Abstract
INTRODUCTION
The need for pure water is a problem of global proportions. With each passing
year, the quality of the planet' s water measurably deteriorates, presenting
challenges for the major users. Water treatment has become an area of global
concern as individuals, communities, industries, countries, and their national
institutions strive for ways to keep this essential resource available and
suitable for use.
Over the past 25 years, desalination systems have emerged as an effective
solution to transform saline, brackish, and contaminated water into a useable
and/or potable product. In addition to technical advances in the process,
parallel price drops in the processes, especially membrane-based methods, have
made desalination affordable for countries previously unable to consider the
possibility. This has created a robust and rapidly growing market in which
projects and corporate developments are constantly evolving.
SCOPE OF STUDY
This report contains:
- Descriptions of various desalination methods including multistage flash
distillation, multi-effect distillation, vapor compression, reverse osmosis
and nanofiltration
- The current market status of seawater and brackish water desalination
plants, trends and forecasts for growth over the next 5 years
- Discussion of novel desalination methods including freezing, gas hydrate
formation, membrane distillation and capacitive deionization
- Analysis of the seawater and brackish water desalination plants industry
on a worldwide basis, both from a market and application perspective
- Information about major and minor companies working on seawater and
brackish water desalination plants.
INFORMATION SOURCES
Research for this report began with a re-analysis of the available technical
and business literature, as well as an evaluation of the personal records of
the water treatment industry available to the author. Conversations with
industry experts and company representatives and a review of their published
works provide the backbone for an evaluation of the desalination industry.
Information sources for the study also include online research, patent
literature, and technical journals. In evaluating the global market,
information was obtained from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department
of State, Aquastat, the United Nation' s global water information system, and
publications from the International Desalination Association, European
Desalination Association, and the Middle East Desalination Research Center.
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