Desalination

Ecomagination has played a key role in advancing water reuse and purification.

Improved membrane materials and spiral-wound membrane element configurations have greatly increased the capacity to successfully address fouling, temperature, pH value and contaminants.

Ecomagination has played a key role in advancing water reuse and purification. Improved membrane materials and spiral-wound membrane element configurations have greatly increased the capacity to successfully address fouling, temperature, pH value and contaminants.

Consequently, such progress has opened the door to a variety of new applications in industrial water treatment. By putting water on wheels, GE's mobile water systems provide a fast and reliable means of offering high-purity water in emergency, interval and long-term situations.

About desalination

GE's desalination platform uses membrane technology to transform seawater and brackish water into fresh water for drinking, irrigation and industrial applications. This particular ecomagination breakthrough couldn't come at a better time – water scarcity affects 1 in 5 people today, and that number will climb to 3 in 5 in 20 years. GE's reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis reversal (EDR) technologies produce water reliably and affordably. They are also versatile – accommodating a range of sizes, across continents, for almost any salt or brackish water source.

Water scarcity issues

Currently, more than one billion people do not have access to safe water to meet their daily needs.

Forty percent of the world's population currently lives in areas with moderate-to-high water stress. By 2025, it is estimated that about two-thirds of the world's population – about 5.5 billion people – will live in areas facing such water stress.

Each year, 22 percent of the world's water supply is used for industrial purposes. Much of that water is not reused.

The Earth's surface is 70 percent water, yet less than 1 percent of it is usable – and even that is not always located where it's needed most.

More information about desalination

GE is one of the largest suppliers of desalination plants in the world. GE's installed desalination platforms reclaim more than 2 billion gallons of water a day for a variety of purposes. That amount is equal to the daily water required by more than 150 million people.

GE is a leader in membrane-based desalination technology, which is among the most energy-efficient technologies for transforming salty water.

GE built and operates the world's largest reverse osmosis water desalination facility, which recycles 100 million gallons a day of wastewater into water for industrial and agricultural uses.

Reverse osmosis desalination plants can also require substantially less energy than do thermal desalination processes such as multi-stage flash, making them substantially more cost-effective.

If all existing multi-stage flash desalination plants were switched to energy-efficient reverse osmosis, the reduced greenhouse gas emissions annually would be equal to more than 73 million cars — half of all autos on U.S. roads — off the road for a year.

Reverse osmosis desalination plants can require up to 25 percent less land area than competing desalination platforms, making them easier to site.