desalination

desalination

 or desalting

Removal of dissolved salts from seawater and from the salty waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. Desalination makes such otherwise unusable waters fit for human consumption, irrigation, industrial applications, and other purposes. Distillation is the most widely used desalination process; freezing and thawing, electrodialysis, and reverse osmosis are also used. All are energy-intensive and therefore expensive. Currently, more than 2 billion gallons (8 million cu m) of fresh water are produced each day by several thousand desalination plants throughout the world, the largest plants being in the Arabian Peninsula.

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desalination, desalinization, desalinisation

the process of removing salt, esp from sea water so that it can be used for drinking or irrigation

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desalination [dē‚sal·ə′nā·shən]

(chemical engineering)

Removal of salt, as from water or soil. Also known as desalting.