There is an increasing demand for advancing conventional desalination technologies and developing novel solar powered desalination processes. In this chapter, the use of solar powered thermal desalination will be discussed comprehensively. The different existing methods of solar energy utilization for seawater desalination will be discussed, which includes solar stills, solar powered humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination, solar diffusion driven desalination, solar membrane distillation, concentrated solar power (CSP) based desalination, and solar pond distillation. The advantages and limitations of these thermal desalination technology will be discussed. In addition, the environmental impacts of solar desalination will be discussed due to its importance for adoption.
Part of the book: Desalination and Water Treatment