When you desalinate, you reduce the salt dissolved in the water. Desalination or excess salt removal technology can be used to produce potable water from seawater or brackish water, and can also be used in the oil and gas industry. It is estimated that 97.5% of the world's water is salt water that comes from the oceans and only 2.5 percent is fresh water. Scientists are currently looking for ways to use desalination technology to make seawater a viable source of drinking water. However, you can try to desalinate water on a small scale at home by making a simple desalination device.
Step
Part 1 of 2: Preparing Various Ingredients
Step 1. Use bottled drinking water and iodized salt
Before desalinating water, you must make water containing salt, or brine. Do this step by purchasing a bottle of bottled water and iodized salt from your local grocery store. If you don't want to buy bottled water, you can also use fresh water.
If you happen to live near the ocean, you can forget about the two ingredients and fill a bottle with seawater. Seawater contains salt and is very good for use in the desalination process
Step 2. Prepare a heavy ceramic mug and a large glass bowl
You will use the mug as the desalination water container and the glass bowl will serve as the salt reservoir during the desalination process. We recommend that the glass bowl is large enough to fit the mug.
You'll also need a sheet of plastic film (plastic cling wrap - a thin, adhesive plastic film usually used as wrappers to keep food fresh) enough to cover the glass bowl, as well as a small weight such as a stone
Step 3. Make sure you find a place that is exposed to direct sunlight, such as a window sill
You should place the desalination device in an area exposed to direct sunlight to heat the water in the device and create humid air. The moist air will condense into water droplets that you can drink.
Part 2 of 2: Creating a Desalination Kit
Step 1. Pour fresh water into the mug, ±2.54 cm high
You don't need to fill the mug too much, just add water to a depth of ± 2.54 cm.
Mix enough salt into the water so that the water tastes salty. Start with a little iodized salt and taste it to make sure the water is salty. Make sure you fill the mug with more water if you sample it a little, as you will need to keep the water in the mug ±2.54 cm deep
Step 2. Pour the salted water into a large glass bowl
Then rinse and dry the mug to make sure there is no salt in it.
Immediately after rinsing and drying the mug, you can place it in the center of a glass bowl in salted water
Step 3. Cover the glass bowl with plastic film
Make sure the plastic film is stretched firmly over the mouth of the mug and all the sides of the glass bowl, with no openings around the rim of the bowl.
Step 4. Place the bowl in a place exposed to direct sunlight
Find a location on a windowsill or on a deck outdoors that gets a lot of direct sunlight and make sure the bowl is on a good, level surface in the sun.
Take a small rock as a ballast and place it on the plastic film, just above the mug. The plastic film should warp in the center of the mug due to the weight of the stone. This will ensure that the condensed water falls into the cup so you can drink it
Step 5. Leave the bowl in the sun for three to four hours
After a few hours in the sun, the bowl will form moist air. Moist air will ensure the formation of water condensation on the plastic film. The water droplets should then flow down into the cup.
Step 6. Check the fresh water contained in the mug
After the bowl has been exposed to the sun for three to four hours, examine the mug and you will find some water in it. Open the plastic film and drink the water in the cup. You should feel pure, clean and fresh water that has gone through the desalination process.
- The desalination device works by utilizing sun exposure to heat salt water. The plastic film helps capture moisture in the bowl as a result of evaporation of the brine. Since the top of the plastic film is much cooler than the rest of the bowl, the moist air in the bowl condenses (condenses) on the top of the plastic film and forms water droplets.
- Gradually, the water droplets on the plastic film will increase and begin to flow towards the center of the bowl due to the weight of the stone. As it forms, the water droplets will get heavier and eventually fall into the mug. The simple result of this desalination device is a cup of fresh drinking water that doesn't contain the slightest bit of salt.
