Desalination History
Desalination technology is not a new concept. Desalination has been used for thousands of years, such as Greek sailors boiling water to evaporate fresh water away from the salt and Romans using clay filters to trap salt.
The first desalination patent is reported to be 1869 and the first land-based steam distillation plant established in Britain the same year. Western Australia’s Coolgardie goldfields desalted water using wood-fired stills over 100 years ago.
Desalination for sea vessels became common, not only for drinking water but also conversion units to create fresh water for steam ship boilers.
While methods are now much more sophisticated they still generally use distillation or filtration as a base concept. Domestic use of desalination has increased over the past 60 years.
1940s In WWII the need for freshwater for military forces based in arid areas was recognised as a priority. Mobile units were already being used on ships and hundreds of mobile units were sent to military units across the world.
1960s American government created and funded the Office of Saline Water to research and develop desalination technologies. The first reverse osmosis plants were built in the US and Europe.
Late 1960s Units that produced up to 8 megalitres per day were being installed in different parts of the world including the Middle East. These were usually thermally driven which was expensive as they required a lot of energy.
1970s Commercial membrane processes including electrodialysis and reverse osmosis were being used extensively, however, the process was not yet scaled up for larger projects.
1980s Desalination became a fully commercial enterprise with technology becoming more affordable and successful.
1990s A dramatic increase and improvement in reverse osmosis technology and availability as energy use and costs decreased. By the end of the 1990s plants were being constructed on a large scale across the Middle East, Mediterranean and America.
The first desalination patent is reported to be 1869 and the first land-based steam distillation plant established in Britain the same year. Western Australia’s Coolgardie goldfields desalted water using wood-fired stills over 100 years ago.
Desalination for sea vessels became common, not only for drinking water but also conversion units to create fresh water for steam ship boilers.
While methods are now much more sophisticated they still generally use distillation or filtration as a base concept. Domestic use of desalination has increased over the past 60 years.
1940s In WWII the need for freshwater for military forces based in arid areas was recognised as a priority. Mobile units were already being used on ships and hundreds of mobile units were sent to military units across the world.
1960s American government created and funded the Office of Saline Water to research and develop desalination technologies. The first reverse osmosis plants were built in the US and Europe.
Late 1960s Units that produced up to 8 megalitres per day were being installed in different parts of the world including the Middle East. These were usually thermally driven which was expensive as they required a lot of energy.
1970s Commercial membrane processes including electrodialysis and reverse osmosis were being used extensively, however, the process was not yet scaled up for larger projects.
1980s Desalination became a fully commercial enterprise with technology becoming more affordable and successful.
1990s A dramatic increase and improvement in reverse osmosis technology and availability as energy use and costs decreased. By the end of the 1990s plants were being constructed on a large scale across the Middle East, Mediterranean and America.