Desalination solution

Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new water desalination and filtration system.

In a recent field study in the San Joaquin Valley in California, the mini-mobile-modular (M3) system showed that it could desalt agricultural drainage water that was nearly saturated with calcium-sulphate salts while recovering up to 65 per cent of the water, accomplishing this with just one reverse-osmosis stage.

In designing and constructing new desalination plants, creating and testing pilot facilities is one of the most expensive and time-consuming steps.

Traditionally, small yet very expensive stationary pilot plants are constructed to determine the feasibility of using available water as a source for a large-scale desalination plant.

Using the M3 system could help cut both the cost and time involved.