Article on discovery.
A new filtration system utilizing graphene, a single atom wide sheet of carbon molecules, is expected to severely reduce the cost of removing salt from water.
"It's 500 times thinner than the best filter on
the market today and a thousand times stronger," said John Stetson, the
engineer who has been working on the idea. "The energy that's required
and the pressure that's required to filter salt is approximately 100
times less."
Producing the graphene efficiently is the biggest setback in this process, but should this be achieved water will become much more available to places that previously had no access to fresh water.
This is definitely not the first time I've heard of graphene, but it is one of the better uses I have seen it applied to. I look forward to seeing what other advancements in technology may have a resounding effect on our lives.
I've heard of the idea of using graphene for these types of processes with its unique properties. But as you mentioned, manufacturing it is still difficult. Separating it from graphite, where it occurs naturally, has been the struggling point.
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