How to invest water bussiness with desalination equipment?
In Africa, over 60% of the region is arid or semi-arid, with rapid surface water evaporation. While groundwater resources are abundant, a significant proportion is brackish water, leaving 90% of the population without access to clean drinking water.
If you're interested in investing in Africa's promising Water Purification market, XJY's desalination equipment transforms brackish water into mineral/purified water, boosting your water purification business.
Can we drink brackish water?
Brackish water should not be consumed directly. The total dissolved solids (TDS) of brackish water is usually between 1,000 and 10,000 mg/L. It has problems such as high salt content (Na⁺, Cl⁻, SO²⁻), high hardness (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺), and contains iron, manganese, fluorine, and nitrates. Long-term consumption can lead to problems such as high blood pressure and kidney burden.
What should you do before purchasing desalination equipment?
Before purchasing, you need to obtain local brackish water quality testing data or a complete water quality report. You can purchase simple water quality monitoring instruments or hire a laboratory/water quality testing company to conduct water quality testing.
The indicators must include
| index | Focus |
| TDS | the range within1,000–10,000 mg/L |
| Hardness（Ca²⁺/Mg²⁺） | Easy to accumulate scale |
| Na⁺/Cl⁻ | High salinity |
| SO₄²⁻ | Easy to accumulate scale |
| Iron /manganese ions | Iron and manganese pretreatment filter tank |
| F | Common in Africa |
| SO²⁻ | —— —— |
| organic matter | Membrane fouling risk |
Judging brackish water quality solely based on personal senses (color, smell, taste) is subjective. We need more testing indicators to determine the quality of brackish water and develop the best Water Treatment solutions.
How to convert it into mineral water with desalination equipment?
(1）Indicators of mineral water
First, we need to understand what the indicators of mineral water are.
| TDS | Ca² | Mg²⁺ | Na⁺ | K⁺ | HCO₃⁻ |
| 150–500mg/L | 30-80mg/L | 10-30mg/L | ＜50mg/L | 1–10 mg/L | 150-300 mg/L |
（2）Desalination equipment processing flow
Specific process:
Brackish water is pumped under pressure to a pretreatment system (quartz sand and activated carbon filtration), then filtered through a security filter with a 5µm filter element. A high-pressure pump applies pressure greater than the osmotic pressure, forcing the water to pass through the reverse osmosis membrane, where impurities and ions are retained. Finally, after UV sterilization, the water enters a pure water tank.
Reverse osmosis desalination principle:
Using a semi-permeable membrane under pressure, water molecules pass through the membrane while solutes such as salts are retained, and beneficial minerals are preserved.
Advantages: High desalination rate (up to 90% or more), effectively removes dissolved salts, colloids, microorganisms, and organic matter; no phase change, operates at room temperature, simple equipment, small footprint, high degree of automation, and high-quality effluent.
What disinfection method the RO desalination equipment use?
(1) Ultraviolet (UV) sterilization
The reverse osmosis desalination equipment uses a UV sterilizer to eliminate bacteria. It has a fast sterilization speed, low operating costs, and no chemical or disinfection residues. Principle: 254 nm UV light destroys microbial DNA/RNA.
(2) Ozone generator
If high sterilization requirements are needed, an ozone generator can be purchased separately. Principle: Ozone (a strong oxidant) destroys cell walls and enzyme systems, inhibiting bacteria in water tanks, pipes, and filling systems. Short-term residues (O₃) are present.
What are the general investment and operating costs?
One-time costs:
Purchase of BWRO desalination equipment, raw water tank, and pure water tank.
Long-term consumable costs:
Scale inhibitor (0.02–0.05 USD/m³), cleaning agent (0.005–0.02 USD/m³), reverse osmosis membrane, quartz sand, activated carbon, PP cotton filter element, and electricity consumption.
Contact us
We possesses CE environmental certification and ISO14001 environmental management system and ISO9001 quality management system certifications. Its effluent water quality is stable and meets EU effluent water quality requirements.
We have complete BWRO (brackish water reverse osmosis) and mineral water production solutions capabilities, providing a complete system from raw water pretreatment, membrane separation, mineral water production, to point-of-use bottling.
Name: Cliff Mok
Mobile phone: +86 17817887719