• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2020

This paper presents a screening protocol for the selection of solvents available for the solvent extraction desalination process. The desalination solvents hypothetically and theoretically require the capability of (1) Forming hydrogen bonds with water, (2) Absorbing some water molecules into its non-polar solvent layer, (3) Changing solubility for water-solvent separation, and (4) Rejecting salt ions during absorption. Similar to carboxylic acids, amine solvents are solvent chemicals applicable for desalination. The key parameter for selecting the potential solvent was the octanol-water partitioning coefficient (Kow) of which preferable value for desalination was in the range of 1-3. Six of the 30 amine solvents can absorb water and have a variable, i.e., temperature swing solubility with water molecule for water-solvent separation. Also, the hydrogen bonding interaction between solvent and water must be stronger than the ion-dipole interaction between water and salt, which means that the salt ions must be broken from the water and only water molecules absorbed for the desalination. In the final step, three solvents were selected as desalination solvents to remove salt ions and recover water. The water recovery of these three solvents were 15.4 %, 2.8 %, 10.5 %, and salt rejection were 76 %, 98 %, 95 %, respectively. This study suggests a new screening protocol comprising the theoretical and experimental approaches for the selection of solvents for the desalination method which is a new and challenges the desalination process in the future.