science
Reverse osmosis pushes seawater through membranes so fine they block salt but let water molecules pass. It has quietly become the world's leading desalination method.
Reverse osmosis uses semi-permeable membranes under high pressure to separate fresh water from seawater, forcing seawater against membranes so finely structured that water molecules can pass through while dissolved salt ions are blocked and left behind. This mechanical filtration approach requires significantly less energy than older methods that rely on heating water into vapor.
Boiling and condensing water describes older thermal distillation methods, which do work but consume far more energy than membrane-based reverse osmosis, explaining why reverse osmosis has largely overtaken them. Freezing seawater into ice is a theoretical desalination concept based on salt being excluded from ice crystals, but it is not the standard method used in reverse osmosis plants.
Because it uses relatively little energy per unit of fresh water produced, reverse osmosis now supplies the majority of newly built desalination capacity worldwide, particularly in water-scarce regions with easy access to seawater and coastal infrastructure.
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