World Water Desalination to 2013
Continued rapid growth anticipated through 2013
The very word “desalination” usually triggers thoughts of oil-rich, water-poor countries in the Middle East. And while it is true that several such countries -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait -- are among the largest markets for desalination, there are desalination facilities in more than 100 countries. The continued proliferation of desalination facilities has created a global market of more than $8 billion, with continued rapid growth anticipated.
Thermal processes limited to energy-rich markets
The most traditional techniques for desalination have involved thermal processes. The most common contemporary thermal processes, multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation and multiple-effect distillation (MED), are highly reliable and capable of producing remarkably pure water from the saltiest seawater sources. However, these techniques -- especially MSF -- consume large amounts of energy. These techniques tend to be economically viable only when water shortages are most severe and when local energy supplies are abundant -- such as in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and a few other countries in the region. Elsewhere, shortages of quality water can also be daunting. This is true in China, Spain, Australia and parts of the United States -- where populations have outgrown native water supplies or local water supplies contain so much salt and other dissolved solids that they are not fit for use. These difficulties are perhaps most severe in Middle Eastern and North African nations not endowed with plentiful oil and gas reserves but beset with similarly arid conditions and lack of indigenous water supplies.
Reverse Osmosis Systems
Continued rapid growth anticipated through 2013
The very word “desalination” usually triggers thoughts of oil-rich, water-poor countries in the Middle East. And while it is true that several such countries -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait -- are among the largest markets for desalination, there are desalination facilities in more than 100 countries. The continued proliferation of desalination facilities has created a global market of more than $8 billion, with continued rapid growth anticipated.
Thermal processes limited to energy-rich markets
The most traditional techniques for desalination have involved thermal processes. The most common contemporary thermal processes, multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation and multiple-effect distillation (MED), are highly reliable and capable of producing remarkably pure water from the saltiest seawater sources. However, these techniques -- especially MSF -- consume large amounts of energy. These techniques tend to be economically viable only when water shortages are most severe and when local energy supplies are abundant -- such as in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and a few other countries in the region. Elsewhere, shortages of quality water can also be daunting. This is true in China, Spain, Australia and parts of the United States -- where populations have outgrown native water supplies or local water supplies contain so much salt and other dissolved solids that they are not fit for use. These difficulties are perhaps most severe in Middle Eastern and North African nations not endowed with plentiful oil and gas reserves but beset with similarly arid conditions and lack of indigenous water supplies.
Reverse Osmosis Systems
