Friday JohnKu – AKA -TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell
Co-inventor Jon Bessette sits atop a trailer housing the electrodialysis desalination system – credit Shane Pratt, via MIT Press

 

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network.

Hyper Efficient Solar-Powered Desalination System Requires No Extra Batteries to Purify Groundwater

By Andy Corbley–

An engineering team from MIT has designed a solar-powered groundwater desalination device that could supply over 1,000 gallons per day and doesn’t require batteries.

Envisioned as a way to provide water to communities whose groundwater is too brackish to drink, the device’s real trick is adjusting its desalination activity in response to the amount of solar power it produces.

Multiple times every second, the central control module takes readings of the strength of the sunlight and pumps correspondingly more or less water through the electrodialysis membrane stack. This innovation allows the whole package to skip the necessity for battery storage for times when the panels are producing more energy than the system is using.

No batteries means much lower costs and shipping weight, making it ideal for rural communities in arid parts of the Global South or southern United States with ample yearly sunshine and brackish groundwater.

Electrodialysis is one of two methods for desalinating water, with the other being reverse osmosis. Both have drawbacks at both the micro and macro scale, and in the case of electrodialysis, it requires electricity, which is typically produced by fossil fuels. Renewables have replaced them before, but challenges persist.

“The majority of the population actually lives far enough from the coast that seawater desalination could never reach them. They consequently rely heavily on groundwater, especially in remote, low-income regions,” says Jonathan Bessette, MIT PhD student in mechanical engineering and co-author on the project.

“[U]nfortunately, this groundwater is becoming more and more saline due to climate change. This technology could bring sustainable, affordable clean water to under-reached places around the world.”

For Bessette and the team behind the invention, their biggest challenge was establishing feedback mechanisms in the system that were sharp enough to detect minute changes in sunlight, for example, if a whisp of cloud passes by.

Over months of testing and improvements, their “flow command-current control” module gradually reached the point at which 94% of the solar power generated by the panels was utilized immediately to pump water through the desalination system without any lag and any transfer of power to a battery.

During a 6-month field trial at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, the system produced 5,000 liters of water per day despite large swings in weather and available sunlight.

“Conventional desalination technologies require steady power and need battery storage to smooth out a variable power source like solar,” explains Amos Winter, a decorated professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “Being able to make drinking water with renewables, without requiring battery storage, is a massive grand challenge. And we’ve done it.”

Amos and Bessette are now looking to form a company to develop the technology into a product to help water-stressed communities worldwide.

The good news about this story is that fresh water can be made without using fossil fuels. Today’s JohnKu talks about chipping away at innovation. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Perseverance by John W. Howell © 2025

Big problems exist,

Continued working on them . . .

produces results.

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Published by John W. Howell

I have been working in business for over forty years and now have the time to work in special areas of interest. My passion has always been to create compelling stories of fiction. I have authored six novels and am working on my Seventh. The first novel is still in manuscript form and being utilized as a door stop in the laundry room. The second is a contemporary fiction novel of 89,000 words and is complete and I am currently seeking a publisher. I also write poetry but have not had the guts to share any with anyone. The one time I read a piece to a person their only comment was, “it doesn’t rhyme.” I will continue to write and hopefully my blog, Fiction Favorites at www.johnwhowell.com will provide some entertainment and an interesting thought or two. I live in the Austin area with my wife Molly and an assortment of loving pets.

64 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA -TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  2. I’m hearing more and more about water issues in Corpus Christi and the surrounding area. This could be as useful for places like the King Ranch as for more urban areas, especially if it can be scaled up.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. How wonderful that there are people out there always searching for solutions. Those of us who have easy access to water don’t realise to what extent others don’t. Excellent share, John.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Water will become the gold and oil of the future, I believe. I am encouraged by the discovery of huge pockets of water here and there below the surface but this invention is for the now, especially for those in drought-stricken areas. I’ve tasted desalinated water – it’s not great but certainly better than no water!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. It’s just astonishing what can be done nowadays, isn’t it? In spite of everything, we still have some brilliant minds in this country. I’ve said it a thousand times; it’s an exciting time to be alive!

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Wonderful news! Ingenuity and determination can transform our lives. Thank you for this Good News! 👏🏻

    Liked by 1 person

  25. That is wonderful news about the purification of water. I feel so many new initiatives and great ideas will begin to help solve many issues we face currently around our planet.. I am reading lots of great ideas are in the works for helping our planet and ourselves, clean up our acts..

    Thank you for sharing John xx

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Agreed… Now if only we could solve how to create Energy more efficiently and cheaply…. Our Energy bills here in the UK are I am told 5 times higher than in the USA…. It is crippling business’s and home users ..

        Liked by 1 person

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