
Making Salt Water Drinkable Just Got 99 Percent Easier - mhb
http://gizmodo.com/5990876/lockheeds-new-carbon-filter-takes-all-the-effort-out-of-desalinization
======
Dylan16807
When I search to find the minimum energy cost of separating the salt and water
based on entropy, I find this article:

[http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/08/desalinization-is-
thi...](http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/08/desalinization-is-this-as-good-
as-it-gets/)

> A state-of-the-art facility is now within a factor of two of the theoretical
> energy minimum

> The total process of desalination turns out to require three to four times
> the theoretical minimal energy use, since the salt water must be pumped and
> pretreated, the membranes maintained, and the resulting brine handled
> afterwards.

Somebody is not being very honest.

~~~
BorisMelnik
ELI5? are you saying lockheed took this from someone else?

~~~
perlgeek
I think the point is that if you're a factor 2 or 4 away from the theoretical
optimal efficiency, you can't make it a factor 100 easier, as this article
claims. The best you can do is to reach the theoretical optimum.

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convexfunction
The author doing the usual journalism thing of not understanding what's going
on and then breathlessly reporting something similar and very wrong that'll
get certain people excited is one thing, I know to expect that. Watching this
get upvoted onto the front page is... well, maybe my expectations are too
high.

~~~
tim333
>Watching this get upvoted onto the front page is...

It takes a little while to read up and see the flaws. Guess people vote first.
I was just reading the osmotic pressure for seawater is about 1000 psi so the
resistance of the membrane is probably going to be pretty small in comparison.

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desireco42
So this article obviously is not representing truth. Essentially author picked
old news, as someone said, Graphene has a new publicist. Also didn't really
understand how thing work to be able to claim 100 times better efficiency.

My question is this, why do these things happen?

Is it because Gizmodo is hiring people who would work for rock bottom
salaries?

Is it because journalists are pushed to crank out articles?

Is it something else?

~~~
acheron
> why do these things happen?

> Gizmodo

Friends don't let friends read Gawker.

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tablewatcher
This is from 2013. Anyone come across recent development from it?

~~~
pinewurst
[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lockheed-martin-
graphene-i...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lockheed-martin-graphene-
idUSKBN0LO2F320150220)

I have a feeling this is very much like their announcement of commercial
fusion power.

~~~
nxzero
Agree, forgot about that.

------
nxzero
Seems like the most obvious next step for someone interested in the research
would be just to contact the research lead directly:

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-stetson-
jr-48aa3a50](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-stetson-jr-48aa3a50)

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ZenoArrow
This is a well known application of graphene, the challenge is in working out
the manufacturing processes to get the cost down whilst still retaining the
material uniformity. It will be revolutionary when its available. Does anyone
have any news of recent progress in graphene manufacturing?

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czottmann
Article is from 2013.

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dghughes
Anything amazing these days you just know graphene is involved without even
looking at the article.

Just the past 11 days alone I've seen articles on graphene coated solar panels
make power, graphene filters for terahertz communications, nanotube film,
nano-silicon graphene Li-Ion battery electrodes, even graphene tennis rackets
and now this graphene water filter.

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SaaS_throwme
Graphene has been creating quite a few news (other was raindrop electricity).

What's the cost of graphene, is it cheap enough?

~~~
c22
Well you can always peel it off the tips of your pencils.

~~~
kilotaras
To quote wikipedia > Not to be confused with Graphite, Grapheme, Graphane, or
Graphyne.

~~~
c22
So not this stuff?[http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/poster-
nobelprize.cfm](http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/poster-nobelprize.cfm)

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mrfusion
If this was true it would change everything: agriculture in the worlds deserts
would cut food prices in half or more, greening he deserts would suck up a ton
of co2, no more water shortages.

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ythl
Yeah, yeah, we know, graphene can cure all the world's problems.

