Emerging desalination technologies are either a group of desalination techniques that have not undergone commercialization due to the need for technological advancements. The main drivers for developing such technologies are to reduce energy consumption, and hence cost, broaden feed water options, to reduce chemical additives, and, most importantly, to reduce the environmental impacts relative to conventional desalination technologies. Environmental impacts significantly vary according to the desalination technology being employed and the feedwater source. In this work, environmental impacts for some of the emerging desalination technologies, namely electrodialysis/electrodialysis reversal (ED/EDR), forward osmosis (FO), and membrane distillation (MD), are thoroughly discussed relative to the environmental impacts of conventional desalination technologies. A preliminary qualitative evaluation of the environmental impacts of these technologies is performed. The evaluation has revealed that the spontaneous FO process shows the highest environmental merits or benefits, i.e., lowest environmental impacts, followed by ED/EDR, and finally, MD, which were all environmentally benign relative to reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. Finally, we provided some conclusions and recommendations to consider while further developing such new desalination technologies to maximize its environmental benefits in the local and global context.

新兴的脱盐技术是由于需要技术进步而尚未进行商业化的一组脱盐技术。研发此类技术的主要驱动力是降低能耗，从而降低成本，拓宽给水选择范围，减少化学添加剂，最重要的是，相对于传统的海水淡化技术，减少对环境的影响。根据所采用的脱盐技术和给水源的不同，对环境的影响也大不相同。在这项工作中，对某些新兴淡化技术的环境影响，即电渗析/电渗析逆转（ED / EDR），正渗透（FO）和膜蒸馏（MD），相对于常规淡化技术的环境影响进行了全面讨论。对这些技术的环境影响进行了初步的定性评估。评估显示，自发的FO工艺显示出最高的环境优缺点，即对环境的影响最小，其次是ED / EDR，最后是MD，相对于反渗透（RO）脱盐，它们在环境上都是良性的。最后，我们提供了一些结论和建议，可在进一步开发此类新的海水淡化技术以在当地和全球范围内最大程度地发挥其环境效益的同时，加以考虑。评估显示，自发的FO工艺显示出最高的环境优缺点，即对环境的影响最小，其次是ED / EDR，最后是MD，相对于反渗透（RO）脱盐，它们在环境上都是良性的。最后，我们提供了一些结论和建议，可在进一步开发此类新的海水淡化技术以在当地和全球范围内最大程度地发挥其环境效益的同时，加以考虑。评估显示，自发的FO工艺显示出最高的环境优缺点，即对环境的影响最小，其次是ED / EDR，最后是MD，相对于反渗透（RO）脱盐，它们在环境上都是良性的。最后，我们提供了一些结论和建议，可在进一步开发此类新的海水淡化技术以在当地和全球范围内最大程度地发挥其环境效益的同时，加以考虑。