UAEU gets patent for low-energy desalination system
ABU DHABI, September 21, 2021
The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) has announced that its researchers have made an unprecedented scientific advance that has the potential to revolutionise the water desalination industry.
The scientists in the university’s National Water and Energy Centre have invented an innovative system that dramatically reduces energy consumption during the desalination process.
Traditional desalination systems involve processes of heating, re-condensation and evaporation as well as the use of fine membranes that allow the water to pass without salt.
These processes, including thermal and reverse osmosis desalination systems consume vast amounts of energy.
In contrast, UAEU scientists made a direct application of the theoretical principles of thermodynamics and the conservation of mass and energy to discover that water can be desalinated by using a combination of high and low pressures.
Saline water is first pushed at high pressure through a pipeline with the venturi device in which the speed of the water is increased and its pressure is reduced to allow for evaporation with no or minimum heating, said the university officials.
The water is then turned into steam by containing it at very low pressure. After re-condensation, the water is fully desalinated, they stated.
The low-energy desalination system has been granted a patent by the US Patents and Trademarks Office, thus adding to the UAEU scientists' total tally of more than 178 patents, they added.-TradeArabia News Service
