REDi Island: Desalination Station (Text Version)

This is the text version of the video REDi Island: Desalination Station. It shows NREL’s virtual REDi Island, and a desalination station at work.

[Music plays with animated REDi logo]

Desalination Station

[Flyover of illustrated mountains with trees, and a desalination plant]

To provide clean drinking water for local communities, seawater is pumped into a reverse osmosis desalination plant.

[Animation of inside a desalination plant]

Multimedia Filter pipes are shown to transport seawater through mechanical filters to remove large particles. Ultrafiltration is shown where smaller particles are removed as the seawater passes through the ultrafiltration stage. Energy Recovery is pointed out as an energy recovery system boosts pumping pressure by recycling energy from the brine. Reverse Osmosis occurs as semipermeable membrane is used to separate the salt from the seawater. Cleaning Treatment occurs at the final cleaning stage, and the desalinated water is stored for future distribution.

[Shot of outside of desalination plant on ocean edge]

Systems like these improve long-term access to fresh water, especially for remote and island communities and for disaster recovery areas.

Rather than using conventional power sources like diesel to drive the desalination process, the ocean itself can provide renewable energy as well as clean drinking water.

[Animation of illustrated wave technologies on seabed harnessing wave energy]

[Close-up shot of wave energy converter]

Devices called wave energy converters use the back-and-fourth motion of waves to provide clean, renewable energy by pressurizing seawater to power the desalination plant.

The wave energy converters create a vacuum that draws ocean water into underwater pipes, traps it with a one-way valve system, and then pumps it to shore like a hydraulic press.

[Animation from above ocean showing wave energy converters in action]

Over the next 10 years, 40 states expect water shortages in some areas. Cost-effective desalination solutions could address water security challenges and increase water supply resilience.

Funded by U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Water Power Technologies Office, and NREL. Learn more at nrel.gov/water/redi-island.html. #REDiIsland

[Music stops]