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AMTA
DESALTING FACTS
WHAT IS DESALTING?
Water desalting, or desalination, has long
been utilized by water-short nations
worldwide to produce or augment drinking
water supplies. The process dates back to the
4th century BC when Greek sailors used an
evaporative process to desalinate seawater.
Today, desalting plants worldwide have the
capacity to produce over 6.0 billion gallons a
day enough water to provide over 15 gallons
a day for every person in the United States.
About 1,200 desalting plants are in operation
nationwide. Most United States plants are
used for brackish (moderately salty) ground
water treatment for softening and organics
removal, or to produce highly purified water
for industrial use.
In the United States, water is relatively
inexpensive compared to many other parts of
the world. However, the vagaries of weather,
skyrocketing population growth and
subsequent increases in demand for water in
arid, semi-arid and coastal areas are
contributing to a heightened interest in water
desalting as a means to augment existing
supplies. In addition, many communities are
turning to desalting technology as a costeffective method of meeting increasingly
stringent water quality regulations.
Uses of Desalting
The conversion of salt water to drinking water
is the most publicly recognized desalting use.
Desalting processes are also used in home
water treatment systems, to treat industrial
wastewater, to produce high-quality water for
industrial purposes, to improve the quality of
drinking water from marginal or brackish
sources, and for the treatment and recycling of
municipal wastewater.
The Process
Water desalting is a process used to remove
salt and other dissolved minerals from water.
Other contaminants, such as dissolved
metals, radionuclides, bacterial and organic
matter may also be removed by some
7/18/2001
AMTA
DESALTING FACTS
DESALTING FACTS
REVERSE OSMOSIS
In reverse osmosis, salt water on one side of a
semi-permeable plastic membrane is
subjected to pressure, causing fresh water to
diffuse through the membrane and leaving
behind a concentrate solution, containing the
majority of the dissolved minerals and other
contaminants. The major energy requirement
Principle of Reverse Osmosis (RO)
Membrane
OSMOTIC
PRESSURE
c
a
c
a
c
a
c
Cl-
Na+
Cl-
Na+
Cl-
Na+
Cl-
Negative Polarity
Cation
Membrane
Anion
Membrane
Saline Feed
Pressure
Reverse
Osmosis
Fresh
Water
Product
Raw Water
Reject