{"id":1131,"date":"2019-04-24T07:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T07:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ampac1.com\/blog\/?p=1131"},"modified":"2026-06-30T04:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:16:16","slug":"is-there-an-alternate-seawater-desalination-technique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ampac1.com\/blog\/is-there-an-alternate-seawater-desalination-technique\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There An Alternate Seawater Desalination Technique?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: Innovation keeps moving forward, and with it, new ways to desalinate seawater are popping up, not just relying on reverse osmosis. Desalination can be really expensive for many countries. The process demands high maintenance, strict rules for wastewater disposal, and a consistent feed water supply. That's tough for a lot of nations to manage. With more and more people facing water stress every day, we need to offer options to countries that aren't as financially strong. One less expensive method came from a partnership between the University of Austin, Texas, and the University of Marburg, Germany. This article looks at how practical and useful this alternative technology could be for the future.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Description:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: Many countries struggle with the high costs of <\/span><<span style=\"font-weight: seawater desalination<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, even when it could ease pressure on their natural resources. Right now, seawater desalination mostly uses reverse osmosis. This means pushing salty water through a special membrane to get pure water on the other side. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>A Costly Affair:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: While reverse osmosis works for homes and businesses, large-scale membranes are expensive. They need careful handling because of their complex design. Plus, a single desalination plant often holds at least 40,000 of these membranes. The desalination plant in <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: Carlsbad, CA, USA<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, for example, cost $904 million to build. And its annual maintenance bill? A whopping $53,100,000. This plant is expected to last 20 years, but it only runs at 45-50% capacity. This is a grim reality for developing countries with weaker economies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><<span style=\"font-weight: Reverse Osmosis<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then, can be too expensive for underdeveloped and developing countries because of their financial limits. But even though it&#8217;s one of the costliest processes in the world, we&#8217;re still working hard to keep it an option for everyone. Researchers are developing the technology further in labs, testing it to eventually use it on a larger scale.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Innovation<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: Before membrane technology and filters became what they are today, some interesting research came from a collaboration between America and Germany. This research, first published in the journal <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: Angewandte Chemie, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: in 2013, described a new method that's much simpler and saves energy compared to traditional ways. It uses bipolar electrodes and micro-channels. It doesn't need membranes or a lot of power.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: Water is pushed through a dual microchannel system, which is only 22 micrometers wide.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: One microchannel is an auxiliary channel, and the other is a branch working channel.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: A bipolar electrode connects the two channels electrically. The auxiliary channel connects to a power source, and the branch working channel is grounded.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: Then, a 3V potential difference is set up. The branch point of the working channel gets a small part of the electrode.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: This voltage makes the negatively charged chlorine ions oxidize into neutral ions at one end of the electrode.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: This creates a zone of negatively charged ions in the narrow channel, which directly forms an electric field gradient. This gradient pushes the positively charged ions to the branching channel.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: Because of the need for electroneutrality, the anions follow the positive ions into the branched channel.<\/span><\/li>\n<p> \\\t<\/p>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: So, this water becomes rich in ions, and the water in the working channel is partially desalinated.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: This process uses less energy than the <\/span><<span style=\"font-weight: reverse osmosis<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: process. Plus, after this step, RO would only need to remove sediments and leftover particles. That means we could build RO membranes with simpler designs, saving money. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: Richard M. Crooks from the University of Austin, Texas, and Prof. Ulrich Tallarek from the University of Marburg, Germany, along with their colleagues, developed this with support from The U.S. Department of Energy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Could This Be An Alternative?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: The UN estimates that about <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: one-third of the world's population<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: lives in water-stressed areas, and that number will only grow by 2025. As we work to reduce this number, this process might get another look for research, giving us all the help we can get. After another four years of research, this process will likely be used on a larger scale in industries and desalination plants. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: Desalination plants use a lot of energy, which means we're using up fuel reserves. And dumping the rejected salty water can change the ocean's salt content, potentially leading to climate change. Having more solutions available makes it easier to build a sustainable future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><i>About the Author:<\/i><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><<i><span style=\"font-weight: Ampac USA<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: builds water treatment systems used worldwide to provide quality drinking water. The company has over 40 years of experience, uses the latest technology to deliver reliable products, and works with experts to give the best service possible.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Reference Links:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><<span style=\"font-weight: https:\/\/www.ampac1.com\/applications\/rosystems.html\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p><<span style=\"font-weight: https:\/\/www.ampac1.com\/products\/seawater-desalination<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Related reading: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ampac1.com\/blog\/what-is-seawater-desalination-and-how-does-a-seawater-desalination-system-work\/\">What is Seawater Desalination, and How Does a Seawater Desalination System Work?<\/a>, <USA Describes The Latest Seawater Desalination Technique<\/a>, <Desalination: Tapping into Seawater\u2019s Potential for Drinkable Water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the key issues that a number of countries face is the fact that they possibly cannot afford the expenses related to seawater desalination to relieve a little stress on natural resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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