Local people along the Vietnamese coastline have long suffered from shortages of fresh water. Sharing their suffering, scientists from the Vietnam Chemistry, Science and Technology Institute have recently researched and put a solution into operation by using solar power to distil seawater.
Low-cost technology
The technology is based on a natural principle of water evaporation. Seawater is to fill a big tank that is covered with transparent glass. Sunlight will heat seawater in the tank and evaporate. When the vapour meets the glass, it condensates and flows into the fresh water container.
The technology is inexpensive. It will cost a family only a few hundred thousand VND to build the system. Each system can produce some liters a day, meeting the minimum demand of a family for fresh water for drinking a day.
Some systems installed in Ben Tre and Thua Thien Hue have demonstrated the feasibility of the project.
The size of the tank will depend on the need of the users. For a large family or a community, the tank must be larger.
Although the technology has shown positive results, scientists still are studying to raise the capacity of the system. Head of the research team, Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Tien Tai said, “We were considering cheap materials that can best restore heat so that people can have fresh water even when there is no sun.”
The material now used has tripled the capacity of the system. In the past, a square meter of the tank could produce only 2-3 liters of fresh water a day, but it can now distil 6-8 liters a day.
Empathy with islanders
According to Associate Professor, Doctor Tai, the technology is especially suitable for military people who are posted on islands. The technological solution in fact with just a few materials and technical requirements is not difficult to realise.
He said that soldiers living on reefs can also apply the technology to distil seawater into fresh water by building tanks on rafts.
“I recently read an article about the shortage of fresh water for soldiers on Truong Sa (Spratly) islands. I empathise with them and am willing to help them. If any individual or organisation, especially people and soldiers on islands want me, I am ready to go and help build systems, and even transfer the technology,” said Tai.
Source: TP
Translated by Thu Nguyen