MIT steam collector captures pure water for reuse in power plants
By Michael Irving
August 03, 2021
MIT engineers have developed a new steam collection device that can capture wasted water vapor from power plant cooling towers and reuse it
vencav/Depositphotos
Nuclear and fossil fuel power plants consume huge amounts of water for cooling, which then goes to waste as water vapor. MIT engineers have now developed a system that can capture and recycle that lost water.
Big plumes of white steam are a common sight around power plants, but while it’s somewhat a relief to know it’s not carbon dioxide or, worse, greenhouse gases, they do represent how much water is being consumed.
In recent years, MIT engineers have developed a system that can harvest that water vapor and collect it as very pure water. That can then be cycled back into the plant’s other systems that require water, such as cooling or boiling.
Previous technologies designed to wring water out of fog or vapor usually rely on materials with high surface areas that water droplets can cling to. The MIT tech does this too, but takes a more active role. First the droplets are zapped with an ion beam to give them an electrical charge, then they pass through wire meshes that have the opposite charge. That means the droplets are strongly attracted to the mesh, where they gather and fall into a tray below for collection.
More:
https://newatlas.com/environment/steam-collector-water-reuse-power-plants/