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[Wang Commander]

Magma Desalination Still takes in saltwater from one pipe, outputs freshwater from the other, needs to operate on magma.  In this example a salty body of water is fed into the still via gravity for continuous operation, and output the same way from a pipe to a lower reservoir.

code:

  
Side View:
###SSSSSSSSS
#####SSSSSSS
########SSSS
##########=#
#######====#
#######=####
#######=####
       =   # 
     TTT== #
MMMMMM###=##
MMM######=##
#######  W #
#######WWWW#
#######WWWW#
Key:
T = Magma Desalination Still
S = Saltwater
M = Magma
W = Freshwater
# = Rock
= = pipe

Could also be used with a normal fueled still like we discussed, given a new fueling system, otherwise I guess it would have to be done via barrels or something, using a charcoal/coke per barrel desalinated.

[ May 27, 2007: Message edited by: Wang Commander ]

[Yag Alone]

Nice stuff, but dwarves have no use for fresh water... Alcohol + lack of personnal hygiena = dwarves  :p

[TotalPigeon]

Ah, but there are (were?) speculations as to alcohol needing freshwater in the next update. Not that I'd be inclined to distill salt water to get fresh water, thats just mad. We should have a nice large freshwater body in the mountain somewhere, easily capable of supporting any crazy alcohol brewing tendencies.

[Tamren]

Ah, you SHOULD but what if you do not?

Its entirely reasonable to think that it might run out or be insufficient to your needs. You would have to rely on water from other sources, i dont think dwarves are advanced enough for water treatment plants though.

On the other hand, what if you need salt and you have yet to come across salt deposits? salt is used for a lot, food and food preservation for one. An easy way to get some is to boil seawater like the vikings did but it would also be a useful byproduct of that still.

Just some more food for thought  

[TotalPigeon]

Pah! Salt? Who uses salt when they can create an area outside of time itself, the all preserving food stockpile?

OMG. I just had a killer thought for a challenge game. No food stockpiles. Well maybe for stuff which wouldn't go off irl, like sugar or syrup, but none for crops or prepared food or meat. THAT would be a bitch.

[Tamren]

heh. eventually though im sure salt will have a lot of uses, food preservation being the least of them.

im pretty sure tanning requires a form of salt.

You could also poison the water supply of an opposing fortress.

What about salt traps to deter vermin? Giant slugs and the like.

Its worth a though.

[Grek]

Rather than a workshop, you could do it this way:

code:

 
         
##########################
###%%%%%%%%%##############
###     ##%%%#############
###WWWWW##%%%#############
X_XWWWWW##%%%#############
######### %%%   ##########
#wwwwX_X  %%%    X_Xmmmm##
########  %%%   ##########
  H   D   %%%    D    H### 
##H####\  %%%  /######H###
##H#####\ooooo/#######H###
##H      Dooo/########H###
##########ggg#########H###
##########   #########H###
#####ssssssssssssss###H###
#####ssssssssssssssD  H###
##########################

w salt water
m magma
s salt
W fresh water
o obsidian rocks
% steam
@ clouds
# rock
H ladder
g grate that allows salt but not rocks

[ May 27, 2007: Message edited by: Grek ]

[Tamren]

Nice setup. But will a distiller work fast enough to have a continual flow of water into the machine and a flow of clear water out the other end?

In order to get the salt out you would have to heat it up. Assuming we are using a magma flow here you need some sort of conductor between the molten rock and the water.

If you dumped the water onto open magma it would vapourize in an instant and the magma flow would carry away the salt. The problem though is that you would get a lot of impurities.

Anyone know how modern real life desalination plants work?

[Draco18s]

In distillation saltwater is heated in one container to make the water evaporate, leaving the salt behind. The desalinated vapor is then condensed to form water in a separate container. Although long known, distillation has found limited application in water supply because of the fuel costs involved in converting saltwater to vapor.

[Tamren]

If you can tap a source of heat energy that does not require fuel like solar power or magma (geothermal?) power in this case it does become quite efficient.

There is only one problem with the magma, we need a conductor between the water and the magma that is strong enough to transfer the heat between one and the other without melting into a pile of scrap.

At the same time, we need a source of cold to condense the resulting pure water. If you fail to condense the steam in time you pretty much end up with a steam cannon.

Which might still be useful come to think of it.

What sources of cold do we have in DF? snow and ice come to mind but to use them you would have to pump water to the very top of a mountain, unless you are playing on a freezing map in which case you could just pump it outside.

What else? well we could pipe the steam through running water like the river, but would that be cold enough?

[Gauteamus]

In the olden days in my parts, a barrel was a measuring unit of area of forested land, meaning a piece of land with enough wood to produce by destillation a barrel of salt.

[Draco18s]

quote:Originally posted by Tamren:
<STRONG>What sources of cold do we have in DF? snow and ice come to mind but to use them you would have to pump water to the very top of a mountain, unless you are playing on a freezing map in which case you could just pump it outside.

What else? well we could pipe the steam through running water like the river, but would that be cold enough?</STRONG>

You could run it through tubes (steam heat anyone?)
Using the incomming water isn't a bad idea, first it heats it up some before getting boiled, and it is effective enough, as all it has to do is transfer enough heat to condense again.

[irmo]

quote:Originally posted by Tamren:
<STRONG>
What sources of cold do we have in DF? snow and ice come to mind but to use them you would have to pump water to the very top of a mountain, unless you are playing on a freezing map in which case you could just pump it outside.

What else? well we could pipe the steam through running water like the river, but would that be cold enough?</STRONG>

You could run a pipe deep underground and back up, and use the earth as your heat sink.  Just don't go deep enough to hit magma.

[Tamren]

Well the problem with the ground pipe idea is that it is only cold at the surface, once you go down a significant length it gets hot again.

Some people use it for heading and AC.

But that is for dirt and rock ground, the kind cities are built on, i have no clue what would happen if you did that in an underground cave.

do we know any geothermal physicists? -_-

[Axle Gear]

Just don't use lead pipes.

Poor romans.