About Desalination
Desalination processes are for the purpose of removing salt from water. It particularly is of interest and current concern over the globe in order to make fresh water for human consumption available from seawater, at present an unlimited global resource.
It is a method used to a limited extent on many seagoing craft, liners and submarines but the focus is now upon the general need on a far greater scale as fresh water resources on the earth are being affected both in availability and in quality.
The ideas has been promoted as an economical proposition to overcome the extremely high cost of installation of the necessary plant to extract and market the salt in addition to many other minerals and natural elements that the seawater offers in minute quantities. Development of methods to allow the bonus harvest has yet to be satisfactorily engineered for commercially viable concept.
However, the simpler process of desalination is widely used on a grand scale in the Middle East where wealth from oil has allowed expenditure. One of the largest plants is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant in the United Arab Emirates. This runs on a system of multi-stage flash distillation and is believed to produce 300 million cubic metres of water annually, said to equal about 75% of total world needs. The largest plant in the US is at Tampa Bay, Florida with only about 12% the output of the Jebel Ali plant.
The world situation is reported in the Wall Street Journal 2008 “World-wise, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association.”
Perhaps there is some further significant progress in this important science that may prove to be a means of returning our planet to good health and lush verdure.
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