Salt, NaCl, Sodium Chloride.

[Karnuvap]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

This could work but have a look at it in reality. It is a big job requiring a lot of energy.
Say the coast of NSW. to get water inland you would need 200+ miles of pipe. Water would need to be lifted 1,000 +? m over the Blue Mountains

I was thinking more of those places where the desert is close to the coast (and not the other side of a mountain range!)

I like your idea of allowing the extra-salty water to get back to the sea while also using it to pre-heat the incoming sea water on its way to the evaporation pools. Every little bit helps.

I also think that anything that help sea evaporation is also good. I have seen some plans for giant fountains that spray water into the sky above the surface of the sea and it evaporates on the way down - thus creating clouds that will, hopefully drop their rain over land.

We can only hope that someone will take these ideas and turn them into reality.

The Vap.

[Michaelangelica]

New rice hybrid grows on salty lands

Last Updated(Beijing Time):2008-10-14 08:02
A Chinese scientist announced Monday in Shenzhen that he has successfully developed hybridized rice that could grow in salina - land areas or bodies of water encrusted with crystalline salt.

"The experiment in Shandong province showed the hybridized rice could survive in salina, and the output for 1 mu (about 667 sq m) of land could reach 360 kg," Zhu Peikun, inventor of the technology, said.

Ordinary rice died when researchers attempted to grow it on the same land, he said.

He began studying the possibility of hybridizing Spartina - a plant species commonly known as "cord grass" that flourishes in coastal salt marshes - with rice in 2003.
'"Our goal wasn't to develop a rice variety that appeared like cord grass but rather, one that lived like cord grass," he said.

"China has about 1.48 billion mu of salina, nearly three-fourths of its total cultivatable land. If my invention could be applied, it could help dramatically increase the country's grain output."

New rice hybrid grows on salty lands_Sci&Tech--China Economic Net

[Michaelangelica]

High Salt Levels In Food Banished By Seaweed

ScienceDaily (Sep. 18, 2008) — High salt levels in processed food could be a thing of the past, thanks to new research which has found that a certain type of seaweed can be used as a natural, health boosting alternative that doesn't affect the taste or adversely affect the shelf life of the food.
In a project that could revolutionise the food industry and improve the health of millions, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have been working with Seagreens® to develop the use of seaweed granules as an alternative to salt (sodium chloride) in processed food.

Around 75 per cent of our daily salt intake comes from processed foods, with the average adult consuming 50 per cent more salt than the recommended limit of six grams per day.

Too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, which triples a person's chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke. Experts predict that if all adults cut their salt intake down to recommended levels then 70,000 heart attacks and strokes would be prevented each year in the UK.

High Salt Levels In Food Banished By Seaweed
A fad or fairdinkum?
http://www.seagreens.com/

[Michaelangelica]

Interesting discussion on soil salinity
Permaculture discussion forum • View topic - Farmland salinity, groundwater

[cooloola]

Michael - to answer your query about childrens diarrhea and salt -
we all lose key body salts during episodes of diarrhea children and infants have smaller bodies which lose a comparitively greater ammount of salts during those episodes plus due to their habit of sticking fingers in places they shouldn't be and into their mouths are more likely to get diarreah in the first place. The effects of dehydration are not only from the water lost from the body but also the salts, sodium chloride, bicarbonates, potassium and magnesium. Oral rehydration therapy sachets as recommended by UNICEF and WHO contain sodium chloride, trisodium citrate dihydrate, potassium chloride and glucose added to a litre of cooled boiled water. The glucose greatly enhances the intestines ability to absorb fluid and salts (as much as 20 times more). For those without the sachets a homemade recipe of ORT is: I Litre of cooled boiled water, one level teaspoon of salt, 8 level teaspoons of sugar. Potassium is then replaced by inclusion of banana's to the diet in the days after the diarreah has settled.
Salt is essential to health and there is an abundance of it occuring naturally in food so no need to add. Too much salt is bad - where salt goes water follows so too much salt means too much water and too much water means increase in blood pressure.

[Michaelangelica]

10 Everyday Technologies That Can Change the World | Environment | DISCOVER Magazine

10 Chlorine from Salt
For the roughly 1.2 billion people lacking clean water, a bit of chlorine could go a long way toward providing it. Using two ounces of salt water and some muscle, University of Iowa engineering professor Craig Just can make enough bleach to kill the disease-causing microorganisms in five gallons of water. His trick: a hand-cranked device that generates electricity to zap water molecules, splitting them and joining them with chlorine atoms from salt. Just and his students plan to test a prototype in Ghana and Honduras next year.

[Michaelangelica]

"Salinity power" exploits the chemical differences between salt and fresh water, and this project only hints at the technology's potential: from the mouth of the Ganges to the Mississippi delta, almost every large estuary could produce a constant flow of green electricity, day and night, rain or shine, without damaging sensitive ecosystems or threatening fisheries (see map). One estimate has it that salinity power could eventually become a serious power player, supplying as much as 7 per cent of today's global energy needs.
. . .
Working at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beer Sheva, Israel, he envisaged a tank with two chambers separated by a semipermeable membrane. With saltwater on one side and fresh on the other, osmosis would draw fresh water into the salty side, raising its pressure. This pressurised saltwater could then be piped through a turbine to generate electricity (see diagram). Loeb named this process pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) and patented it in 1973.

His plan was to harvest power where rivers meet the ocean, close to the point where fresh water meets salt. Fresh water would be piped to a generating plant from upstream and saltwater from downstream. Inside the plant, the fresh and saltwater would be channelled along either side of a membrane. Osmosis would then provide sufficient water pressure on the salty side of the membrane - up to 12 atmospheres, Loeb reckoned - to make electricity generation profitable.
. . .
Statkraft calculates that salinity power could eventually provide Norway with up to 12 terrawatt-hours of electricity annually, roughly 10 per cent of the country's consumption. "We estimate the global potential to be 1600 to 1700 terrawatt-hours annually," says Skilhagen, about 1 per cent of the world's annual energy needs. This would mean using about half of the fresh water flowing through every large estuary.

There is some scepticism that Statkraft's technology can be rolled out globally. Norwegian rivers are relatively clear of mud and silt, says Veerman. "In other parts of the world such as the Netherlands and the UK there is lots of silt and bacteria in the rivers." The cost of cleaning up this water makes PRO a non-starter, he says.

So Veerman and his colleagues at Wetsus have devised a rival system - a salt-based battery. Dubbed Blue Energy, it generates electricity by moving ions rather than water molecules across membranes. Their membranes are along the same lines as those used in kidney dialysis machines. In fact, their system requires two kinds of membrane - one permeable to positive ions, the other to negative ions. Both are impermeable to water.

Salt solution: Cheap power from the river's mouth - environment - 25 February 2009 - New Scientist

This is remarkable and could have a lot of applications in Australia. (A lot of Saltwater aquafiers)
Could someone explain it to me please?
Salt solution: Cheap power from the river's mouth - environment - 25 February 2009 - New Scientist

[modest]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Could someone explain it to me please?
Salt solution: Cheap power from the river's mouth - environment - 25 February 2009 - New Scientist

This page offers a good explanation:

Osmotic energy

Any time a person can create a high-pressure container (a system wherein the pressure is higher than the outside environment) then it's possible to use that difference in pressure to generate electric power. The high pressure can be used to turn a generator as it exits the high-pressure container and flows to the outside environment.

If a person had a container full of salt water where the pressure of the water in the container was normal atmospheric pressure, and they put a semipermeable membrane lid on the container which allowed water to flow through the membrane in and out of the container, but does not allow salt to escape the container then they could put the container in a freshwater source like a lake or a river.

When the person does this then water will move into the container to try and balance the water's partial pressure inside and outside the container. As water moves into the container it will increase the pressure in the container which was already at normal pressure. If such a person opened a valve on the container letting the pressure out and that valve was connected to an electric generator then the generator could produce power. If the container were emptied and refilled with saltwater then the process could be repeated.

In an area where fresh and salt water are available this could be used to generate power without environmental consequences. It is, however, expensive (as I understand). The membranes would need to be replaced regularly among other things.

~modest

[Michaelangelica]

Thanks Modest
That helps but it does seem a floored process?

Another friend I sent the article to and is heavily into electricty etc
said:-

They use simple osmotic pressure to increase the pressure in a sealed container which holds salt water. The inflow of the water causes pressure in the sealed container which is used in a water turbine to produce power. A simple process but hard to achieve. They could also use the same process to raise water to height and thus have water power from the increased potential energy.
How they are going to eliminate algae and silt from the pores is anyones business since the pores are so small they allo the flow of water but not salt.
They would generate more power just using the flow of the water they are engaging. I don't understand how these guys get money to do the sorts of things they do, they must be really bad at science but really good a collecting money.

News _________________________________________

Salt tolerant plants a step closer
Monday, 02 March 2009
University of Tasmania

University of Tasmania researchers believe they have the “missing link” to make plants salt tolerant
. . .
One mechanism, related to plant’s ability to keep a constant level of potassium within its tissues, seems to be crucial to make plants salt tolerant.

“It appears that we have found a ‘missing link’ in this puzzle”, Assoc Prof Shabala said.

“As far as plants are capable to keep potassium high, they are happy. And all other mechanisms discovered so far appear to be complimentary to this one”.

The National Land and Water Resources Audit estimates that somewhere between 10 and 25 per cent of currently arable land could be out of production by 2020. So creating salt tolerant varieties is critical for both reclaiming already salinised land and for minimising the overall cost of dryland salinity in Australia which may exceed $1 billion by 2100.

Assoc Prof Shabala and his team believe that targeting potassium in plant breeding for salt tolerance opens new and exciting prospects to overcome salinity problem and create tolerant varieties.

“Given the large amount of contributing components, it’s a painfully slow process,” he said.

Salt tolerant plants a step closer(ScienceAlert)

[Michaelangelica]

Salt May Be An Antidepressant - Which Would Also Explain Why It's Addictive

Salt May Be An Antidepressant - Which Would Also Explain Why It's Addictive

Past research has shown that the worldwide average for salt intake per individual is about 10 grams per day, which is greater than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended intake by about 4 grams, and may exceed what the body actually needs by more than 8 grams.

Some history (and historical speculation?)

Evolution [/B]might have played an important part in the human hankering for salt.[B]
Humans evolved from creatures that lived in salty ocean water.
Once on land, the body continued to need sodium and chloride because minerals play key roles in allowing fluids to pass in and out of cells, and in helping nerve cells transfer information throughout the brain and body.
But as man evolved in the hot climate of Africa, perspiration robbed the body of sodium.
Salt was scarce because our early ancestors ate a veggie-rich diet and lived far from the ocean.
"Most of our biological systems require sodium to function properly, but as a species that didn't have ready access to it, our kidneys evolved to become salt misers," Johnson said.