Gas hydrates The chemical structure of a gas hydrate includes only water and a given gas molecule (e.g. methane or carbon dioxide). When hydrates form, the chemical structure excludes all salts and other impurities. When the hydrate is dissociated, only gas and pure water remain. Rapid spray evaporation Rapid Spray Desalination (RSD) is a new technology that makes efficient use of waste heat generated from gas-fired electrical generating plants, wastewater treatment plants, landfills, and other sources, for desalination or for the recovery of dissolved substances. RSD whereby water under pressure is sprayed into a moving hot air stream. Because of the extremely high surface area of the water droplets, the water vaporizes quickly. Salt that remains behind is concentrated into a brine for material handling purposes. Desalination challenges The expenditure for desalination equipment and systems is around $14 billion over the next five years and little R&D is done to improve this technology. The other problem is small profit margins, single digit in most cases, with a lot of competition. Most of the big companies have gone out of the business; DuPont for …show more content…
A majority of the U.S. population lives within 40 to 65 miles of the coast, and percentage is growing. Different coastal regions have needs accordingly. For example, in Tampa Bay, aquifer replenishment is a major issue. There are 973 people moving to Florida each day. These are new, permanent residents, and the population is growing by almost a thousand people per day. At the same time, the area receives 55 inches of rain a year. Unfortunately, this rainfall is not able to penetrate into the groundwater system and provide an adequate supply of fresh water because of carbonate substrata underneath the ground. Only 10 percent of the water penetrates. The reality is that the Everglades and other areas in Florida are very close to a marginal water