Desalination of Seawater

with Zero Liquid Discharge

Abs tract

Seawater contains nearly 200 chemicals in the dissolve d state. The

salts of Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and magnesium form the major
composition and are present as chlorides, sulphates, carbonates and
bicarbonate salts. Most of the existin g process such as Distillation or
RO process remove water only (de water) , lea vin g behind all the salts
untouched and they are sent back to the sea.

Removal of the 3.6% dissolved salts in seawater (Desalination) is the

major f ocus of the present invention . Some of the major advantage s of
this innovative pro cess are:

1. The pollution hazard to sea and atmosphere is NIL

2. Since there is no recycle of highly concentrated saline water back
to sea, it saves f ishes, turtles, seahorse s and the f lora and f auna.
3. It is possible to locate Desal plants inland, f ar away f rom sea.
4. No need to import expensive RO membranes or Boilers.
5. Higher reco very of water up to 80% and most of the salts of Na, K ,
Br etc. can be recovered upto 90%.
6. Pre-treatment of brine is Nil or Lesser
7. Highly suitable f or high salt content waters , such as at Red Sea.
8. Scope to setup smaller plants

Numerous attempts have been made by dif f erent scholars all o ver the
wo rld, but they ha ve achieved margin al success. The present
invention f ocusses on Freeze Desalination with unique additives f or
removal of dissolved salts.

Seawater containin g salt, algae and other suspended solids are

thoroughly remove d by f iltration . The clear water is cooled gradually
and f iltered at various stages to remove some of the dissolved salts.

To the cold f iltered clear sea water, Retardants, Repellents, and or

anti-crysta llising a dditives a re added and cooled when water alone
pref erentially cryst allises out, as ice, leaving behind all t he salts in
the liquid brine. The ice crystals a re centrif uged, washed f ree of
adhering brine and taken to a melting tank where it is heated to get
desalted water.
Further purif ication of water, if require d , can be done by passing the
above desalted wa ter thro ugh Re verse Osmosis membranes. The clear
desalted RO water obtained is tested for diff erent end uses .

The uncrystallised concentrated brine f rom centrif uge and f rom other
stages are taken to diff erent solar pans / evaporators where they are
evaporated to recover d iff erent salts.

A Patent f or the above process has been f iled both in India and US.

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