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Extracting trace elements from sea water
Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2007 7:35 pm
by PMN1
How about extracting trace elements from sea water, this has already been suggested for OTEC plants but if you can supply even more energy at low cost?
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 3:05 am
by Roger
Desalinization is something the DOC mentions & will be very important in the coming decades, of course (lol) Boron is found in sea water.
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:42 pm
by jlumartinez
I think we don´t need to search B11 in the sea water. The 80% of the total amount of boron is the isotope B11 (the rest is B10) , so the land should be plenty of it.
Which kind of extracted elements are you referring in this question? Give us some examples and its utility.
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 1:56 pm
by Nanos
What cheap methods of getting that 80% out exist ?
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:58 pm
by MSimon
I couldn't say how it is done, but isotopically separated Boron is widely used in making semiconductors.
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:40 pm
by Nanos
Do you need any special licenses to buy it, or can anyone just order some off ebay ?
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:58 pm
by MSimon
Depends.
If you buy it as a Boron Hydride it is quite dangerous.
If you go to the people that make it and buy it as boron it is less hazardous.
Search - boron semiconductor specialty gas isotope
Ought to bring up something useful.
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:01 pm
by PMN1
jlumartinez wrote:
Which kind of extracted elements are you referring in this question? Give us some examples and its utility.
None in particular, a Wiki article and a few others I have looked at since suggest that with OTEC, you will be pumping large amounts of water so why not use some of the energy to extract elements...
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:08 pm
by Roger
Nanos wrote:What cheap methods of getting that 80% out exist ?
One way is to use heating/condensation or distilling which should leave behind all the minerals in the sea water. This in effect is removing the Boron from the seawater.