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Greenhouses are known to reduce water use while simultaneously increasing plant yield. The reduced water demand presumably comes from a local increase in humidity.
Increased humidity reduces water loss by transpiration - that is, evaporation through the plant leaves. (Plant leaves have internal surfaces
for gas exchange, because they need to acquire carbon dioxide and release oxygen.)
However, greenhouses are generally not completely air-tight, exchanging air with the environment at some rate. Even if carbon dioxide is supplied from a concentrated source, oxygen must escape, and sometimes windows are opened to maintain a suitable internal temperature. Therefore, water is still lost to the atmosphere.
In many places, water pure enough to be suitable for irrigation is at a premium, yet there may be a ready supply of low-quality water, contaminated by non-volatile solutes. For example, coastal regions have access to copious sea-water, containing sodium and chlorine ions, amongst others.
I propose that in these situations, an evaporator system could productively be used to transfer water demand away from the high-quality supply. The precise embodiment of this depends on the water source and other local considerations.
In some cases, complete evaporation may be used to produce a solid product, which may have its own commercial value. In others, all precipitation may be avoided; a more concentrated outflow would then be necessary.
using sewage to produce gas which can be burned
https://www.science...i/S2590123024005474 This was already not new when I came across it in about 1990 [pertinax, Sep 12 2025]
[link]
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[+] I think you're talking about utilizing so called grey water which seems like a no brainer. Has there been any research into utilizing blackwater for something utilitarian instead of just treating it with expensive processes and dumping it? |
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I wasn't specifically thinking about greywater. The problem with that is it actually gets quite nasty if you store it for any length of time. |
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If you do have a ready supply of greywater, though, it may well be suitable for irrigating crops after only limited treatment. You could certainly do that as well. If it was still limiting, my proposal would then extend the area you could irrigate using it. |
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I was thinking more of cases like where you've got mine run-off water, chock-full of heavy metal salts or whatever. If you could evaporate that down to a solid 'cake', that might be a win in and of itself. |
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//Has there been any research into utilizing blackwater// |
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It's an entire field of research, and has been for many years. See link, or just google "sludge digestion". |
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