Early beneficial application of MNT: clean water
from the motherhood-apple-pie-and-pure-water dept.
Pat Delany writes "A problem ahead for nanotechnology? The possible backlash from two groups, one the growing number of people mistrustful of science and the changes it brings, and the other bureaucratic institutions that might balk at funding a technological revolution with the ability to unseat them from their position of power. A solution? Turn nano development toward an early and obviously beneficial goal: the desalinization and purification of water, allowing us to use our abundance of saltwater and polluted water for agriculture and consumption…We, the folks at nanospot.com, offer this idea for the nanotechnology community to consider, and would like to help jumpstart such an effort…" Read More for the full post. Pat Delany writes "A problem ahead for nanotechnology? The possible backlash from two groups, one the growing number of people mistrustful of science and the changes it brings, and the other bureaucratic institutions that might balk at funding a technological revolution with the ability to unseat them from their position of power. A solution? Turn nano development toward an early and obviously beneficial goal: the desalinization and purification of water, allowing us to use our abundance of saltwater and polluted water for agriculture and consumption. Why this goal? According to UNDP.org, about 2 billion people already live in areas chronically short of drinking water, a figure guaranteed to rise with our losing combination of weather changes, population growth, third-world industrialization, and shrinking aquifiers. The desalinization processes we now have take huge amounts of energy to deliver relatively small amounts of useable water. Already rural China has seen riots over water rights and water taxes this summer, and the problem will only grow worse. Harnessing the nanotechnology revolution to create nano-machines to separate salt and pollutants from water would have clear and obvious benefits for all of humanity. It would go a long way toward preempting the "disbelievers – 'flat earth' types who fervently doubt the conclusions of science…[who] are staging a resurgence today, partly in reaction to the unparalleled role science plays in society. Disbelievers fear Big Science the way millennialists feared Y2K….."We're at a moment for a lot of things where skepticism becomes a dogma," says Michael Shermer, author of a book about the antiscience backlash, "Why People Believe Weird Things."" (Newsweek, August 28, 2000) Additionally, we're likely to face the problem of institutions and their bureaucracies balking at funding nanotechnology efforts once they realize that those efforts could lead to drastic change in their structures or their relevance. If nanoscientists are already solving a problem that threatens many people's existences, the powers-that-be just might have to see things differently. We, the folks at nanospot.com, offer this idea for the nanotechnology community to consider, and would like to help jumpstart such an effort by adding to our search list sites and academic papers containing information about instances where desalinization occurs naturally. We could use your help in pointing out any sites you're aware of that contain such information."
September 11th, 2000 at 3:50 PM
Nanotubes for water purification
It might happen sooner than you think. At last year's MNT conference, William Warren of DARPA mentioned that they were supporting research on nanotubes for water purification. More information is available at:
http://www.sabrex-tx.com
http://www.flowtc.com
I also briefly mentioned water purification and a few possible implications in my paper "Nanotechnology and the Commons" in the section on "Implications of Abundance."
September 11th, 2000 at 3:53 PM
Solar Cells
While you're at it. Cheap solar cells based on self-assembly chemistry would also be usefull.
September 11th, 2000 at 8:05 PM
Re:Nanotubes for water purification
Just thought I would drop in and say Hi and mention a few intersting facts about water as well as a couple things rattling around in my mind with the other loose screws. There is a neat museum about water in the old buckminsterfuller dome of the Motreal Expo. They mention a statistic there that 80% of people who die worldwide die from something they drank in the water. AIDS in Africa spreads from mother to child due to a lack of clean water with which to mix infant formula. To gain an insight into how untapped the water market is,one should take a good look at the existing industry. Technology in the water treatment industry changes about as often as the alphabet. The sales of the entire water equipment industry is less than the sales of Barbie Dolls! The largest firm in the business, Vivendi, just bought Universal Studios! ( Water stocks did have a good run a couple of years back, primarilly from the interest generated by industry consolidation.) The water industry could be an example of success through stupidity. Everyone is so afraid of the self inflicted lossses that finance has been scared away, leaving control in the hands of a few conglomerates who have ruined their own industry. Come to think of it, most industries are like that. Only biotech , commuters and telecom related industries experience signficant R&D finance. Biosource and Sabrex did not care.Even while we were broke we still funded this out of our own pockets to market. We greatly appreciate the current DARPA contract, which allows us to take this to the next level of performance and technology. Some facts of possible interest; Water and Electricity are intimately related. Cities have been faced with the choice of pouring water over the dam to make hydropower, or watering their lawns. Saving water throughout the year would save very expensive peak load power. Here is another interesting fact. Chemical free water purification saves….. chemicals. For example, it is amazing how little soap one would need if pure water were avaiable. Much of the soap in household detergent is "builder" used to overcome minerals in the water. This technology also removes cesium and strontium. Radioactive isotopes of the above are particularly nasty since they concentrate up the food chain. Radiation at the Hanford site has been found to be leaking into an acquifer the size of Lake Superior on it's way to the Columbia river, which irrigates one million acres of prime farm land. Yet the billion dollar contracts to manage this mess goes to construction firms who like to move dirt around, and who get repeatedly thrown off the contract for non peformance. I hope that the current crop of environmentalists are not so politicized that they actually help the Neanderthals at places like Hanford. The Ted Kasinski approach to technology is not going to help the environment. Pollution often represents a waste of energy and matter. It should therefore by possible to design technology that saves money by polluting less. Setting up market mechanisms to trade pollution credits will also help foster use of environmental technology. Right now, not a single large river in either the US or Europe is drinkable. Last but not least, the flow through capacitoris is also a consumer, a municipal, and a manufacturing technology. Heaven forbid being labelled an "environmental" company on Wall Street! In any case, the water( business )is fine, and I hope more people jump into this field and look for,apply, or develop technologies. As for the industry, like I say to my wife about Worcester, MA if it was any beter, we could not afford to live here ( the Worcester chamber of commerce doesn't read this do they?) Regards, Marc Andelman president Biosource Inc. Worcester, MA 9/12/20000
September 13th, 2000 at 12:54 PM
Nantek – Water Purification
A few months ago I interviewed with a company that is currently trying to break into this market. Unfortunately, I haven't seen too much new from them, whether here or on their website. The site does offer a partial explanation of their approach to the problem, though I didn't see anything on the site that specifically addresses this issue. …But if you can read between the lines, check http://www.nantek.com/
June 26th, 2003 at 10:07 PM
Drawbacks – water water everywhere
I'm all for pure water. Carbon nanotube filters may be on the horizon. But if there where a sudden tech break-through for cheap and easy water purification of sea water, the world could change quickly. Unfettered urban sprawl and population growth? Climate changes? Sea salinity shifts? The dry dusty landscapes could suddenly support abundance. Great for the thirsty and sick populations in the short run¡¦¡¦, but what about the global consequences? What about the local consequences? Water will become an even bigger issue throughout the world in this decade. We have too little fresh water now. But should we prepare for a big plunge of water water everywhere?
August 24th, 2006 at 7:53 AM
I would like to have some help understanding conventional deSal plants and help in understanding how our renewable energy platforms can support the development of and deployment of deSal both in its current and future nano configurations.
power consumption?
carbon credits and other credits that could accrue to the use of renewable for powering up desal plants.
Has anybody been noodling on this?
Once we get rolling we could finance an aggressive R&D budget.
wanna help?