Best New Desalination Technology Breakthrough B2B Companies Must Know

In simple words, desalination is the process of removing salts from water. These processes are required on every level of production from municipal to industrial and commercial. 

With the increasing lack of water resources, we rely more than ever on desalination technology today. It has led to the rapid development of the global desalination market. New developments continue to reshape processes and make them more cost-effective by the day.

Several desalination technology companies all around the world work to produce potable water to fulfill the municipal, industrial and agricultural needs of people and businesses alike. Let us take a look at desalination's newest technologies that can help your business in a grand way.

The traditional methods

Desalination is usually done through two methods: thermal processes and membrane processes. At its core, a desalination process separates saline water into two parts where one part has very little concentration of salt and the other has a much higher concentration. It uses energy to produce fresh water. Both technologies have historically produced about 50-50% of the total fresh water produced via desalination. 

1. 1. Thermal processes
      
      The thermal desalination process heats up saline water and collects condensed vapor and further uses it to produce pure water. Collecting condensed vapor is also referred to as distillation. Thermal processes can be further divided into three subcategories, namely:
      Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF): this process distills water through many chambers or stages and each stage and progressively less pressure. 
      Multi-effect distillation (MED): it uses a series of vessels or effects along with evaporation and condensation to produce fresh water. 
      Vapor compression distillation: in this process, the heat used for evaporation comes from processing the vapor and not a direct source. It can be used either by itself or in combination with others. 
      Low-temperature thermal desalination (LTTD technology) or simply thermal technologies have long been used primarily for seawater desalination and rarely on brackish water.
      
      
2. Membrane processes

The desalination technology breakthroughs

1. Molybdenum disulfide film - USA
   A research at the Illinois State University in 2015 found that molybdenum disulfide high-energy materials can remove the salt content in seawater more effectively. The desalination efficiency of different thin films were stimulated and compared by computer where it was discovered that the molybdenum disulfide film had the highest efficiency out of the lot. It was 70% higher than that of the graphene film.
   
   The unique atomic composition of the material is full of nanopores, making a large amount of seawater go through itself. This structure helps increase the water permeability of the film. On the other hand, the film's thickness reduces the energy of pushing water. All in all, using molybdenum disulfide high-energy materials can greatly reduce the operating costs of the desalination process.
   
   At the moment, researchers are currently testing other properties if the material in relation to seawater purification. 
   
   
2. Seawater desalination technology - USA
   Manoj Bhargava, a USA-based millionaire has developed a new desalination technology on his own. It is a seawater desalination solution called the Rainmaker. It consists of a desalination device installed on a flatbed truck that distills seawater into fresh water by use of traditional electricity. It can be used on any scale - small or large, depending on the need. 
   
   That is to say that you can place a Rain Maker device in a municipal wastewater treatment plant or have hundreds of such units in an ocean cargo ship in a time of crisis. They will perform the same job with just as much efficiency. 
   
   Construction of large-scale desalination facilities costs a large amount of money along with consuming a lot of energy as well. Whereas Rain Makers can be produced on a large scale, costing far less. Rain Makers can certainly prove to be a promising prospect in the coming future. 
   
   
3. Reducing seawater desalination costs - USA
   A research team of the GE Global R&D Center and the U.S. Department of Energy developed a handheld 3D printing device in 2015 that aims to make seawater desalination more convenient. It uses the principle of steam turbines that comes from GE scientists Doug Hofer and Vitali Lissianski. As in traditional turbine systems, steam condenses and turns into water to generate electricity. If this tool can be successfully produced, it can cut seawater desalination costs by up to 20%.
   
   Hofer used the same principle to freeze saline water instead of turning it into steam. When a mixture freezes, the salt separates on its own as a solid, leaving only ice. When the ice melts, it leaves only pure water. Vitali Lissianski, project leader at the Energy Systems Laboratory of GE Global R&D Center, said, "Desalination by freezing seawater is nothing new, but the way we are doing it is very different. We use our wealth of knowledge in impeller machinery. Developed a very economical solution." "You can also say that our turbo 'supercharged' produced an economical desalination system," Lissianski added jokingly.
   
   
4. External compound parabolic - USA
   Researchers from the Institute of Solar Energy Technology at the University of California have developed an external compound parabolic concentrator named XCPC. This system may bring a new kind of solar water desalination solution, especially to places like California that are continuously plagued by drought. This system will help alleviate the shortage of local agricultural irrigation water. 
   
   Roland Winston, director of the University of California Solar Energy Technology Research and Development Center, has said, "The conventional membrane desalination process will produce useful fresh water and a large amount of salt water that needs to be treated, and the XCPC system can make the water evaporation process more efficient and at a low cost."
   
   About the primary innovations of the systems, he added: "Our external compound parabolic concentrator can generate high temperature by collecting sunlight, and the achievable temperature is much higher than the temperature required to produce water vapor. At the same time. The key point is that our collectors do not need to use tracking systems and do not have any components that need to move. In fact, most of the other solar energy technologies that can obtain such high temperatures need to use tracking systems, and the cost is relatively high." 
   
   
5. Low-cost seawater desalination membrane technology — Egypt
   Researchers from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, have announced that they have developed a new low-cost seawater desalination membrane technology. The highlight of the technology is that it comes with low membrane material prices and low energy consumption. It runs on the principle of pervaporation - a membrane permeation process with phase change. 
   
   The research led by Ahmed El-Shafei, associate professor of agricultural and biological systems engineering at Alexandria University has shown promising results. He has said that the system developed by his team can make extremely saline water fresh by making it pass through a very high flow rate. The desalination rate can even touch about 99.7%.
   
   
6. Solar hybrid desalination system — India
   Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science and Technology have developed a solar hybrid seawater desalination system. It can be used to treat saline and brackish water. The mixing system can purify up to 6.5 liters of brine per square meter when operated under the conditions of the temperature of 27°C. Conditions this experiment was observed in were between 9 AM to 3 PM in southern India. The system is well-built to operate normally even in off-grid areas.
   
   It uses a stepped solar evaporator that is welded by a semi-circular pipe connected to one another to form a tank. The tank should have a certain inclination angle so that it can act as a channel for water circulation. The vacuum jacket fitted around the system helps reduce heat loss. It uses photovoltaic cells as the source of energy to pump water in and out of the entire system. The system and its working processes have found their way in the "International Journal of Low Carbon Technologies".
   
   
7. Electro-absorption desalination technology — India
   Devlina Das, a scientist at CSIR (Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) in India developed a unique five-step desalination technology in 2015. She named it 'SALINO' and it won the award at the 2015 environmental challenge at the event hosted by RELX Group in Stockholm, Sweden. Das has said that the inspiration for the invention comes from the current status of water use. 
   
   The process is powered by solar energy and electric adsorption. Arguably the most popular desalination method, Reverse Osmosis consumes 30-40% more water than SALINO. Thus, SALINO would consume lower costs and give higher efficiency. Das is of the opinion that current desalination processes waste too much water and energy and this is what she aims to change with her own technology. 
   
   SALINO doesn't need extravagant infrastructure to work and can be extremely useful in serving communities in need of potable. Das plans to use the $25.000 she has received as a bonus to build a desalination demonstration project in hopes that it will help more water-scarce areas. 
   
   
8. Carbon nanotube desalination technology — China
   A new breakthrough has been made in the use of carbon nanotube technology for seawater desalination. Researchers Dr. Fang Haiping of the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics in China has discovered why carbon nanotubes have not reached their peak capacity in salt removal. It is because they are too narrow to let the water pass, along with the ions in the water blocking whatever passage there may be. 
   
   The researchers found that the water passage of the modified carbon nanotubes could reach up to 40%. Alternatively, applying a strong electric field to the carbon nanotubes can displace the ions. However, the first approach is preferred of simply preventing the blockage of the carbon nanotubes. 
   
   In the words of Fang Haiping: “This method does not require energy consumption, and it does not require large-scale equipment to generate a powerful electric field, which can make the desalination process more convenient.”
   
   Desalination and industrial piping
   Desalination is a process that prepares water for drinking, agriculture and industrial uses. It is extremely important that the components used in the process are top-notch that leave absolutely zero risks of contamination. Not to mention it is a process that is very expensive, making it equally important to do the best job possible. This is why industrial piping plays an important role in the desalination process. 
   
   Usually, super duplex or duplex stainless pipes are used in the process. This is because they are made of specialized materials that can withstand huge amounts of corrosion and perform consistently well in harsh environments. They have durable strength as well as great temperature and pressure resistance. 
   
   Another aspect that makes piping an important aspect to be considered in desalination is to take care to avoid leaching. Leaching happens when impurities disassociate from the pipe and contaminate the water being processed. Thus, the pipes you choose should be galvanized and have PVC or CPVC as they are excellent at resisting salts. 
   
   If you too are looking to invest in water desalination technology at your business, here are some of the best, most economical options to help you do so. 
   
   Book a consulting session with our customer-friendly team at Glen Engineering to learn more.