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Desalination in a freezer? (hackertalks.com)

submitted 2 months ago by jet@hackertalks.com to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

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If freezing salt water produces freshwater ice, why is desalinization such a difficult problem?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2wafIzuvlI

I was watching the above minute physics video, and they indicated in a brief one sentence line that saltwater freezes into freshwater ice. That got me thinking.

Under what circumstances could you actually freeze salt into ice? To make salt ice?

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[–] lungdart@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It's harder to freeze salt water then fresh water, do it's not economical.

The most energy efficient method of desalination i believe uses a membrane and pressure to get the fresh water to one side.

But these aren't even the biggest issue. The real question is what do you do with the left over brine? Desalination is not 100% perfect. You're left with fresh water and a salty sludge called brine. It's extremely difficult to dispose of without causing environmental impact

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 2 months ago

That is a really good point! I wonder if this means the polar ice caps have saltier oceans... but I'm guessing the brine is denser so it stays on the bottom.