A large desalination plant in the Caofeidian industrial zone of Tangshan, in China’s Hebei province, on Bohai Bay, has cut its electricity use by more than half. The facility recently entered its trial production stage, according to the state-run Science and Technology Daily.
As well as saving energy, the plant converts millions of tonnes of waste brine, a toxic by-product of desalination, into high-value chemical salt. The brine is processed at a three-to-one ratio: every three tonnes treated yield one tonne of refined concentrated seawater, with 120 grams of salt per litre, and two tonnes of fresh water.
According to the report, the technology offers a viable path towards solving a global problem: the discharge into the sea of the concentrated salt water left over from producing drinking water.
