❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
❅
Apparently Apparel
  • News Watch
  • Market Watch
  • Weather Watch
  • Quake Watch
  • Sky Watch
  • Space Watch
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Gaming
    • Meditate
    • Bill of Rights
    • Privacy Policy
  • Free Energy
  • ZOAT
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Upload News

Apparently Apparel
News Watch

River Water and Salty Ocean Water Used to Generate Electricity

4/25/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
Stanford researchers have developed a battery that takes advantage of the difference in salinity between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity.

Anywhere freshwater enters the sea, such as river mouths or estuaries, could be potential sites for a power plant using such a battery, said Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research team.

The theoretical limiting factor, he said, is the amount of freshwater available. "We actually have an infinite amount of ocean water; unfortunately we don't have an infinite amount of freshwater," he said.

As an indicator of the battery's potential for producing power, Cui's team calculated that if all the world's rivers were put to use, their batteries could supply about 2 terawatts of electricity annually -- that's roughly 13 percent of the world's current energy consumption.

Picture
The battery itself is simple, consisting of two electrodes -- one positive, one negative -- immersed in a liquid containing electrically charged particles, or ions. In water, the ions are sodium and chlorine, the components of ordinary table salt.

Initially, the battery is filled with freshwater and a small electric current is applied to charge it up. The freshwater is then drained and replaced with seawater. Because seawater is salty, containing 60 to 100 times more ions than freshwater, it increases the electrical potential, or voltage, between the two electrodes. That makes it possible to reap far more electricity than the amount used to charge the battery.

"The voltage really depends on the concentration of the sodium and chlorine ions you have," Cui said. "If you charge at low voltage in freshwater, then discharge at high voltage in sea water, that means you gain energy. You get more energy than you put in."

Once the discharge is complete, the seawater is drained and replaced with freshwater and the cycle can begin again. "The key thing here is that you need to exchange the electrolyte, the liquid in the battery," Cui said. He is lead author of a study published in the journal Nano Letters earlier this month.

In their lab experiments, Cui's team used seawater they collected from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast and freshwater from Donner Lake, high in the Sierra Nevada. They achieved 74 percent efficiency in converting the potential energy in the battery to electrical current, but Cui thinks with simple modifications, the battery could be 85 percent efficient.

To enhance efficiency, the positive electrode of the battery is made from nanorods of manganese dioxide. That increases the surface area available for interaction with the sodium ions by roughly 100 times compared with other materials. The nanorods make it possible for the sodium ions to move in and out of the electrode with ease, speeding up the process.

Other researchers have used the salinity contrast between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity, but those processes typically require ions to move through a membrane to generate current. Cui said those membranes tend to be fragile, which is a drawback. Those methods also typically make use of only one type of ion, while his battery uses both the sodium and chlorine ions to generate power.
Picture
Cui's team had the potential environmental impact of their battery in mind when they designed it. They chose manganese dioxide for the positive electrode in part because it is environmentally benign.

The group knows that river mouths and estuaries, while logical sites for their power plants, are environmentally sensitive areas.

"You would want to pick a site some distance away, miles away, from any critical habitat," Cui said. "We don't need to disturb the whole system, we just need to route some of the river water through our system before it reaches the ocean. We are just borrowing and returning it," he said.

The process itself should have little environmental impact. The discharge water would be a mixture of fresh and seawater, released into an area where the two waters are already mixing, at the natural temperature.

One of Cui's concerns is finding a good material for the negative electrode. He used silver for the experiments, but silver is too expensive to be practical.

His group did an estimate for various regions and countries and determined that South America, with the Amazon River draining a large part of the continent, has the most potential. Africa also has an abundance of rivers, as do Canada, the United States and India.

But river water doesn't necessarily have to be the source of the freshwater, Cui said.

"The water for this method does not have to be extremely clean," he said. Storm runoff and gray water could potentially be useable.

A power plant operating with 50 cubic meters of freshwater per second could produce up to 100 megawatts of power, according to the team's calculations. That would be enough to provide electricity for about 100,000 households.

Cui said it is possible that even treated sewage water might work.

"I think we need to study using sewage water," he said. "If we can use sewage water, this will sell really well."

Posted by Zach Royer | April 25th. 2011 7:01 AM HAST |                  Feel Free To Share!
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    News Watch

    Mind-opening news articles, editorials, videos & apparel that inspire our readers and help liberate them from the status quo. Stay informed.

    Email address:


    Write For Us

    Guest Writers/Bloggers Wanted
    Reach 1000's of readers daily!
    Picture
    Picture
    You are not a product!

    Space Watch


    Picture

    Top News


    News Watch Categories

    All
    2011
    2012
    2013
    2014
    2015
    2017
    2018
    2019
    2020
    2021
    2022
    2023
    5D
    5G
    Alaska
    Alchemy
    Alcohol
    Alex Jones
    Aliens
    Allison Jornlin
    Alternative
    American Ghost Walks
    Ancient Aliens
    Animals
    Anonymous
    Anthony Fauci
    Anti Gravity
    Apophis
    Apparel
    Apple
    Archaeology
    Architecture
    Artificial Intelligence
    Atlantis
    Beauty Products
    Bermuda Triangle
    Big Tech
    Bio Warfare
    Bio-warfare
    Breaking News
    Business
    California
    Cambridge Analytica
    Cannabis
    Celebrities
    CES
    Chakras
    ChatGPT
    Chemtrails
    China
    Climate
    Comedy
    Community
    Consciousness
    Conspiracy
    Constitution
    Coronavirus
    Cover Ups
    COVID 19
    Daily News
    Damon T. Berry
    Dane Wigington
    Data Privacy
    Deep State
    Died Suddenly
    Disclosure
    Diy
    Dna
    Documentary
    Drkstrong
    Drones
    Dutchsinse
    Earth Changes
    Earthquakes
    Economy
    Egypt
    Election
    Elon Musk
    Emerdata
    Energy
    Engineering
    Environmental
    ESA
    Ets
    Exclusive
    Exopolitics
    Exposed
    Facebook
    Fluoride
    Food & Dining
    Fracking
    Fraud
    Free Energy
    Frequency Levels
    Fusion
    Futuristic News
    Gadgets
    Gematria
    Geoengineering
    Germany
    Global Alert News
    Government
    Gray State
    Great Reset
    Guest Contributors
    Hawaii
    Health
    History
    Home Improvement
    Hot Headlines
    Human Interest
    Human Origins
    Illuminati
    Industry
    Inspiration
    Interesting
    ISV Columbus
    Jesus Christ
    John Rappoport
    John Searl
    Just For Laughs
    Lemuria
    Life
    Life And Health
    Mark Dice
    Market Research
    Mark Zuckerberg
    Mars
    Meta Tech
    Mike Huberty
    Military
    Music
    Mystery
    NASA
    Native American
    Natural Disasters
    Natural News
    Nature
    New Years
    Nullification
    Nursing
    Obama
    Olera Naturkosmetik
    Operation Mockingbird
    Operation Paperclip
    Opinion
    Orwellian
    Paracress
    Paranormal
    PDFs
    Physics
    Planet Earth
    Pole Shift
    Police State
    Preparedness
    Project Redsun
    Propaganda
    Pyramids
    Q
    Quarantine
    Russia
    Sacred Geometry
    Samsung
    Science
    Sex
    Situation Update
    Social Credit
    Solar Activity
    Solar Warden
    Space
    Space Force
    Spiritual
    Spiro 1
    Stonehenge
    Strange Places
    Sun Of God
    Surfing
    SuspiciousObservers
    Sustainable
    Syria
    Technology
    Tesla
    Thebarcaroller
    The Truth
    The Why Files
    Transhumanism
    Trump
    TruthGPT
    Truthstream Media
    Ufo
    Ukraine
    Unexplained
    Urgent News
    Us Economy
    Us News
    Viral Videos
    Volcano
    Water 4.0
    Weather
    Whistleblowers
    World
    World Economic Forum
    World News
    WW3
    Yoga
    Zeitgeist

Picture
HAVE A TIP OR STORY TO TELL?  JOIN TODAY & SHARE YOUR STORY!
If you have a breaking news tip or idea, please email: tips@apparentlyapparel.com
Apparently Apparel® is a registered trade name and part of the ZOAT International® brands network. © 2007-2023. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy.  All art & news content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. ApparentlyApparel.com is not responsible for content written by contributing artists, authors or news feeds. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. ApparentlyApparel.com assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material.
  • News Watch
  • Market Watch
  • Weather Watch
  • Quake Watch
  • Sky Watch
  • Space Watch
  • Resources
    • Links
    • Gaming
    • Meditate
    • Bill of Rights
    • Privacy Policy
  • Free Energy
  • ZOAT
  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Upload News