My OperaEnergy from Salt Water
Sunday, July 26, 2009 5:51:28 PM
In a post of 3 October 2007 I wrote about the world's first prototype osmotic power plant, which uses sea water and fresh water separated by a membrane to produce energy. The Norwegian company Statkraft is continuing with the project and now building the world’s first full-scale commercial facility for osmotic power generation, expected to be ready by 2015.
A paper to be published online in Physical Review Letters describes another (new) way of getting electricity out of water. Mixing salt water and fresh water in a container with carbon electrodes can produce clean, renewable energy, and the reaction’s main by-product, brackish water, can be dumped back into the sea.
In the first stage of the process, salt water is pumped into a container with two charged carbon electrodes. Salt ions — positively charged sodium and negatively charged chloride — are attracted to the surface of one of the two carbon electrodes, depending on the ions’ charge. Next, fresh water is pumped into the container, and the salt ions diffuse away from the surface of the electrodes and mix in the fresh water. Pulling the salt ions away from the charged electrodes creates increased energy in the system.
So far the method is not perfect, but it is a fact that we do have to look for new sources of energy, preferably renewable energy.
• http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/45860/title/Salty_water_power
• http://www.nordicenergysolutions.org/innovation/demonstration-pilot/ocean-energy/osmotic-power-pilot
A paper to be published online in Physical Review Letters describes another (new) way of getting electricity out of water. Mixing salt water and fresh water in a container with carbon electrodes can produce clean, renewable energy, and the reaction’s main by-product, brackish water, can be dumped back into the sea.
In the first stage of the process, salt water is pumped into a container with two charged carbon electrodes. Salt ions — positively charged sodium and negatively charged chloride — are attracted to the surface of one of the two carbon electrodes, depending on the ions’ charge. Next, fresh water is pumped into the container, and the salt ions diffuse away from the surface of the electrodes and mix in the fresh water. Pulling the salt ions away from the charged electrodes creates increased energy in the system.
So far the method is not perfect, but it is a fact that we do have to look for new sources of energy, preferably renewable energy.
• http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/45860/title/Salty_water_power
• http://www.nordicenergysolutions.org/innovation/demonstration-pilot/ocean-energy/osmotic-power-pilot
