You can now turn seawater into drinking water

A team of researchers at the University of Manchester have developed a sieve that can turn seawater into drinking water.

The graphene-based sieve is capable of removing salt from seawater. This groundbreaking research could help reduce the huge cost of desalination (the process of separating salt from water). Plants currently cost millions to build.



The team, which is led by Rahul Nair, has shown that the sieve is able to effectively filter out salts. The technique is still limited to the lab but in the future could allow for the provision of clean drinking water for millions of people around the world.

Graphene which was discovered in 2004 in Manchester is one atom thick and 200 times stronger than steel. It was long considered suitable for filtration and desalination.

While researchers have developed membranes that could filter large particles out of water, getting rid of small particles of salt requires small sieves that scientists have struggled to create.

An issue that graphene-oxide membranes faced was that when immersed in water it would become slightly swollen. This would allow for smaller salts to flow through the membrane along with water and block large molecules.

To overcome this, Nair and his team found a way to control the pore size in the membrane. This would mean it would not swell when exposed to water allowing for filtration of common salts out of salty water.



"This is a significant step forward and will open new possibilities for improving the efficiency of desalination technology," said Nair

"We are in the early stages, but graphene-oxide membranes could have huge potential for providing clean drinking water and saving lives," he added

The research has been published in the the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

This story originally appeared on BBC.