Water desalination allows Middle East residents to drink 'seawater-NEWS

URL:https://www.yhenviro.com/news/water-desalination-allows-middle-east-resident-66769948.html

Steel is the star of the vast desalination industry in the Middle East, thanks to its corrosion resistance and excellent thermal conductivity.
In the unusually arid Middle East, where fresh water is scarce and populations are growing, drinking water remains a precious commodity.
For decades, the region has relied on the desalination process and the steel on which desalination facilities are built to provide its residents with precious fresh water.
Desalination is a global industry; there are more than 17,000 commercial desalination plants worldwide, supplying water to 174 countries. Desalination plants remove salts and minerals from seawater, making it more suitable for human drinking and agricultural irrigation.
The Middle East accounts for more than 60% of the world's desalination capacity. Saudi Arabia is the region's largest producer of desalinated seawater.
Because of its corrosion resistance, stainless steel is the preferred building material for thermal distillation and reverse osmosis desalination plants.

Seawater desalination process
Modern desalination plants typically use two processes: thermal distillation or reverse osmosis, and steel is the core material for both.
When the seawater is treated by either of these processes, it will be divided into treated water and concentrated brine, which is saltier than raw seawater. Thermal distillation mimics the water cycle, which uses heat to vaporize and condense seawater to purify it. In reverse osmosis desalination plants, high pressure generated by pumps is used to force seawater through a film that lets it pass, keeping out salts and other mineral solids.
Stainless steel is the preferred material for these two desalination plants due to its corrosion resistance properties. Stainless steel, with its strong durability and low maintenance requirements, is integral to the success of the desalination industry.
Corrosion resistance of steel
Newer thermal distillation desalination plants usually use molybdenum-containing duplex stainless steel (for example, grades 2205 and 2304 of stainless steel), which is resistant to corrosion. Duplex stainless steel also has a naturally high mechanical strength, which means it is built with less steel, reducing the overall density and weight of the evaporator in the desalination plant by 30%, thus improving economy.
Corrosion control is also possible at reverse osmosis desalination plants through the use of stainless steel containing 6% molybdenum and super duplex stainless steel (e.g., Grade 2507 stainless steel used at Ashkelon Desalination in Israel).
Although desalination technology continues to advance, steel is still a reliable and corrosion-resistant material used in the desalination industry.
New green solutions
While the desalination industry is central to ensuring drinking water supplies in the Middle East, it is energy-intensive and has a huge carbon footprint. Still, new desalination innovations could help the industry become greener.
In January 2020, the Saudi government commissioned Solar Water Plc, a British company, to build the kingdom's first dome-shaped solar-powered desalination plant in NEOM, in the northwest of the country.
Under SolarWater's dome-solar concept, seawater would flow into a hydrologic dome made of steel and glass. By using parabolic mirrors to focus solar radiation on the steel and glass structure, the company believes its innovative technology could create a "continuous water cycle" inside the dome with the energy equivalent of "up to 20,000 SUNS". The steel's corrosion resistance and super thermal conductivity are key to the success of this project.
Look into the future
While desalination technology continues to evolve, the steel industry remains reliable and resilient. With the advent of renewable energy solutions, steel will continue to play an important role in the production of drinking water as an affordable, reliable, and highly recyclable material.