Japanese company Hitachi Zosen has revealed that it has developed a desalination process that can be driven by the heat produced during incineration of waste.

The company has stated that it aims to boost its desalination sales five-fold by 2020. The new technology provides an opportunity to contribute to that grow through installations in the Middle East, in particular.

According to a report in Nikkei Asian Review, the process allows heat from waste incineration to be used either for distillation or to drive reverse osmosis, and one ton of waste can generate around 600kWh of electricity or up to around 100 tons of water. Initial costs are equivalent to a combined waste incinerator and desalination plant, with savings coming through the joint operation.

The company will aim to make progress towards its $414 million sales target for 2020 by marketing the new system to government agencies and state-run enterprises.

This announcement on progress with desalination technology comes after recent developments for Hitachi Zosen in other areas of water technology.

In December, the company announced that it had completed demonstration tests in China applying its Marimo fibre filtration media, which consists of specially-treated polyester.

Tests had been carried out through Shenyang Jianzhu University at the 400,000 t/day Sanbaotun Sewage Disposal Plant in Fushun, Liaoning Province. According to Hitachi Zosen, Marimo allows filtration at three to four times the speed of conventional sand filtration, and the tests demonstrated the solids removal, filtration resistance, and the duration of filtration at speeds of up to 40 m/hr.

Also in December, the company announced that it has developed its AQSEV sand filter, which it described as Japan’s first self-cleaning rapid pressure filter for iron and manganese removal in drinking water purification.