TED2012
Damian Palin: Mining minerals from seawater
Damian Palin: extracció de minerals a partir d'aigua de mar
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El món necessita aigua neta y cada vegada més se n'extreu dels oceans, es desalinitza i la consumim. Però què se n'ha de fer de la salmorra que en queda? En aquesta breu i interesant xerrada, el company Damain Palin de TED proposa una idea: extreure de la salmorra els minerals que necessitem amb l'ajuda de bacteris que s'alimenten de metalls.
Damian Palin - Biological miner
Damian Palin is developing a way to use bacteria to biologically "mine" minerals from water -- specifically, out of the brine left over from the desalinization process. Full bio
Damian Palin is developing a way to use bacteria to biologically "mine" minerals from water -- specifically, out of the brine left over from the desalinization process. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I collaborate with bacteria.
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Col·laboro amb els bacteris.
00:18
And I'm about to show you
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Us vull mostrar
00:19
some stop-motion footage that I made recently
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unes imatges que he enregistrat fa poc
00:21
where you'll see bacteria accumulating minerals
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en què veieu bacteris acumulant minerals
00:23
from their environment
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del seu entorn
00:25
over the period of an hour.
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durant una hora.
00:27
So what you're seeing here
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El que veieu aquí
00:28
is the bacteria metabolizing,
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és el resultat del metabolisme
00:30
and as they do so
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dels bacteris,
00:31
they create an electrical charge.
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que creen una càrrega elèctrica
00:33
And this attracts metals
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que atrau els metalls
00:35
from their local environment.
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del seu voltant.
00:38
And these metals accumulate as minerals
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Aquests metalls s'acumulen com a minerals
00:40
on the surface of the bacteria.
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a la superfície dels bacteris.
00:42
One of the most pervasive problems
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Un dels problemes més comuns
00:45
in the world today for people
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avui al món
00:46
is inadequate access
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és disposar
00:48
to clean drinking water.
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d'aigua potable.
00:49
And the desalination process
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En la dessalinització
00:51
is one where we take out salts.
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se n'eliminen les sals,
00:53
We can use it for drinking and agriculture.
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i es pot utilitzar per beure o en l'agricultura.
00:55
Removing the salts from water --
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Extreure les sals de l'aigua,
00:57
particularly seawater --
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especialment de la de mar,
00:59
through reverse osmosis
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a través d'osmosi inversa
01:00
is a critical technique
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és una tècnica crucial
01:02
for countries who do not have access to clean drinking water
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per a països sense accés a aigua potable
01:05
around the globe.
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a tot el món.
01:06
So seawater reverse osmosis
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L'osmosi inversa
01:07
is a membrane-filtration technology.
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és una tècnica de filtració de membrana.
01:10
We take the water from the sea
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Prenem l'aigua del mar
01:12
and we apply pressure.
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i hi apliquem pressió.
01:14
And this pressure forces the seawater
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I aquesta pressió força l'aigua
01:17
through a membrane.
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a travessar una membrana.
01:18
This takes energy,
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Es consumeix energia
01:19
producing clean water.
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per produir aigua potable.
01:22
But we're also left with a concentrated salt solution, or brine.
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I també queda una dissolució concentrada de sal, la salmorra.
01:26
But the process is very expensive
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És un procés molt car
01:27
and it's cost-prohibitive for many countries around the globe.
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i prohibitiu per a molts països.
01:30
And also, the brine that's produced
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A més, la salmorra que es produeix
01:31
is oftentimes just pumped back out into the sea.
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sovint es bombeja de volta al mar,
01:34
And this is detrimental to the local ecology
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fet que perjudica la regió
01:37
of the sea area that it's pumped back out into.
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del mar on s'aboca.
01:39
So I work in Singapore at the moment,
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Ara treballo a Singapur,
01:41
and this is a place that's really a leading place
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que és un lloc capdavanter pel que fa a
01:44
for desalination technology.
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la tecnologia de dessalinització.
01:46
And Singapore proposes by 2060
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Singapur es proposa, per al 2060,
01:49
to produce [900] million liters per day
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produir 900 milions de litres al dia
01:52
of desalinated water.
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d'aigua dessalinitzada.
01:54
But this will produce an equally massive amount
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Però això produirà la mateixa quantitat
01:57
of desalination brine.
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de salmorra.
01:59
And this is where my collaboration with bacteria comes into play.
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I aquí és on la col·laboració amb els bacteris entra en joc.
02:02
So what we're doing at the moment
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Actualment estem
02:04
is we're accumulating metals
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obtenint metalls com ara
02:07
like calcium, potassium and magnesium
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calci, potassi i magnesi
02:09
from out of desalination brine.
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de la salmorra.
02:11
And this, in terms of magnesium
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El volum de magnesi
02:13
and the amount of water that I just mentioned,
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a la quantitat d'aigua que he dit
02:16
equates to a $4.5 billion
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equival a uns 3.400 milions d'euros
02:19
mining industry for Singapore --
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a la indústria minera de Singapur,
02:21
a place that doesn't have any natural resources.
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un lloc sense recursos naturals.
02:23
So I'd like you to image a mining industry
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Imagineu ara una indústria minera
02:26
in a way that one hasn't existed before;
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com no n'ha existit mai cap;
02:28
imagine a mining industry
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imagineu una indústria minera
02:30
that doesn't mean defiling the Earth;
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que no profana la terra;
02:33
imagine bacteria helping us do this
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imagineu els bacteris ajudant-nos
02:35
by accumulating and precipitating
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acumulant, precipitant
02:38
and sedimenting minerals
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i sedimentant els minerals
02:41
out of desalination brine.
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de la salmorra.
02:42
And what you can see here
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I el que veieu aquí
02:44
is the beginning of an industry in a test tube,
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és el principi d'una indústria en un tub d'assaig,
02:46
a mining industry that is in harmony with nature.
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una indústria minera en harmonia amb la natura.
02:50
Thank you.
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Gràcies.
02:51
(Applause)
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(Aplaudiments)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Damian Palin - Biological minerDamian Palin is developing a way to use bacteria to biologically "mine" minerals from water -- specifically, out of the brine left over from the desalinization process.
Why you should listen
Research engineer Damian Palin has long been fascinated by the process of biomineralization–with particular attention on the mechanisms involved for mineral precipitation. At the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (in collaboration with Nanyang Technical University, Singapore), he conducts experiments to assess the ability of microorganisms to mine selected minerals out of seawater desalination brine. This study was based on compelling and burgeoning evidence from the field of geomicrobiology, which shows the ubiquitous role that microorganisms play in the cycling of minerals on the planet.
He says: "It is my aim to continue to research in the field of biomineralization, while exploring the mechanisms responsible for mild energetic mineral (including metal) precipitation for the production of mineral composites."
Read our in-depth Q&A with Damian Palin >>
Damian Palin | Speaker | TED.com