Navy requires new desalination gear

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MCLEAN, Va., April 25 (UPI) -- Advanced, energy-efficient systems for shipboard water desalination are to be developed for the U.S. Office of Naval Research by Alion Science and Technology.

"We are confident that we can meet ONR's design requirements and performance goals and deliver units ready for shipboard evaluation," said Greg Bryant, Alion senior vice president and manager of Integrated Solutions Group.

"Alion's unique technologies, coupled with our experience developing a prior version of a Navy desalination system, will help provide future combatant ships with the ability to operate for extended periods in both open and littoral waters."

Alion said the desalination plants it will develop include low-power advanced micro filter cleaning processes. Two systems will be designed -- a unit that purifies as much as 4,000 gallons per day and one that purifies as much as 100,000 gallons of water a day.

It will also Alion integrate new technologies to bring system availability to 95 percent in littoral waters. Existing systems can operate half the time in littoral waters because they weren't designed to deal with the volume and types of biological and chemical particulates found along coastlines.