Desalination Across the Nation

Overview

Objectives/Goals There is a huge debate in Monterey right now about whether or not we should have a desalination plant. People say it is our only hope because of the drought--but is it really? Our hypothesis is that desalination using solar power to evaporate the water is more efficient and uses less energy than reverse osmosis and cogeneration. Currently, desalination is powered by fossil fuels, which we are running out of quickly, so if we are going to use desalination, it will have to be powered by renewable energy resources like the wind or the sun. Methods/Materials We have tested which version of desalination is the most effective. Our three different setups were: one inside at room temperature, one outside using solar power, and one inside powered by a heat lamp that is 150 watts. The controls in our experiments are the water, and the same level of salt, and the time. The time was five hours, and the trial did not have enough time, so we tried ten hours instead. The variable in our experiment was the level of energy and how much was used. Results The solar and heat lamp desalination got the same results: 311 parts per milliliter of salt. The room temperature did not work at all. Conclusions/Discussion In the future, with more advanced technology, desalination could be a good choice. Evaporation desalination, with more time than ten hours, is a also a possibility. Right now, though, the economical and environmental impacts are too large for it to be a main water source.

Competition history

• CSEF 2015 Environmental Engineering · Entry J1003

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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