Difference between revisions of "Timeline of water desalination"

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[https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/9/1/1/663897]
 
[https://academic.oup.com/ijlct/article/9/1/1/663897]
 
[https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/seawater-desalination/]
 
[https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/seawater-desalination/]
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[https://www.sutori.com/story/saudi-arabia-desalination-plant]
  
 
===Timeline update strategy===
 
===Timeline update strategy===

Revision as of 18:21, 5 February 2018

This is a timeline of water desalination.

Big picture

Time period Development summary
16th century Desalination contraptions based on evaporation are incorporated into boats, allowing them to be self-sufficient in the event of an emergency.3
1930s Thermal distillation begins use in several large plants, primarily in the Middle East.1
1960s Membrane technologies arise as a result of a breakthrough in the use of polymer films for separating salt from water in the late 1950s and early 1960s.3
1970s Fuel oil cost increases very sharply, affecting strongly the desalination cost, especially in processes with high specific energy consumption. A great effort is made in many countries to shift from desalination by distillation to desalination by other means.5 Low-pressure multi-effect distillation (MED) and improved reverse osmosis (RO) evolve as two new technologies capable to desalt seawater.5 By the second half of the decade, the RO process is considered in many regional developing programs as an option for small and large seawater desalination plants.5
1980s Synthetic membranes begin to play an increasingly crucial role in water desalination.6 Membrane distillation develops commercially on a small scale during the decade.6
1990s The continuous improvement and cost reduction in RO technology increases, in most cases, the economic benefits of SWRO over the distillation process.5

Full timeline

Year Event type Details Geographical location
 ? In his Meteorologica, Aristotle writes that "Salt water when it turns into vapour becomes sweet and the vapour does not form salt water again when it condenses".1
1955 Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) appears as the first large-scale modern desalination process.4 United States
1959 Desalination capability of cellulose acetate film is demonstrated by Breton and Reid.1.3
1959 The first multi-effect distillation (MED) plant is constructed.4 Aruba
1960 The first synthetic and functional reverse osmosis membrane is produced at the University of California, made from cellulose acetate. This membrane is capable of blocking the salts while allowing water to pass through it at a reasonable rate of flow under high pressure.3
1960-1965 Electrodialysis is commercially introduced, providing a cost-effective way to desalt brackish water and spurring considerable interest in the whole field if using desalting technologies to produce potable water for municipal use.6
1962 Asymmetric cellulose acetate membrane is developed.1
1963 Loeb and Sourirajan show that an asymmetric cellulose acetate membrane can be used for desalination. The permeabilities of these early membranes are low and RO membranes are considered a novelty separation technique rather than a soution to desalination.3
1963 First practical spiral-wound module is developed by General Atomics.1
1964 In Spain, the first desalination plant is constructed in Lanzarote.4 Spain
1965 The first commercial desalination plant using reverse osmosis is inaugurated in California at the Coalinga desalination plant, used for brackish water.3 United States
1965 An 1 MGD (3,785 m3/year) MSF dual-purpose plant starts operating in Eilat, Israel, with an atual water cost amounted to about $0.3m3. The relatively low cost is due to the very low fuel-oil prices if $10-15/ton prevailing at the time.5
1966 Israel publishes a joint feasibility study of a 200 MW - 100 MGD (378,500 m3/year) nuclear dual-purpose plant.5
1967 The first commercially successful hollow fiber module is released.1
1972 The interfacial composite membrane is developed.1
1974 The first sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant comes into operation.4 Bermuda
1975 The first commercial interfacial composite Riley at Fluid Systems is installed at Jiddah seawater plant.1
1978 The first fully aromatic thin film composite (FT-30) is developed.1
1981 Cadotte patents the design for the three-layer TFC membrane that would later become industry standard. The layer provides high permeability while maintaining selectivity for water.3
1986 Low pressure nanofiltration membrane becomes widely available.1
1998 Grace-Davison and Mobil install the first large hyperfiltration solvent separation plant at Beaumont Texas refinery.1

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by User:Sebastian.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

What the timeline is still missing

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Timeline update strategy

See also

External links

References