A joint research team of Korea and the United States of America has drawn attention by developing a portable desalination device.

The technology that goes in to the device was developed by Professor Jongyoon Han and Professor Sung Jae Kim of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor Kang Kwan Hyoung and PhD student Sung Hee Ko of POSTECH. The technology uses ion concentration polarization that is used in the production of salt and caustic soda to eliminate salt and harmful substances.

The technology that the research team has developed is somewhat different from current existing technology. It uses the force of ion-exchange layer to shove out any matter that has a charge and gets rid of salt and other substances to get fresh water. With this technology the energy efficiency rises and enables the device to use less electricity than a radio to get a liter of water and can be powered by a solar thermal battery that is currently being developed.

The size of the unit device is 4mm×5mm and the whole device is expected to be only the size of a desktop computer, different from current desalination technology that requires factory size devices and construction infrastructure.

The device produces drinkable water with pH 7.0~7.5 and a salt concentration of 3mM that fits the drinking water quality regulation of WHO and even annihilates bacteria and minute particles.

“This device produces less water than the present device but it uses less electricity and most importantly is portable so it is fit to be made into a portable desalination device for disaster areas and for military purposes,” explained professor Kang Kwan Hyoung.

The research progress was announced on March 21 in the online version of Nature Nanotechnology which covers all areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology and their application.