ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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 >>

More profile about the speaker
Damian Palin | Speaker | TED.com
TED2012

Damian Palin: Mining minerals from seawater

Damian Palin: Uchimbaji wa madini kutoka katika maji ya bahari

Filmed:
1,002,297 views

Dunia inahitaji maji safi na salam, na mengi kati ya hayo kwa sasa tunayachukua kutoka baharini,tunayatoa chumvi na kuyanywa.Lakini tufanyeke na chumvi inayobaki nyuma? Katika mazungumzo haya mafupi ya kusisimua, Mshirika wa TED, Damian Palin anapendekeza wazo: Toa madini tunayoyahitaji katika chumvi hii inayobaki, kwa kusaidiwa na bacteria wanaokula metali
- 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

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:16
I collaborateushirikiana with bacteriabakteria.
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Ninashirikiana na bacteria
00:18
And I'm about to showonyesha you
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ninataka nikuonyeshe
00:19
some stop-motionkuacha-mwendo footagepicha that I madealifanya recentlyhivi karibuni
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kipande cha video ambacho nimetengeneza hivi karibuni
00:21
where you'llutasikia see bacteriabakteria accumulatingkukusanya mineralsmadini
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ndani yake utaweza kuona bacteria wakikusanya madini
00:23
from theirwao environmentmazingira
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kutoka katika mazingira yao
00:25
over the periodkipindi of an hoursaa.
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ndani ya zaidi ya saa moja
00:27
So what you're seeingkuona here
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Kwa hiyo unachokiona hapa
00:28
is the bacteriabakteria metabolizingmetabolizing,
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ni bacteria wakiwa wanameng'enya
00:30
and as they do so
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wakati wanafanya hivyo
00:31
they createkuunda an electricalumeme chargemalipo.
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wanatengeneza chaji za umeme.
00:33
And this attractshuvutia metalsmadini
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na inavuta metali
00:35
from theirwao localmitaa environmentmazingira.
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kutoka katika mazingira ya karibu
00:38
And these metalsmadini accumulatekukusanya as mineralsmadini
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metali hizi zinajikusanya kama madini
00:40
on the surfaceuso of the bacteriabakteria.
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katika uso wa wa bacteria
00:42
One of the mostwengi pervasivekuenea problemsmatatizo
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Moja kati ya matatizo yaliyoenea sana
00:45
in the worldulimwengu todayleo for people
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duniani katikati ya watu
00:46
is inadequateduni accessupatikanaji
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ni upungufu
00:48
to cleansafi drinkingkunywa watermaji.
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wa maji safi na salama ya kunywa
00:49
And the desalinationkusafisha maji chumvi processmchakato
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mchakato wa kuchukua maji
00:51
is one where we take out saltschumvi.
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na kutoa chumvi ndani yake
00:53
We can use it for drinkingkunywa and agriculturekilimo.
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ili yaweze kutumika kwa ajili ya kunywa na kilimo
00:55
RemovingKuondoa the saltschumvi from watermaji --
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Kutoa chumvi katika maji
00:57
particularlyhasa seawatermaji ya bahari --
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na hasa maji ya bahari
00:59
throughkupitia reversereverse osmosisosmosis
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kupitia mfumo wa kinyume wa osmosis
01:00
is a criticalmuhimu techniquembinu
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na njia muhimu
01:02
for countriesnchi who do not have accessupatikanaji to cleansafi drinkingkunywa watermaji
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kwa ajili ya nchi ambazo zina upungufu wa maji safi na salama ya kunywa
01:05
around the globeglobe.
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duniani kote
01:06
So seawatermaji ya bahari reversereverse osmosisosmosis
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Kwa hiyo utoaji wa chumvi katika maji ya bahari
01:07
is a membrane-filtrationutando-uchujaji technologyteknolojia.
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ni teknolojia ya kuchuja kwa kutumia utando
01:10
We take the watermaji from the seabahari
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Tunachukua maji kutoka baharini
01:12
and we applytumia pressureshinikizo.
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na tunayagandamiza katika msukumo mkubwa
01:14
And this pressureshinikizo forcesmajeshi the seawatermaji ya bahari
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na mgandamizo huu unayalazimisha maji
01:17
throughkupitia a membraneutando.
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kupita katika utando
01:18
This takes energynishati,
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Hii inahitaji nguvu
01:19
producingkuzalisha cleansafi watermaji.
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kutengeneza maji ya kunywa
01:22
But we're alsopia left with a concentratedkujilimbikizia saltchumvi solutionsuluhisho, or brineNovosibirsk wakati huo huo.
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Lakini hii inaacha nyuma chumvi kali
01:26
But the processmchakato is very expensiveghali
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Mchakato huu ni wa gharama sana
01:27
and it's cost-prohibitivegharama na kikwazo for manywengi countriesnchi around the globeglobe.
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gharama ambayo ni kubwa sana kwa nchi nyingi duniani
01:30
And alsopia, the brineNovosibirsk wakati huo huo that's producedzinazozalishwa
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Na pia chumvi inayobaki
01:31
is oftentimesmara nyingi just pumpedambayo husambazwa back out into the seabahari.
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mara nyingi hurudishwa tena baharini
01:34
And this is detrimentalmadhara to the localmitaa ecologymazingira
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na hali hii si nzuri kwa mazingira
01:37
of the seabahari areaeneo that it's pumpedambayo husambazwa back out into.
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ya eneo la baharini chumvi inapotupwa
01:39
So I work in SingaporeSingapori at the momentwakati,
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Kwa hiyo nafanya kazi Singapore kwa sasa
01:41
and this is a placemahali that's really a leadingkuongoza placemahali
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Na hili ni eneo ambalo linaongoza
01:44
for desalinationkusafisha maji chumvi technologyteknolojia.
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kwa utoaji wa chumvi katika maji ya baharini
01:46
And SingaporeSingapori proposesinapendekeza by 2060
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Na Singapore inapendekeza kuwa mpaka mwaka 2060
01:49
to producekuzalisha [900] millionmilioni literslita perkwa kila day
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kutengeneza lita millioni 900 kwa siku
01:52
of desalinateddesalinated watermaji.
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za maji yaliyotolewa chumvi
01:54
But this will producekuzalisha an equallysawa massivekubwa amountkiasi
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Lakini hii itasababisha kiasi kama hicho cha ukubwa
01:57
of desalinationkusafisha maji chumvi brineNovosibirsk wakati huo huo.
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cha chumvi
01:59
And this is where my collaborationushirikiano with bacteriabakteria comesinakuja into playkucheza.
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Na hapa ndipo ushirikiano wangu na Bacteria unapofanya kazi
02:02
So what we're doing at the momentwakati
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Kwa hiyo tunachofanya kwa sasa
02:04
is we're accumulatingkukusanya metalsmadini
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ni tunakusanya metali
02:07
like calciumkalsiamu, potassiumpotasiamu and magnesiummagnesiamu
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kama Kalsiamu,Potassiamu na Magnesiamu
02:09
from out of desalinationkusafisha maji chumvi brineNovosibirsk wakati huo huo.
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kutoka katika chumvi inayobaki baada ya maji kutolewa chumvi
02:11
And this, in termsmaneno of magnesiummagnesiamu
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Na hii, kwa Magnesiamu
02:13
and the amountkiasi of watermaji that I just mentionedzilizotajwa,
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na kiasi cha maji ambacho nimekitaja
02:16
equatesAnalinganisha to a $4.5 billionbilioni
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ina thamani ya Dola za Marekani,Billioni 4.5
02:19
miningmadini industrysekta for SingaporeSingapori --
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kwa mfumo wa madini wa Singapore
02:21
a placemahali that doesn't have any naturalasili resourcesrasilimali.
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Sehemu ambayo haina rasilimali zozozte
02:23
So I'd like you to imagepicha a miningmadini industrysekta
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Kwa hiyo ningependa uwaze kuhusu viwanda vya madini
02:26
in a way that one hasn'thaifai existedulipo before;
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katika njia ambayo haijawahi kutokea kabla
02:28
imaginefikiria a miningmadini industrysekta
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Fikiria viwanda vya madini
02:30
that doesn't mean defilingkuficha the EarthDunia;
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ambavyo haviharibu mazingira
02:33
imaginefikiria bacteriabakteria helpingkusaidia us do this
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Fikiria bacteria wakiwa wanatusaidia kufanya hivi
02:35
by accumulatingkukusanya and precipitatingprecipitating
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kwa kukusanya na kumeng'enya
02:38
and sedimentingsedimenting mineralsmadini
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madini
02:41
out of desalinationkusafisha maji chumvi brineNovosibirsk wakati huo huo.
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kutoka katika chumvi iliyobaki baada ya maji kutolewa chumvi
02:42
And what you can see here
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Na utakachokmiona hapa
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is the beginningmwanzo of an industrysekta in a testmtihani tubetube,
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ni mwanzo wa viwanda
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a miningmadini industrysekta that is in harmonymaelewano with natureasili.
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,viwanda vya madini ambavyo vitaendana na mazingira
02:50
Thank you.
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Asante Sana
02:51
(ApplauseMakofi)
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(Makofi)
Translated by Joachim Mangilima
Reviewed by Nelson Simfukwe

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
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.

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 >>

More profile about the speaker
Damian Palin | Speaker | TED.com