Low-temperature thermal desalination Technology

March 17, 2023

The Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is working on making an ongoing initiative of providing potable water in six islands of Lakshadweep using a Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology process free of emissions.

About Low-temperature thermal desalination Technology:

  • The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface seawater is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep seawater.
  • The LTTD technology does not require any chemical pre and post-treatment of seawater and thus the pollution problems are minimal and suitable for island territories.
  • This technique works on the principle that water in the ocean 1,000 or 2,000 feet below is about 4º C to 8º C colder than surface water. So, salty surface water is collected in a tank and subject to high pressure (via an external power source). 
  • The pressured water vapourises and is trapped in tubes or a chamber. Cold water plumbed from the ocean depths is passed over these tubes and the vapour condenses into fresh water and the resulting salt is diverted away.
  • Currently, the desalination plants, each of which provides at least 100,000 litres of potable water every day, are powered by diesel generator sets — there being no other source of power in the islands.