TED2012
Damian Palin: Mining minerals from seawater
Damian Palin: Ťaženie minerálov z morskej vody
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Svet potrebuje čím ďalej, tým viac čistej vody, ktorú získavame z oceánov, odsoľujeme ju a pijeme. Ale čo so zvyškovým soľným roztokom? V tomto krátkom pútavom príspevku TED Fellow Damian Palin navrhuje túto myšlienku: ťažiť z neho ďalšie potrebné minerály využitím istého druhu baktérie, ktorá sa živí kovmi.
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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Pracujem na výskume baktérií.
00:18
And I'm about to show you
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A o chvíľu vám ukážem
00:19
some stop-motion footage that I made recently
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moju najnovšiu fázovú animáciu,
00:21
where you'll see bacteria accumulating minerals
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kde uvidíte, ako baktérie za jednu hodinu
00:23
from their environment
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naakumulovali minerály
00:25
over the period of an hour.
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z ich prirodzeného prostredia.
00:27
So what you're seeing here
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Čo tu vidíte,
00:28
is the bacteria metabolizing,
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sú baktérie,
00:30
and as they do so
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ktoré pri látkovej premene
00:31
they create an electrical charge.
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vytvárajú elektrický náboj.
00:33
And this attracts metals
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Takto priťahujú kovy
00:35
from their local environment.
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z ich prirodzeného prostredia.
00:38
And these metals accumulate as minerals
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Tieto kovy sa akumulujú na povrchu baktérií
00:40
on the surface of the bacteria.
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ako minerály.
00:42
One of the most pervasive problems
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Jeden z najväčších súčasných problémov
00:45
in the world today for people
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ľudstva
00:46
is inadequate access
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je nedostatočný prístup
00:48
to clean drinking water.
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k čistej pitnej vode.
00:49
And the desalination process
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A pri procese odsoľovania
00:51
is one where we take out salts.
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odstraňujeme z vody soľ.
00:53
We can use it for drinking and agriculture.
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Voda sa môže použiť v poľnohospodárstve či na pitie.
00:55
Removing the salts from water --
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Odstraňovanie solí z vody
00:57
particularly seawater --
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– najmä z morskej –
00:59
through reverse osmosis
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pomocou reverznej osmózy,
01:00
is a critical technique
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je kľúčovou metódou
01:02
for countries who do not have access to clean drinking water
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v krajinách po celom svete,
01:05
around the globe.
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kde nie je prístup k čistej pitnej vode.
01:06
So seawater reverse osmosis
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Reverzná osmóza morskej vody
01:07
is a membrane-filtration technology.
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je metóda spočívajúca vo filtrovaní cez polopriepustnú membránu.
01:10
We take the water from the sea
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Vezmeme morskú vodu
01:12
and we apply pressure.
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a vyvinieme na ňu tlak.
01:14
And this pressure forces the seawater
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Tento tlak morskú vodu pretláča
01:17
through a membrane.
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cez membránu.
01:18
This takes energy,
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Výroba čistej vody
01:19
producing clean water.
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si vyžaduje spotrebu energie.
01:22
But we're also left with a concentrated salt solution, or brine.
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No zostáva nám ešte aj koncentrovaný soľný roztok, soľanka.
01:26
But the process is very expensive
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Proces je finančne náročný
01:27
and it's cost-prohibitive for many countries around the globe.
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a v mnohých krajinách sveta je cenovo nedostupný.
01:30
And also, the brine that's produced
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Okrem toho sa vzniknutý soľný roztok
01:31
is oftentimes just pumped back out into the sea.
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často vypúšťa späť do mora.
01:34
And this is detrimental to the local ecology
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Pre životné prostredie v mori, kde sa roztok vypúšťa,
01:37
of the sea area that it's pumped back out into.
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je to škodlivé.
01:39
So I work in Singapore at the moment,
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V súčasnosti pracujem v Singapure,
01:41
and this is a place that's really a leading place
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čo je vedúce miesto vo vývoji
01:44
for desalination technology.
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technológie na odsoľovanie.
01:46
And Singapore proposes by 2060
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Singapur plánuje do roku 2060
01:49
to produce [900] million liters per day
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vyprodukovať denne 900 miliónov litrov
01:52
of desalinated water.
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odsolenej vody.
01:54
But this will produce an equally massive amount
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No takto sa vyprodukuje aj rovnaké obrovské množstvo
01:57
of desalination brine.
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soľného roztoku.
01:59
And this is where my collaboration with bacteria comes into play.
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A tu vstupuje na scénu môj výskum baktérií.
02:02
So what we're doing at the moment
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Naša práca spočíva v
02:04
is we're accumulating metals
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akumulovaní kovov,
02:07
like calcium, potassium and magnesium
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akými sú vápnik, draslík a horčík,
02:09
from out of desalination brine.
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zo soľného roztoku.
02:11
And this, in terms of magnesium
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A toto – napr. z hľadiska horčíka
02:13
and the amount of water that I just mentioned,
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a množstva vody, ktoré som práve spomenul –
02:16
equates to a $4.5 billion
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značí príjem 4,5 miliardy dolárov
02:19
mining industry for Singapore --
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pre banský priemysel v Singapure,
02:21
a place that doesn't have any natural resources.
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a to na mieste bez žiadnych prírodných zdrojov.
02:23
So I'd like you to image a mining industry
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Chcem, aby ste si predstavili banský priemysel
02:26
in a way that one hasn't existed before;
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tak, ako ste ho ešte nikdy nevideli.
02:28
imagine a mining industry
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Predstavte si banský priemysel,
02:30
that doesn't mean defiling the Earth;
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ktorý neznečisťuje našu planétu.
02:33
imagine bacteria helping us do this
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Predstavte si, ako nám baktérie napomáhajú
02:35
by accumulating and precipitating
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akumulovaním, zrážaním
02:38
and sedimenting minerals
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a sedimentáciou minerálov
02:41
out of desalination brine.
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zo soľného roztoku.
02:42
And what you can see here
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Čo tu vidíte,
02:44
is the beginning of an industry in a test tube,
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je začiatkom priemyslu v skúmavke,
02:46
a mining industry that is in harmony with nature.
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banského priemyslu v harmónii s prírodou.
02:50
Thank you.
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Ďakujem.
02:51
(Applause)
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(Potlesk)
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