Can you basically remove all the salt from a salt lake let's say the size of Liechtenstein and turn it into a freshwater lake? And could that be done with the Aral (which is now salt basically) and even the caspian sea?
Can you basically remove all the salt from a salt lake let's say the size of Liechtenstein and turn it into a freshwater lake? And could that be done with the Aral (which is now salt basically) and even the caspian sea?
Desalination is very expensive from a power and equipment standpoint. I served on one of the largest ships in the US Navy and our nameplate capacity for turning sea water into fresh with steam distillation was 100,000 gallons per day. Might sound like a lot, but it's a drop in the bucket (literally) for something the side of the Caspian Sea. Newer technology (reverse osmosis) might be marginally more efficient but I can't believe the difference is substantial.
One of the things to remember it that something has to be done with the salt removed by desalination (whether very salty brine or solid). Sea salt is a saleable commodity so it has some potential value, but the Caspian would generate an awful lot to be disposed of.
One of the things to remember it that something has to be done with the salt removed by desalination (whether very salty brine or solid). Sea salt is a saleable commodity so it has some potential value, but the Caspian would generate an awful lot to be disposed of.
If you've got so much extra energy that you're desalinating entire lakes, you could further electrolyze the salt to make sodium metal for batteries. Sodium metal and sodium-ion batteries are a developing technology that might offer an alternative to lithium-based battery chemistries in the future. Sodium can be used in nuclear reactors, too.Desalination plants on coasts take seawater, move salt from part of it to the other (larger) part, resulting in a stream of fresh water that's kept and a larger stream of salty brine that's returned to the ocean.
This is doable with reverse osmosis.
Extracting ALL the salt is much harder.
Plus you then have to ship all thatvsalt somewhere. Tonnes and tonnes of the stuff.
Yep. Shipboard steam distilling plants reject brine overboard, after first recovering as much heat from it as practical. There's a goodly amount of it (brine, that is).Desalination plants on coasts take seawater, move salt from part of it to the other (larger) part, resulting in a stream of fresh water that's kept and a larger stream of salty brine that's returned to the ocean.
This is doable with reverse osmosis.
Extracting ALL the salt is much harder.
Plus you then have to ship all thatvsalt somewhere. Tonnes and tonnes of the stuff.
If you've got so much extra energy that you're desalinating entire lakes, you could further electrolyze the salt to make sodium metal for batteries. Sodium metal and sodium-ion batteries are a developing technology that might offer an alternative to lithium-based battery chemistries in the future. Sodium can be used in nuclear reactors, too.
Actually I wonder if a channel or pipeline wouldn’t work just as fast and cheeper. A big pump station to pump out the water let it run clean for a while. Dredge the bottom/shore to eliminate the salt then allow to refill with fresh water, A huge project but probably easier the any other method
Or you could combine the two. If you're into blue-sky mega-engineering, I have an idea for boring a sea-level tunnel from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific Ocean sized for marine traffic and dotted (on the surface) with nuclear desalination plants. Yes, there would need to be a separate smaller tunnel for brine return and exhaust ventilation, but imagine the possibilities....
Oh, then I shouldn't mention the seven-mile-long (6 x 1 mile spans + approaches) stainless steel rail+transit+highway suspension bridge over San Francisco Bay between Point Richmond and the Embarcadero? Of course, back when I came up with this notion, there was still the stub of the Embarcadero Freeway to connect to as well as the rail spur to the wharves. But, then...oh, wait. Whoops...!I would as you not to give the nutter-butter's any MORE grand and impractical ideas please. I'm already dealing with far to many people who think a pipeline to the Pacific ocean "isn't all that difficult" to achieve
Randy