Desalination of

water
WHAT IS DESALINATION

It can be defined as any process which removes excess

salts and minerals from water (or) the chemical process
of changing seawater into potable water are called
desalination. These processes may be used for
municipal, industrial or any commercial uses .
Desalination technologies

Different desalination processes have been developed, some of them are at

present under research and development. The two major technologies that are
mainly used for desalination are

• Thermal desalination technology

• Membrane desalination technology
Thermal desalination processes

It is generally known as distillation. It is one of the most ancient ways of

desalinating sea water and converting them to drinking water. This technology
is based on principles of boiling the saline water and evaporating it and then
collecting the condensed vapour to obtain pure water.
• The thermal desalination types
• Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF)
• Multi-effect distillation (MED)
• Vapour compression evaporation (VC)
• Cogeneration
• Solar water desalination
 Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF)

The MSF process is based on the

evaporation and condensation of heated
sea water. As shown in figure the
seawater feed is getting heated up in
the heating section and is filled in a
series arrangement of tanks with certain
temperatures and pressure values. The
combination of thermal conditioning
and pressure in the tanks allows a
continuing steam production even with
decreasing temperatures due to the
decreasing pressure values in the
different stage tanks
Membrane desalination technology

This technology combines thermal and

membrane desalination methods by
creating a temperature difference
across a microporous hydrophobic
membrane. This temperature gradient
causes vapor to pass through the
membrane, excluding liquid and
dissolved particles, and condense on a
cooling surface, producing fresh water.
environmental impacts of desalination
• High energy consumption, leading to increased
emissions and climate change.
• Disruption of marine ecosystems due to changes in
water salinity and temperature.
• Challenges in waste disposal, particularly from salt and
solid waste production.
• Depletion of natural water sources, exacerbating
drought and water scarcity.