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A new study has demonstrated how the UK may be one of two island nations in a prime position to benefit from electricity from seawater with a high salt concentration. This method can work by harnessing the power of osmosis, the study has found, and, if it proves possible to take the process up to industrial scales, it could pave the way towards a remarkable new source of environmentally friendly energy. If realised, such power plants could be of particular use in island nations such as Japan and also the UK — where seawater is a commodity to which we have abundant access.
The study, undertaken by nanotech researcher Professor Makusu Tsutsui of the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research at Osaka University and his colleagues, focusses on a process that is likely familiar from school biology classes — osmosis.
This is the process by which ions or molecules dissolved in a solution spontaneously move across a selectively permeable membrane when there is a difference in their concentrations on either side.
In plants and animals, for example, osmosis provides the primary means by which water is transported into and out of cells via their surrounding membranes.
Instead of water, however, Prof. Tsutsui and his colleagues have focussed on the movement of ions — using a different type of super-thin and highly selective membrane.
They engineered this membrane such that instead allows ions to pass through, but not molecules of water.
Prof. Makusu said: “Whenever there is a non-equilibrium situation, such as two water tanks with different salt concentrations, there is often an opportunity to convert this thermodynamic energy into electricity.”
In their study, the researchers worked with an ultrathin membrane made of silicon nitride, into which they created specific arrangements of precisely structured nano-sized pores using well-established techniques developed for processing semiconductor materials.
They started by fabricating a membrane which bore a single pore with a diameter of around 20 nanometers — that is, some 3,500 times thinner than the average human hair.
When placed between two solutions with a 1,000-fold difference in salt concentration, the team found that this simple device was capable of reaching a peak power efficiency of 400 kilowatts per square metre.
Experimenting with different pore densities and configurations, the team found that adding too many nanopores to the silicon membrane would actually reduce the total amount of power that could be extracted from the setup.
The optimum configuration, they found, used nanopores that had a diameter of 100 nanometers, arranged in grid and spaced at intervals of one micrometre, or around a 70th of the thickness of a human hair.
This, they reported, yielded an osmotic power density of 100 watts per square metre, enough to run an LED light bulb from one square foot of membrane.
Having determined the best design for such nanopore devices, the team can now move to explore how the concept might be scaled up from a laboratory proof-of-concept towards an industrial-sized version capable of providing meaningful quantities of power in the real world.
Senior paper author and physical chemist Professor Tomoji Kawai said: “Many other research groups are promising environmentally friendly ‘green’ energy.
“But we go one step further and propose ‘blue’ energy based on ocean water that can be applied on an industrial scale.”
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Commenting on the concept, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) head of analysis Simon Cran-McGreehin told Express.co.uk: “Advances in clean energy technology are coming thick and fast, giving us ample options for powering a future without oil and gas.
“This new method of generating power from salt water has the advantage of using existing manufacturing methods – a great example of net zero innovation expanding industry and cutting costs.
“In theory it has huge potential, but will need to be tested further, and in the meantime the UK can continue pushing ahead with wind and solar — proven technologies that have been up to nine times cheaper than gas electricity generation during this current gas crisis.”
The full findings of the study were published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
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