Future of seawater desalination – Next 5 years

MONTCLAIR, Calif. - Aug. 23, 2017 - PRLog -- Seawater desalination has seen vast amounts of technological advancements the past few years. Of the two major methods for desalination of seawater, modern membrane technology is seeing a boost. However, traditional thermal powered desalination plants have also seen modest improvements which make it a convenient option for many. A lot of other major changes and choices have made the whole process a cost-efficient affair. This includes SWRO membrane developments, large capacity plants, proper method of delivery etc. have helped decrease the cost of seawater desalination.

Currently, many countries situated in arid regions like in the middle east have come far off in the desalination technologies. This is mainly because of the cheap energy and fuel costs required for operating a desalination plant. Because the need has risen up for North African countries, Australia and many states of the U.S., the technology is now being accepted openly. This also happened because the technology development in the membrane technology. High yielding membrane elements are designed to produce more fresh water with a higher surface area and membrane packing. This improvement has taken the game of seawater desalination to the next level in the past few years.

Cost Cutting:

Desalination can easily take a step forward if the biggest drawback it faces is solved. The problem of large costs. On an average, the overall cost of desalination plants is as follows:

• Installation costs: 30 to 40%
• Power costs: 20 to 35%
• Other operation and maintenance costs: 15 to 30%
• Indirect Capital Costs: 10 to 20%

And all of this is the part of millions of dollars maybe even more based on the capacity of freshwater produce required. Recent changes and improvements have definitely lead to lower energy costs. This can be soaked in considering the energy for producing freshwater for a single house annually is even less the energy consumption of the refrigerator at home. Similarly, more scope can be seen in reducing costs in operations and maintenance by automation or more technology development.

Future technology scope:

Seawater desalination (https://www.ampac1.com/products/seawater-desalination) holds tremendous amounts of potential in terms of lowering costs through technology. The smaller SWRO units (https://www.ampac1.com/products/seawater-desalination) are an example of the same. These are used universally in many industries and commercial operations for the costs are comparatively lower for these. However, it is difficult to say if the technology of desalination itself will see a major development in the coming few years. After all, the improvement of membrane technology was a major strike the field had seen in more than 30 years.

It is clear that seawater desalination (https://www.ampac1.com/products/seawater-desalination) has the potential to become the sole alternative that will solve water scarcity all around the world. Even if we think of desalinating brackish waters, they comprise only 1% of the total water present on the earth. The rest is covered with huge amounts of heavily salinized water which is unlikely to end for the next thousand years. Maybe it will also give all of us the time to revive our freshwater sources and make a sustainable world for the future.