Is it possible to reduce the salinity of seawater through microbiological treatments, or with technology that involves bacteria?
Highly unlikely. You can find some microbes that would accumulate salt but I doubt this would be useful at any sort of large scale given the high concentrations of salt in seawater. Any sort of useful desalinization needs to be done at very large scale (millions of liters).
Reducing the salinity of seawater through microbiological treatments or using bacteria-based technology is an intriguing concept but remains largely experimental and not widely implemented. Here's an overview of current research and potential applications:
Microbiological Approaches
Technological Approaches Using Bacteria
Microbial Desalination Cells (MDCs): This technology uses bacteria to generate electricity while simultaneously desalinating water. In an MDC, bacteria in an anaerobic chamber break down organic matter, producing electrons and protons. The electrons flow through an external circuit to the cathode, and the protons pass through a membrane, creating an electric current. This process can help in desalination, but it is not yet efficient enough for large-scale use. Researchers are working to improve the efficiency and scalability of MDCs for practical desalination applications (Vertex Pharmaceuticals) (CHOP).
https://investors.vrtx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/vertex-announces-us-fda-approval-casgevytm-exagamglogene
Phil Geis
On a laboratory scale you can use extremophilic species which can carry out a cation exchange phenomenon.
Yes, it is possible to use living organisms in seawater desalination, but it is still on the scale of laboratory research and studies only, as stated in one of the scientific researches.It was used in this research a commercial biofertilizer since they contain a mixture of co-existing beneficial microorganisms collected from natural environments. They mainly consist of photosynthetic and lactic acid bacteria, actinomycetes and yeast.
Mouhamad, Raghad & Mutlag, Lamiaa & al-khateeb, Mustafa & Nazir, Arif & Ibrahim, Kadhim & Mussa, Rasha & Jassam, Obaid. (2017). Reducing water salinity using effective microorganisms. Net Journal of Agricultural Science. Vol. 5. 114-120. 10.30918/NJAS.53.17.048.
Suhail Wadi
Thanks again for the citation. The paper is pretty poor and methods and results obscure - about what you'd expect from that kind of journal. Methodology is hard to follow but it appears their metric was conductivity - not salinity per se as they offered no analuytical methiod for Na or Cl. Is that how you saw it?
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