Timeline of Desalination
Desalination from solar distillation in 1872 through thermal plants, practical membranes, energy recovery, and large municipal water systems in 2024.
- Category
- Engineering & Technology
- Events
- 16 events 1872 – 2024
- Generated
- by gpt-6
1872: Las Salinas builds a solar distillation plant
Charles Wilson built a solar still at Las Salinas, in what is now northern Chile, to supply water for a mining settlement. Sunlight evaporated saline water beneath glass, demonstrating a practical land-based use of solar desalination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_desalination1928: Curaçao installs industrial seawater evaporators
Industrial evaporating equipment was installed on Curaçao to produce freshwater from seawater. The island's limited natural supplies led to early reliance on desalination, anticipating its later role in other arid coastal economies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination_by_country1952: The United States funds desalination research
The Saline Water Conversion Act authorized a federal research program to lower the cost of producing freshwater from saline sources. Public support for laboratories, membranes, and demonstration plants helped build the technical base of modern desalination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination1957: Silver patents multistage flash desalination
Robert Silver patented a multistage flash evaporator design. Heated seawater passed through chambers at successively lower pressures, allowing repeated evaporation and heat recovery; the approach supported large thermal desalination plants in the Persian Gulf.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Silver1959: Researchers develop a practical desalination membrane
Sidney Loeb and Srinivasa Sourirajan developed a practical cellulose acetate membrane at the University of California, Los Angeles. Its thin selective surface and porous support allowed useful water flow while rejecting salt, making reverse osmosis more than a laboratory curiosity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Loeb1961: Freeport opens a federal demonstration plant
A seawater demonstration plant, the first of five built by the federal Office of Saline Water, opened at Freeport, Texas, using multiple-effect evaporation. Built after years of severe regional drought, it showed that distillation could supply a town's water, but the water cost up to $1.25 per thousand gallons to make and was sold to the town for 30 cents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_Texas_drought1965: Coalinga supplies water through reverse osmosis
A reverse osmosis plant using Sidney Loeb's membrane began treating brackish groundwater at Coalinga, California, which had relied on imported drinking water. The project demonstrated municipal use of the membrane process, initially with water much less salty than the ocean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Loeb1972: Cadotte develops composite desalination membranes
John Cadotte developed a thin-film composite desalination membrane. Separating the salt-rejecting layer from its supporting structure allowed each to be optimized, establishing a materials approach that became central to reverse osmosis systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-film_composite_membrane1973: Aktau combines nuclear power and desalination
The BN-350 reactor entered service at Shevchenko, now Aktau in Kazakhstan, supplying electricity and steam for desalination. The complex demonstrated long-term use of nuclear heat to produce freshwater from the Caspian Sea in an arid industrial region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BN-350_reactor1992: Yuma plant starts a partial-capacity first run
The Yuma Desalting Plant in Arizona, built to treat salty agricultural drainage water for delivery to Mexico under Colorado River salinity obligations, was completed in 1992 and began a first run at one-third of capacity. A Gila River flood interrupted the run in early 1993, and the plant has operated only occasionally since, but the large reverse osmosis installation showed a use beyond seawater treatment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuma_Desalting_Plant2005: Ashkelon expands seawater reverse osmosis
The Ashkelon desalination plant began supplying Israel with freshwater from the Mediterranean. Its large reverse osmosis installation demonstrated that membrane desalination could become a substantial component of a national water supply system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Israel2005: Singapore opens its first desalination plant
Singapore opened the SingSpring plant at Tuas, adding desalinated seawater to its mix of local catchments, imported water, and reclaimed wastewater. The plant operated under a long-term water purchase agreement with the national water agency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Singapore2006: Perth adds desalination to its water supply
The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant began operating in Western Australia. Pressure exchangers recovered energy from the concentrated brine, while electricity purchases associated with a wind farm offset the plant's annual power use through the grid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Seawater_Desalination_Plant2013: Sorek brings larger membrane systems into service
Israel's Sorek plant began operating with large 16-inch membrane elements, which its builder arranged vertically to save space. The installation increased national seawater desalination capacity and showed how larger elements could cut the piping and hardware needed, lowering the cost of membrane treatment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Israel#Seawater_desalination2015: Carlsbad begins supplying San Diego County
The Carlsbad desalination plant opened in California, delivering treated seawater to San Diego County. The project added a supply less dependent on rainfall, while its long-term purchase contract made capital costs and operating expenses part of regional water planning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_%22Bud%22_Lewis_Carlsbad_Desalination_Plant2024: Taweelah reaches full commercial operation
The Taweelah reverse osmosis plant in Abu Dhabi reached full commercial operation after beginning phased service in 2022. Its large membrane system and associated solar generation illustrated the Gulf's growing use of reverse osmosis alongside established thermal plants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination_by_country