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Updated: Jul 9, 2025

Design and Use of an Apparatus for Quantifying Bivalve Suspension Feeding at Sea
Published on: September 5, 2018
Farming on the Ocean via Desalination (FOOD)
Yue Bian1,2, Yan Teng1, Si Chen3
1School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Abstract:
Today, agricultural irrigation consumes the largest amount of freshwater globally, while humans are threatened by water scarcity. To eliminate the trade-off between hunger and thirst, here, we show off-grid maritime agriculture based on a floating solar-driven agro-desalination wooden dome. In this dome, part of the visible light is transmitted for photosynthesis, and the remaining solar energy drives solar desalination, providing enough water (>4 mm day-1) for irrigation. Based on this water-food synergy, the stages of germination and growth are demonstrated. This technology can, to a large extent, support food security and sustainable agriculture and, in principle, be used to create self-circulation systems at sea to help humans survive weather extremes such as floods and droughts.
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