Salton Seawater Vertical Tube Evaporation & Brine Management Project

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The Salton Seawater VTE Brine Management Project (Project) will develop and pilot test a process to convert Salton Sea water into distilled water and useful salts by ultra-filtration/nano-filtration and by direct use of geothermal steam as a thermal energy source for distillation. New regional priorities supporting geothermal development and environmental mitigation and restoration at the Salton Sea led by local agencies have created new opportunities and challenges that make this Project particularly relevant and useful. This Project will verify and improve on processes developed under the Vertical Tube Evaporator (VTE) Demonstration Project funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources. A complimentary State and Federally funded pilot project plans to use distilled Salton Sea water to sustain marine habitat and Salton Sea brine to create a salinity gradient solar pond. These products would be produced by the VTE Pilot Plant already installed and by the VTE Demonstration Plant near completion. This proposed Project will pilot test the extraction of marketable salts from Salton Sea water before delivering the remaining salts to the salinity gradient solar pond or other productive uses. This has the potential to make a geothermal distillation, marine habitat, and solar pond system that is self-sustaining in water and salt management and also financially self-sustaining.

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