Ocean thermocline driven membrane distillation process

Abstract

Systems and methods using membrane distillation are provided for desalinating water, for example for the production of potable water, to address freshwater requirements. In an aspect the systems and methods do not require applying an external heat source, or the energy cost of the heating source, to heat the feed stream to the membrane. In an aspect, the sensible heat present in surface seawater is used for the heat energy for the warm stream fed to the membrane, and deep seawater is used as the cold/coolant feed to the membrane to provide the needed temperature gradient or differential across the membrane.