Fresh water generation

Water is the most abundant substance at sea, but the salt and impurities seawater contains make it unsuitable for most purposes on board. Alfa Laval’s freshwater generators let you take economical advantage of this resource and do away with expensive, low-quality bunker water.

Freshwater generation

Smarter ways to fresh water

Alfa Laval pioneered the compact and cost-efficient production of fresh water. Over 50 years ago, we introduced thermally driven freshwater generators with dual-plate-pack technology. These were not only smaller than shell-and-tube installations, but also far less sensitive to scaling. 

Today we’ve further developed our multi-effect concept, enabling vacuum distillation within a single plate pack. Our revolutionary AQUA freshwater generator, which houses the vacuum in the plate pack itself, contains three-in-one titanium plates on which evaporation, separation and condensation all occur.

Reducing energy use and emissions

A major advantage of AQUA’s three-in-one plate technology is the fact that it cuts seawater requirements in half. This allows smaller pipes and pumps to be used, which means a reduced initial investment, easier installation and lower energy consumption – with lower CO2 emissions as a result.

But the energy efficiency is hardly limited to AQUA. Where larger volumes of fresh water are needed, our multi-effect plate MEP desalination plant typically consumes just 1.3–3.0 kWh/m3, thanks to an optimized pump configuration and a frequency-controlled motor on the seawater pump.