Namibian Desalination

Rock Salt Crystals

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Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

"All over the world water is regarded as precious as life itself."

~ Nelson Mandela at the commissioning of the Moretele Water Project,

Sekampaneng, South Africa, 14 October 1995

The principal focus of DSBE's intellectual property commerce for Namibia will be on desalinating seawater to increase the country's supply of fresh water. The other technologies emphasized in plan would either support or benefit from this critical process.

Deserts cover 80% of Namibia's landmass, and the remaining 20% is very dry. Water is a valuable and constraining resource.

Namibia has extensive coastlines which are fairly unpolluted. Seawater could be extracted and desalinated along the coast to be pumped and/or transported as fresh water to its interior. Using renewable energy sources which are far less polluting will help Namibia preserve its natural ecologies.

Desalination plants could be constructed in conjunction with the Namibian Government just north of its industrial city of Luderizt, home to mining and fishing operations. Walvis Bay and Swakopmund are more central, and closer to the capital city of Windhoek and its inland concentration of Namibia's population, but those are surrounded by protected coastal areas. Luderitz may be better suited for coastal industrialization which would include desalination plants, oceanic aquacultural farms, and renewable energy generation from tidal wave turbine, windmill, and solar panel plants. Luderitz is also closer to South Africa for the export of the commodities produced by those plants to increase Namibia's trade surplus.

Luderitz, Namibia

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Sea Salt Harvesting in Cape Verde

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Seawater Composition

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Desalination would be by reverse osmosis using electricity provided by neighboring or integrated renewable energy power plants.

Tidal wave energy could be used to pump seawater into the desalination plants, as shown below.

Tidal Energy Pumping System

Image (c) Carnegie Wave Energy, Ltd.

"By acting as an offshore pump, CETO delivers large volumes of high pressure water ashore ready for desalination via traditional means (reverse osmosis) but without the greenhouse gas emissions."

Luderitz' bay has shallow waters which should facilitate laying undersea pipes to intake ocean water to the desalination plants. DSBE would seek to partner with companies like Cortez Subsea of the U.K. whose Modular Pipelay System may prove ideal for constructing the intake pipes.

Luderitz' bay also has unusually strong winds which could drive wind turbines with high efficiency.

Electricity generated by wind turbine and solar panel plants could be used to heat and desalinate the sea water, and drive the overland pumps used to pipe the fresh water into Namibia's interior.