Nature article re MoS2 osmotic electricity generation

[SV DestinyAscen]

Read this article on Nature during lunch today - most intriguing development in membrane technology research that may one day enable us to generate electricity by using the salinity osmotic gradient between unwanted brine from our watermakers and the ocean I'll probably be in the ground before the technology matures, but here's to you youngins!

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/2....pdf?version=1

[accomplice]

It's an interesting idea, but unless I'm missing something, one cannot generate energy this way -- at best one can hope to reclaim some of the energy spent creating a saltier brine out of the watermaker. Potentially this could create a net improvement in watermaker energy efficiency, but probably just a small amount.

[SV DestinyAscen]

You're correct that it'll function like energy recovery - since I believe the idea that energy potential between the two medias > greater than pump energy demand = violation of 1st law of thermodynamics?

But the gap between pump energy requirement vs. energy potential between the two medias (brine and seawater) could be higher in efficiency than your run of the mill genset.

[RaymondR]

Osmosis can generate some very substantial pressure differentials but I doubt if the flow is ever going to be enough to generate much actual power.