Desalinization

Desalination is the removal of salt and other minerals from seawater to produce fresh water for drinking, irrigation, industry, and general consumption.

Desalination is the removal of salt and other minerals from seawater to produce fresh water for drinking, irrigation, industry, and general consumption. Table salt is often produced as a byproduct. Several different processes are used to remove the salt.

Desalination is practiced in over a hundred countries. In the U.S., desalination of brackish water is commonplace to meet treaty obligations for river water entering Mexico. Saudi Arabia produces about 24 percent of the world’s desalinated water. In the 1960s, Kuwait built the first large-scale desalination plant in the world. Because of its great energy reserves, Kuwait is the only country able to use desalinated water for agriculture. Today the largest desalination plant in the world is in Ashkelon, Israel. It began operating on August 4, 2005, and is able to produce 100 million cubic meters of water annually.

Methods of desalination include distillation, solar humidification, multi-stage flash, multiple effect, ethane hydrate crystallization, vapor compression, electrodialysis reversal (EDR), reverse osmosis (RO), freezing, membrane distillation, and high-grade water recycling. As of 1998, the two methods most widely used were multi-stage flash distillation (44 percent) and reverse osmosis (42 percent).

Distillation is a common method of desalination in the Middle East, on islands, on ships, and in submarines. Sea water is boiled at a pressure that is lower than atmospheric pressure, and the boiling point is consequently much lower than normal. Energy is saved. However, due to the lower temperature, bacteria are not destroyed. Additional processing of the water must be done using other methods before it is safe for human consumption.

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