Desalination Tech Offers Drought Relief with Economic, Environmental Benefits

by | Apr 28, 2015

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Effluent Free Desalination Corp. says its new desalination technology can produce fresh water economically, in abundance and without adverse environmental consequences such as concentrated brine discharge.

The company says a mobile demonstration prototype will be completed by the end of the year, setting the stage for developing utility-scale facilities. EFD’s desalination method can also purify agricultural runoff, manufactured water from fracking sites, and the concentrated brine byproduct produced by reverse osmosis.

The EFD system borrows from traditional distillation technology, but with two drought-fighting improvements. First, the EFD technology avoids scale buildup, which damages desalination machinery, by separating the heating and vaporizing processes and using pressure to raise the boiling point to eliminate scaling.

Second, through a super-heating process, the water is instantly separated into fresh water steam and salt crystals. Drinkable water is condensed from the steam and commercially valuable salt is recovered. Leftover brine is recirculated through the system. The company says nothing is returned to the ocean.

As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, the state is looking to innovative water technologies including desalination.

Water Efficiency reports Poseidon Water and KSD Construction are working in the southern part of the state to build the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.

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