Macro shot of solar evaporating surface material with water droplets under clean natural sunlight in seawater environment.
Macro shot of solar evaporating surface material with water droplets under clean natural sunlight in seawater environment.

Technical FAQs

Direct answers regarding SALINA's thermodynamic solar evaporation process, field trial results in Malta, energy autonomy, and operational parameters.

Core Principles

Thermodynamics & Process Architecture

What is SALINA?

Is SALINA reverse osmosis?

SALINA is a research and technology-development programme exploring affordable solar-driven desalination.

No. Reverse osmosis generally uses pressure to force water through specialised membranes. SALINA instead investigates desalination based primarily on evaporation and condensation driven by solar energy.

Does SALINA use chemicals or membranes?

How does SALINA deal with salt?

The fundamental desalination process does not require chemical additives, and the core concept does not depend on reverse-osmosis membranes. Freshwater is produced through phase change: saline water evaporates and the resulting water vapour is subsequently condensed.

Salt does not evaporate with the water and therefore remains at the evaporation surface.

Field Data

Field Performance & Testing

Has SALINA been tested outside the laboratory?

How much freshwater does SALINA produce?

Yes. An integrated prototype underwent extended outdoor testing in Malta during summer 2026.

SALINA remains under development, and water productivity depends strongly on solar conditions, ambient conditions, system configuration and operating environment. Early outdoor testing has demonstrated freshwater production of approximately 1–2 L/m²/day during favourable operating periods.

What water can SALINA treat?

Why floating deployment?

The technology is being developed primarily around seawater and saline water.

Floating provides several potential advantages, and floating deployment is a central configuration being investigated by SALINA for marine operational environments.

Deployment Context

Infrastructure & Commercial Status

Does SALINA require electricity?

Is SALINA commercially available?

Why not conventional desalination?

SALINA is being designed to minimise dependence on external energy infrastructure.

Not yet. SALINA is currently an active research and technology-development programme.

Large-scale technologies such as reverse osmosis are extremely effective and will remain essential to global water infrastructure.