obtaining one cubic meter of fresh water by ten times," the scientist concluded.
The technology which was developed in the Siberian Federal University has already been implemented at one of the enterprises of Nizhny Novgorod. The research was grant-supported by grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR).