Comment on If a planet was completely covered in water, wouldn't it all be freshwater?
XeroxCool@lemmy.world 3 weeks agoIf salts were present when the water froze, the salts would still be there. If the ice is pure water but you can’t microscopically brush away all the salts during thawing, can fresh water be extracted?
Revan343@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
In freeze desalination, the initial ice crystals before it freezes solid are pure water; you mostly freeze a volume of saltwater into slush, strain out the ice, and discard the liquid (which will be bribe; higher in salt than your initial water).
Probably not super efficient, and probably needs multiple steps, but I dunno. Somewhere where the ambient temperature is below freezing, but geothermal is available, it could work at scale, but if you have to refrigerate, you’re probably better off with regular distillation