The aim of this thesis is to build a low-cost technology to desalinate seawater using as low renewable energy as possible. The prototype will utilize membrane distillation technology, a thermally driven process predominantly employed for desalination, to address water needs in emergency situations where access to electricity is limited, such as following an earthquake or hurricane. First, a totally passive prototype of this technology, originally designed at Politecnico di Torino, was developed to better understand its working principles. A passive system operates without any active components, such as moving parts like pumps or heating elements, thus eliminating the need for any electrical power.