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Gulf of Mexico Gets Wave-Powered Desalination Plant
blair1q writes "The US Army Corps of Engineers has issued the first permit for a wave-powered desalination plant in American territory to a company called Independent Natural Resources. Waves will operate 'Seadog' pumps, which will lift water into the plant and onto a water wheel connected to a generator, which will create electricity to operate a reverse-osmosis desalination system. The permit runs for four years. Let's hope they don't harm the environment, permanently impact drilling operations, or give Rube Goldberg any crazy ideas..."
Using wave technology, which varies in cycles, you can store desalinated water at times of peak flow.
A tidal generator can have many forms - some, which look like buoys, are basically upside-down wind turbines that use the flow of water instead of air to move the blades, while others can use permeated cells. Desalination plants have been around since before WW II, naturally, as have tidal generators.
Delivery of energy supply is one of the main problems with desalination - the process uses a lot of energy, so using local sources such as tidal power makes more sense than trying to string extra power to the plant.
Not that you'd want to drink the swampy and/or briny water in many lowland tidal areas ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
flops?
tide power is used all over the world... just because SUV driving rednecks in the US haven't done much with it yet doesn't discount the potential of the power source.
gulf of mexxon, or gulf of mexaco.
An interesting idea... but just because something is clean and self-sustaining, doesn't make it a wise investment. At what rate does this produce fresh water, and how much does it cost to build? It sounds clever, but would it actually be more efficient than a traditional desalination powered by solar, or even nuclear power?
I hope it works well, but too many of these ideas simply cost too much for too little.
Could you not evaporate it into sea salt that you sell?
Or release it over a large area and mix it well?
I am thinking some sort of pipe that has many small holes and leaks over a large area. This would mean the super-saline water would be mixed with the sea water very fast.
Freshwater is in short supply. They're right on the ocean.
WHY DON'T WE HAVE THIRTY OF THEM? Why does the government SO PROFOUND it can save millions of dollars by doing healthcare think that keeping desalination plants away is a good idea?
Desalination plants of all kinds are in place around the world, whether using this design or others....so why would anyone deny them?
Really, people: let's work the problem!
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Any reverse osmosis unit that I have ever seen requires fairly clean sea water to start the process. For example yachts need to be in open water before allowing these units to be started up. Now how will this work with BPs tons and tons of crude oil mixed into the Gulf. One good gulp of oil will foul this new idea completely.