Efficiently utilizing seawater in challenging conditions

Seawater desalination is becoming increasingly important around the world. Increasing demand for water, rising populations, heightened water scarcity, and the expansion of industrial and municipal infrastructures require high-performance desalination systems that operate cost-effectively. At the same time, the requirements for energy efficiency, plant availability, and sparing resource use are also becoming more demanding. Plant owners are therefore faced with the task of reliably converting seawater into usable water in tough conditions. The technical challenges start right at the water intake stage and continue through pretreatment all the way up to the actual desalination process. In addition to dissolved salts, seawater also contains particulate fouling, organic matter, microorganisms, and additional constituents that can put a strain on processes and components. Fouling, scaling, and fluctuating raw water quality influence operational reliability, energy demand, and the service life of key plant components. In thermal as well as membrane-based desalination technologies, it is therefore crucial to reliably protect the water-carrying systems and downstream process stages. Our solutions help to ensure stable, efficient, and cost-effective operation of seawater desalination plants. They contribute to reliable water intake and pretreatment, assist with the management of fouling and scaling risks, and safeguard the availability of sensitive components in the long run. We also offer technologies that are designed and engineered for robust operation with minimal operational effort for decentralized and autonomous use cases (off-grid desalination). Which applications are particularly relevant in seawater desalination depends on the requirements of the specific process concepts and plant designs.

Water intake and pretreatment

Seawater desalination plants – whether on land or as a floating solution on a barge – involve high investment costs and complex technical requirements. Regardless of whether they work using heat (MSF, MED, MEH) or membrane technology (RO, reverse osmosis), their profitability depends on maximum availability, a long service life for the core components, as well as low energy and chemical consumption.

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Preventing scaling in thermal plants

Thermal seawater desalination plants that operate according to the multi-stage flash (MSF) or multi-effect distillation (MED) principle play a key role in the supply of drinking water. These methods are characterized by a multi-stage distillation process in which the number of evaporator effects is a key factor determining the energy use and thus the profitability of the plant.

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Self-sufficient desalination

In many arid regions of the world, the scarcity of water is getting worse. At the same time, these areas often do not have the infrastructure for a continuous supply of drinking water. However, where there is sunshine and industrial waste heat in abundant supply, local seawater and brackish water desalination opens the door to securing the drinking water supply independently and in the long term.

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