Recently IISc Bengaluru unveiled a siphon-powered desalination technology.

About Siphon desalination system

• It converts seawater into clean drinking water faster, cheaper, and more reliably compared to conventional solar stills.
• Capacity: It can produce over 6 litres of potable water per m² per hour under sunlight.
• Scalability: Overcomes salt buildup and scaling limits, enabling reliable, scalable solar desalination,  enhancing water security in off-grid, coastal, and water-stressed regions.
• Energy Source: Runs on solar or waste heat, uses low-cost materials (aluminium, fabric), and handles highly saline water (up to 20% salt).
• Key Components
• • Composite siphon: Fabric wick along with grooved metallic surface.
  • Evaporator–condenser pairs: Enable multi-stage stacking and heat recycling.
  • Ultra-narrow air gap: Just 2 mm wide for efficient condensation.

Working Mechanism

• Fabric wick draws salty water from the reservoir.
• Gravity flushes salt away before crystallisation.
• Thin film spreads on heated metal, evaporates.
• Vapour condenses on a cooler surface across the narrow air gap.
• Heat is reused across stacked stages to boost efficiency.

About Siphon A siphon is an inverted U-shaped tube used to move liquid from a higher reservoir to a lower one without a pump, by using gravity. Liquid flows up the tube’s higher “inlet” leg into the atmosphere, and then is pulled down by gravity through the longer “outlet” leg to a lower discharge point

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