Desalination, A journey From Saltwater

to Clean & Freshwater

Asoor Khalafian

2023-05-12

Yrkeshögskoleutbildning Läke- och livsmedelstekniker

Folkuniversitetet, Bergsbrunnagatan 1, 753 23 Uppsala
Abstract
The population of the world is growing, and there is a shortage of good water
resources for domestic, industrial, and agricultural use. The seawater desalination
process was developed to address this issue. Desalination is a method that has been
employed for a long time to make up for the scarcity of freshwater resources. As a
result of significant advancements made over time, water desalination technology is
now used in numerous countries all over the world. Desalination, which purges
seawater of salt and other harmful elements, also results in a loss of the water's
mineral resources. In this article, the idea of desalination will be clarified, current
methods will be examined, and the health risks of drinking desalinated water on
humans in the long-term will be explained.

Keywords: Desalination, Membrane, Thermal desalination, Saltwater,

Remineralization.
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction…………………………………
Background………...…….
1.1. Research objective
2. Method
3. Desalination
3.1. Methods &process
4.1.1 Thermal process
4.1.2 Membrane process

4. The possibility of health risks

5. Remineralization
6. Result
7. Conclusion
8. References
 1. Introduction
Global water reserves are estimated to be around 1.4 billion cubic kilometers, but
most of them—roughly 97.5%—are in the form of oceans and seas, whose water
cannot be used directly. Rivers make up only about 2.5% of these reserves. Most of
the freshwater reserves on the planet are found in the form of icebergs or
underground water reservoirs. Only 0.014 percent of the world's total water supply
can be used for direct, hassle-free human consumption. Due to the increase in
population and the increase in demand for drinking water, many countries are facing
a shortage of fresh water; hence, the production of high-quality and acceptable
drinking water has become a challenge for today's societies (Shatat and Riffat 2012).
Today, many countries around the world are facing the problem of freshwater
shortages, and this number will even reach more than two-thirds of the world's
population by 2025. This has caused a shortage of freshwater for municipal,
industrial, and agricultural uses, and it is one of the biggest challenges that humanity
is facing. A fundamental solution to this issue could be the creation of a new source
of freshwater, which could be accomplished by desalinating water from the vast water
reserves of the seas and oceans (Karagiannis et al., 2007).

2. Background
The British Navy first suggested the concept of desalination at the end of the 18th
century. To reduce the water reserves on the ship and boost navigational autonomy,
they intended to provide the water they required by desalinating the sea water. The
steam engines from ships are used in this process and Single-flash distillation, the
first desalination technology, was used to put this concept into practice. But over the
years, this method improved and became known as multi-stage flash distillation
(MSF). So, in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1885, G. and J. Weir established the first
desalination system (Curto et al., 2021).
Over the past few decades, seawater has become a significant source of freshwater
due to the desalination treatment, which turns saltwater into freshwater. Some of
those traditional desalination processes are (Bruggen et al., 2002).
According to the Global Water Intelligence Report in 2005, the world's total
desalination capacity was estimated at 30 million cubic meters per day, but this
number increased to 44 and 62 million m3 in 2010 and 2015. One of the largest
application areas for thermal desalination before 2005 was the Gulf region because
the cost of fossil fuels was low in these regions (Mujtaba et al., 2007).
 2.1. Research objective
The purpose of this research is to obtain a deeper understanding of water
desalination, the methods and process of desalinating water, and the health risks of
drinking desalinated water in the long term.

The key questions are:

1.What is water desalination, and why is it essential?

2.What are the various methods used for desalination?

3.What are the potential health hazards by drinking desalinated water?

3. Methods

The main resources used in this study to find articles about the desalination of water
were Google & Google Scholar. This study includes 3 main questions and in order to
find the answers to the questions, keyword searches related to desalination, health
risks, related processes, and methods have been used.
It was simple to access articles about the concept of desalinating water by searching
Google Scholar for the word "desalination".
Google Scholar was used once more to look up information on desalination
techniques. "Thermal and Membrane Processes in Water Desalination" were the
search terms used to find related articles. Desalination methods articles were
accessible, but many of them were highly specialized and focused on details; thus, it
was tried to use articles that addressed the topic more generally.
When it came to the effects and risks of drinking desalinated water, it was
challenging to find a definitive and clear answer because desalination is a very
common process and there are few articles on its health effects on humans. In
addition to online articles, pages from the book "Drinking Water Minerals and Mineral
Balance: Importance, Health Significance, and Safety" by Ingegerd Rosborg et al.,
which was available online, were also used.
 4. Desalination
Desalination of seawater is the method used to separate the water molecules from
the salt to produce drinking water (Shatat and Riffat 2012).
Desalination is typically divided into two categories: 1) Thermal technique &
2) membrane technique (Figure1) (Mujtaba et al., 2007). Additionally, there are two
ion exchange and freezing processes, but they are not very useful (Shatat and Riffat
2012).
Although the thermal process (primarily MSF) is still used to produce fresh water on a
large scale, but its share of the market has decreased over time while the RO
process's share of the market has increased significantly. As a case study, in 2010
60% of the total capacity was made up by desalination RO and 26% by MSF
(Mujtaba et al., 2007). When comparing the thermal and RO desalination processes
between 1980 and 2016, it is possible to see how the use of the membrane system
has increased while the initial capacity of thermal desalination has remained constant
(Figure 2). One of the key justifications for expanding the use of membrane
technology is that it can be applied to a variety of separation processes in addition to
desalination. Additionally, the RO process is less expensive to use than the thermal
process because it has recovery devices (Mujtaba et al., 2007).

Figure 1. The classification of desalination technologies (Mujtaba et al., 2007).

 4.1 Methods & process of water desalination
Although the thermal process (primarily MSF) is still used to produce fresh water on a
large scale, but its share of the market has decreased over time while the RO
process's share of the market has increased significantly. As a case study, in 2010
60% of the total capacity was made up by desalination RO and 26% by MSF
(Mujtaba et al., 2007). When comparing the thermal and RO desalination processes
between 1980 and 2016, it is possible to see how the use of the membrane system
has increased while the initial capacity of thermal desalination has remained constant
(Figure 2). One of the key justifications for expanding the use of membrane
technology is that it can be applied to a variety of separation processes in addition to
desalination. Additionally, the RO process is less expensive to use than the thermal
process because it has recovery devices (Mujtaba et al., 2007).

Figure 2. Increase in global desalination capacity due to technology, 1980 to 2016

(Mujtaba et al., 2007).

4.1.1 Thermal process

One of the earliest processes for separating salt from seawater is distillation, also
known as thermal desalination. The process involves heating sea water until it
evaporates, condensing the steam while the salt is still present, and turning the
condensed steam into freshwater (Shatat and Riffat 2012).
The most frequently used thermal desalination techniques include the following:
Vapour-compression evaporation (VC), Multiple-effect distillation (MED), Multi-stage
flash distillation (MSF), Cogeneration, Solar-powered water desalination.

Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF)

This method, which has been used for more than a century, involves distilling water
in containers while applying less pressure, which causes the water to have a lower
boiling point. This method is reliable, but it consumes a lot of energy (Shatat and
Riffat 2012).

Multiple-effect distillation (MED)

The MED procedure is the first widely used distillation technique for desalinating
seawater. Currently, MED plants generate 3.5% of the desalted water used
worldwide. Some of its best attributes consist high thermal energy efficiency, large
unit capacity, and high distilled water quality (Shatat and Riffat 2012).

Vapour-compression evaporation (VC)

Combining the vapour compression distillation process with other methods like MED
and single-effect vapour compression is common. For small-scale desalination
systems, VC distillation is a quick and effective procedure. The low operating
temperatures reduce the chance of scale formation and tube corrosion.

Cogeneration
Cogeneration systems use energy sources to perform multiple functions, such as
electric power generation and water desalination. Most desalinated potable water
and electricity in the Arabian Gulf and North Africa are produced by cogeneration
plants with multi-stage flash desalination units.

Solar
Solar desalination is a renewable, no-cost, and green energy source which can be
used to convert saltwater into freshwater in the countryside and regions with low
incomes (Shatat and Riffat 2012).

4.1.2 Membrane process

The 1980s noticed a rise in the use of synthetic membranes, which were first created
in the 1960s. Their original use was limited to the treatment of municipal water, but
they are now employed in high return processes like beverage purification, enzyme
concentration, and chemical separation. In order to move either water or salt between
two zones with different concentrations, membrane technology uses a relatively
permeable membrane. Phase change desalting technologies are being replaced by
RO and ED in communities on coasts and islands. Large particles, bacteria, ions, and
other impurities are removed from water during the pre-treatment stages of
desalination by employing a variety of membrane technology processes.
The following are the most frequently Membrane:

● Reverse osmosis (RO)

● Electrodialysis (ED)
● Membrane distillation (MD)

Reverse osmosis (RO)

RO is a method of membrane separation. In the RO process, a saline solution flows
through the membrane and water is separated from the solute throughout this
process without any requirement of heat or phase change. In fact, the solvent is
introduced from the area with a higher solute concentration to the other area with a
lower concentration by employing a pressure greater than osmosis and via the
membrane. One of the common problems in RO is membrane scaling due to salt
deposition. But still, Ro has many advantages compared to other methods, including
using polymer materials instead of metal alloys and low environmental temperatures
that can minimize corrosion. Energy recovery through the concentration of energy
recovery devices on the outflow from the pressurized tank.

Electrodialysis (ED)
Early in the 1960s, ED was commercialized, offering a practical method of
desalinating brackish water. In fact, ED uses an electrochemical method for
separation. In this case, ED uses the electric potential difference in electrically
charged ion exchange membranes as a stimulus. It is possible to design membranes
so that only specific cations or anions can flow through them. It is used in the
manufacturing of table salt as well as several other biochemical and environmental
sectors.

Membrane distillation (MD)

MD is a membrane-based, thermally driven process that relies on the temperature
differential between a supply solution and a microporous membrane. It utilizes both
membranes and distillation.

5. The possibility of health risks

Desalinated water can be harmful to human health when consumed directly, since it
is slightly acidic and poor in minerals like magnesium, calcium, and sulfate (Lesimple,
Ahmed and Hilal, 2020).
The amount of water required for each person depends on various factors such as
age, environmental conditions, activity level, etc. Water is an essential component of
the human body and serves a variety of purposes, including lubrication, temperature
regulation, solvents, and the transport of nutrients and waste. Dehydration can harm
human health by causing speech incoherence, extremity weakness, ocular globe
hypotonia, orthostatic hypotension, and tachycardia (Jequier and Constant 2009).
Water and minerals both have a substantial effect on the body. Humans require 20
different minerals, which are present in ground and surface water in varying
concentrations. It is well known that normal-weight adults require 2.0–2.5 L of water
per day for proper hydration and that water can be a source of easily absorbed
minerals like ions. (Rosborg and Kozisek, 2019).
Desalination techniques used in the treatment of drinking water can result in low
levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, which lead to Hyponatremia,
hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypocalcemia can result from this (Nriagu,
Darroudi and Shomar, 2016). Desalinated water is similar to rainwater or distilled
water in terms of its extremely low mineral content. Even after the water's pH has
been adjusted, this low mineral content still exists. Diet does not automatically make
up for a person's decreased mineral intake because of drinking de-mineralized water
(Rosborg and Kozisek, 2019).
Data from experiments and observation are used to understand the effects of
drinking demineralized water. Observational data was gathered from populations
receiving desalinated water, people consuming reverse osmosis-treated
demineralized water, and infants receiving beverages made with distilled water. Both
human volunteers and lab animals have participated in experiments. In order to
compare the health effects of populations using low-mineral (soft) water and
populations using more mineral-rich waters, epidemiological studies have also been
carried out. Because demineralized water only has trace amounts of dissolved
minerals like calcium and magnesium, it is regarded as an extreme case of low-
mineral or soft water. According to research conducted on human volunteers and on
animals for the WHO report, water with a TDS (total dissolved solids) content of less
than 100 mg/L has a significant impact on the homeostasis of both water and
minerals. Serum sodium concentrations, diuresis, and body water volume were all
significantly higher in low-mineral water. It also causes an increase in sodium,
potassium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium ion excretion from the body and a
decrease in serum potassium concentration (Kozisek, F. 2005)

6. Re-mineralization
Desalinated water needs to be remineralized before use to compensate for minerals
and a low pH. Desalinated water is typically treated with the addition of 60 to 120
mg/L of chemicals containing calcium and magnesium (such as CaCO3) to protect
public health, prevent corrosion in the water distribution system, and enable other
uses, such as irrigation (Voutchkov, 2011)
Three main techniques are typically used to remineralize desalinated water:
dissolving naturally occurring minerals like limestone and dolomite, mixing
desalinated water with source water or other fresh water sources that have high
calcium and magnesium contents, and adding chemicals directly to the desalinated
water.

7. Result

8. Conclusion

Desalination is now a more widely used method to meet the growing demand for
drinking water among people over the past few decades. Many desalination methods
are currently in use throughout the world, and in certain regions, like the Middle East,
the desalination process provides more than half of the necessary water.
Desalination is accomplished using a variety of methods, which can all be divided
into two main groups: thermal and membrane. The use of various techniques is
dependent on factors like energy- consumption and water salinity, but the RO
technique has gained popularity because of its many advantages, including energy
efficiency.
Water, which is rich in all kinds of minerals, is a vital drink for humans, so a lack of
minerals in water can affect metabolism, mineral homeostasis, or other body
functions. Desalinated water must be treated with chemicals like calcium carbonate
or limestone or small quantities of mineral-rich water before distribution because
other beneficial minerals are also destroyed during the desalination process.
Remineralization is the term for this procedure. Remineralization not only improves
the taste and smell of water but also protects the water distribution system from
corrosion because desalinated water can cause corrosion. There are no uniform
guidelines for the minimum amount of minerals to be present in the finished product,
even after mineralization and pH adjustment, as the TDS levels in various waters can
vary.

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