Bubble desalination latest effort to boost crop growth
The article in Desalination explains the Bubble-Greenhouse: A holistic sustainable approach to small-scale water desalination in remote regions. The Bubble-Greenhouse idea develops an existing seawater greenhouse concept, which uses the evaporation and condensation of salt water to produce fresh water for irrigation and to create a cool, humid environment inside a greenhouse, meaning crops need less water to grow. The new approach moves the evaporation and condensation processes outside the greenhouse. Inside two water-filled ‘bubble columns’, streams of thousands of tiny bubbles create a large surface for water to evaporate or condense. A unique property of seawater prevents the small bubbles joining to form big bubbles, thus maintaining a large surface area. Remote, arid places could be provided with a low-tech, low-maintenance way to turn salt water into fresh water to grow food. As the technology is conceptually simple to implement, it holds great potential for community participation, empowerment, skills development and capacity building of local people in remote locations.