Zero-Waste Solar Desalination Technology Turns Seawater into Drinking Water

Professor Chunlei Guo's team at the University of Rochester's Institute of Optics engineered laser-etched black metal solar panels that convert seawater into drinking water while depositing salts as dry solids instead of toxic brine discharge. In peer-reviewed testing, the device treated real water from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans continuously for weeks with near-complete salt extraction and no liquid brine discharge, and a companion study shows lithium extraction from Great Salt Lake water at roughly 50% recovery rates.

The technology has been validated in laboratory and peer-reviewed testing with real seawater; scaling to full-scale desalination plants and long-term mineral recovery viability will require further development.