On 15 January 2004, CRS4 filed the patent "Apparatus and method for heat extraction through a solar pond" later published on 16 July 2004, authored by Nicola Cabibbo, Erminia Leonardi, Luca Maciocco and Marco Rosa-Clot.
Under the proposed extraction method, the deep layer of the Solar Pond flows slowly while the higher-temperature brine is extracted from the tank and fed into a heat exchanger. After losing heat, the brine, now at a lower temperature, is conveyed into the Solar Pond. The heat, extracted at a temperature of about 70-80 °C, can be used to desalinate seawater in a conventional MED (Multi Effect Distillation) plant.
