Scientists said the device can produce water with 99% purity and could eventually lead to reductions in fouling.
Each device would only process small amounts of water, but researchers believe that a large number of them – 1600 units – could produce around 15 litres of water per hour.
Developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and associates in Korea, a single unit was tested using water collected from Massachusetts beach.
Water was deliberately contaminated with small plastic particles, protein and human blood and MIT said the unit removed more than 99% of the salt and other contaminants.
The system works by separating salts and microbes from water by electrostatically repelling them away from the ion–selective membrane in the system— so the flowing water never needs to pass through a membrane.
According to researchers, this should help eliminate the need for high pressures and the problems of fouling.
The process has been called "ion concentration polarisation" and was described in a paper by Postdoctoral Associate, Sung Jae Kim and Associate Professor Jongyoon Han, both in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and colleagues in Korea.
"While the amount of electricity required by this method is actually slightly more than for present large–scale methods such as reverse osmosis, there is no other method that can produce small–scale desalination with anywhere near this level of efficiency," the researchers said.
"If properly engineered, the proposed system would only use about as much power as a conventional light bulb," they added.
Scientists plan to develop the product on a commercial scale over the next two years, producing a 100–unit device followed by a 10,000–unit system.
It is hoped the portable desalination units will be suitable for delivering drinking water to families or small villages in emergency situations such as Haiti's earthquake aftermath.
Black & Veatch expands Bay Area presence
Black & Veatch has expanded its Bay Area presence in the U.S. with the opening of a new office in downtown San Francisco. Water reuse and Wastewater will form two of six "Centres of Excellence" housed in the office, also including heavy civil engineering, management consulting, renewable energy and Smart Grid. Ralph Eberts, executive vice president in Black & Veatch's global water business, said: "Water scarcity and renewable energy implementation are significant challenges for all who live and work in California. Solutions we have implemented in other parts of the world, particularly in Australia, provide a blueprint for sustainable development here in the Bay Area."
Eberts has relocated to the San Francisco office from his previous post in Singapore, where he oversaw large–scale infrastructure projects across the Asia–Pacific region, including Australia.
As part of the opening, Eberts, on behalf of Black & Veatch's Building a World of Difference Foundation, presented a donation of $20,000 to Chet Aukley, a Volunteer Services Board Committee Member of the charitable organisation, Water For People.
Gold mine helps water–stressed Chile conserve resources
The Kinross–La Coipa gold mine of Compania Minera Mantos de Oro located south of Santiago has managed to cut the amount of water used for dust control by nearly two thirds, while simultaneously reducing dust emissions by more than half.
