In recent years, numerous large-scale seawater desalination plants have been built in water-stressed countries to augment available water resources, and construction of new desalination plants is expected to increase in the near future. Despite major advancements in desalination technologies, seawater desalination is still more energy intensive compared to conventional technologies for the treatment of fresh water. There are also concerns about the potential environmental impacts of large-scale seawater desalination plants. Here, we review the possible reductions in energy demand by state-of-the-art seawater desalination technologies, the potential role of advanced materials and innovative technologies in improving performance, and the sustainability of desalination as a technological solution to global water shortages.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/333/6043/712.full.pdf

The Future of Seawater Desalination: Energy, Technology, and the Environment

Reverse osmosis desalination: Water sources, technology, and today's challenges

Membranes have an increasingly important role in alleviating water scarcity and the pollution of aquatic environments. Promising molecular-level design approaches are reviewed for membrane materials, focusing on how these materials address the urgent requirements of water treatment applications.

Materials for next-generation desalination and water purification membranes

The global population is increasing and because of this, the world may experience great fresh water scarcity. Our water resources are limited and, hence, water treatment and recycling methods are the only alternatives for getting fresh water in the coming decades. Therefore, there is a great need for the development of a suitable, inexpensive and rapid wastewater treatment techniques and reuse or conservation methods in the present century. The different types of water treatment and recycling techniques have been discussed in terms of their basic principles, applications, costs, maintenance and suitability. Additionally, a systematic approach to water treatment and recycling involving their understanding, evaluation and selection parameters has been presented. A brief guideline for the selection of the appropriate technologies for specific applications has been evaluated. This review adds to the global discussions on water scarcity solutions.

/pdf/chemical-treatment-technologies-for-waste-water-recycling-an-2c42z01700.pdf

Chemical treatment technologies for waste-water recycling—an overview

A method for assessing the environmental impacts of freshwater consumption was developed. This method considers damages to three areas of protection: human health, ecosystem quality, and resources. The method can be used within most existing life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods. The relative importance of water consumption was analyzed by integrating the method into the Eco-indicator-99 LCIA method. The relative impact of water consumption in LCIA was analyzed with a case study on worldwide cotton production. The importance of regionalized characterization factors for water use was also examined in the case study. In arid regions, water consumption may dominate the aggregated life-cycle impacts of cotton-textile production. Therefore, the consideration of water consumption is crucial in life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies that include water-intensive products, such as agricultural goods. A regionalized assessment is necessary, since the impacts of water use vary greatly as a function of location. T...

J. Löwenberg

Papers

State-of-the-art of reverse osmosis desalination