If freezing salt water produces freshwater ice, why is desalinization such a difficult problem?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2wafIzuvlI
I was watching the above minute physics video, and they indicated in a brief one sentence line that saltwater freezes into freshwater ice. That got me thinking.
Under what circumstances could you actually freeze salt into ice? To make salt ice?
It’s not that desalinisation is “hard”, you could just boil the water for example. It’s that it’s extremely energy intensive and complex to setup a process that’s both repeatable in industrial quantities and can produce enough flow to satisfy demand.
Didnt the Israelis figure out some revolutionary efficient process to do this?
It’s not difficult it’s just expensive and energy intensive, and frankly boiling water is both cheaper and easier and we’ve had lots of experience doing it in massive quantities since the steam age and it works great and gives off steam or hot water which can be used for lots more stuff like heating and even power generation. Ice is almost useless in comparison.
As for why you can’t freeze salt into ice, they don’t mix. It’s like trying to mix oil and water. Technically, if you get the ice really really cold and mash it up with some equally cold salt you could make some kind of mixture of ice and salt and maybe even compress it together until it forms a solid mass again, but it’s not saltwater ice, it’s just salt and ice mixed together like oil and water. They may appear mixed, but they don’t mix, they don’t dissolve into each other. Ice’s crystal structure does not have anywhere for the salt to go and the salt’s crystal structure doesn’t have anywhere for the ice to go they’re not compatible in any way.
It’s harder to freeze salt water then fresh water, do it’s not economical.
The most energy efficient method of desalination i believe uses a membrane and pressure to get the fresh water to one side.
But these aren’t even the biggest issue. The real question is what do you do with the left over brine? Desalination is not 100% perfect. You’re left with fresh water and a salty sludge called brine. It’s extremely difficult to dispose of without causing environmental impact
That is a really good point! I wonder if this means the polar ice caps have saltier oceans… but I’m guessing the brine is denser so it stays on the bottom.
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Please at least try to google it if you “learn” something from random YouTube videos
Salt lowers the freezing temp of water, so you would need to freeze it below 32 degrees.
That takes more energy to desalinate that way than a desalinator…
Like, what you’re doing is like asking why starving people don’t just order some food off Uber Eats…
Bro, this is “no stupid questions”. C’mon, man. Don’t be an asshat.
And I answered it…
If this:
Please at least try to google it if you “learn” something from random YouTube videos
Sounds like being “an asshat” to you then go ahead and block me. I’m gonna do the same so I never accidentally answer a question for you. So feel free not to, I’ll literally never know.
It’s pretty condescending imo.
Like, what you’re doing is like asking why starving people don’t just order some food off Uber Eats…
You don’t think this is asshat behavior? It’s a real dick move to say something like that in a community for “no stupid questions”.
…then go ahead and block me. I’m gonna do the same so I never accidentally answer a question for you. So feel free not to, I’ll literally never know.
Alright, bye then. Your eagerness to block and run away tells me that you know I’m right but you don’t want to accept it. It’s okay to make mistakes, we all do. You just gotta apologize, that’s all.
this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.
Lol, good info in the middle two sentences, way too much judging on either side. This guy is here to ask a question significantly more involved than “How to tie shoes”, the example in the sidebar, and you treat him like an idiot. Nice.
