Can we harness the power of the sun to desalinate brine sustainably?

Designing a next generation solar crystallizer for real seawater brine treatment with zero liquid discharge

So basically…

Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt in water and is a by-product of many industrial processes, including desalination. The simplest way to dispose of brine is to return it to the ocean, but high localized brine concentrations raise seawater salinity and alkalinity to the point that an environmental risk is created.

Another common way to dispose of brine is to use evaporation ponds, where the water is evaporated and the salt is collected for use in other processes.

Unfortunately, neither method is a fully environmentally-friendly approach, and untreated brine can be corrosive and toxic if disposed of improperly. As modern industries create volumes of brine ranging from hundreds of litres to tens of thousands of litres, a sustainable approach is required.

Enter the solar crystalliser. These use solar energy as the main energy source to heat and evaporate the brine, much like in a large-scale evaporation pond, but in this method, the water isn’t evaporated and lost into the atmosphere, but collected. Solar energy is harvested and converted to heat, which evaporates the water from the brine, with the water vapour then condensed to fresh water.

Interested? You can read more here.