A major improvement in the process of sea-water desalination has been developed jointly by a scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a scientist from Technion, according to the American Society for Technion. The two are Professor Ronald F. Probstein of MIT’s Mechanical Engineering Department, and Dr. Josef Shwartz of the Technion’s Aeronautical Engineering Department. They have developed a new separator–a device with a key role in desalination methods using the freezing process. Its function is to separate and wash the pure-water crystals that are formed in sea water during the freezing stage. The separation is a critical step in the process.
The new device is from 10 to 100 times faster and more efficient than any type previously used in desalination plants. The increase in efficiency will contribute substantially to reduction in costs. Cost considerations are crucial for desalination efforts, since the conversion of sea water must be economically feasible before it can be undertaken on a wide scale, the society reported. Professor Probstein, in the U.S., and Dr. Shwartz, in Israel, plan to continue their Joint efforts to make further improvements in crystallization and related processes of water desalination. The development and construction of a laboratory-scale model of the separator were done at MIT.
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