Herein, a novel method is presented for enhancing the thermal desalination process of saline water and seawater using atmospheric pressure plasma (APP). The effect of APP treatment combined with thermal heating (APP-TH) on the energy consumption, conductivity, and pH of seawater and saline water is investigated. Utilizing scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry, the evolution of the morphology, structure, and chemical composition of precipitated crystals is characterized. The APP-TH method reduces the energy consumption for desalination by 40.5% for saline water and by 52.82% for seawater when compared to the TH-only method. The pH value remains approximately unchanged, decreasing slightly for the saline water from 7.1 for untreated saline water to 7.05 after APP-TH treatment. However, after APP-TH treatment, the pH value of the seawater increased slightly, from 7 to 7.8. The total dissolved salts decreased after APP-TH treatment, lowering the conductivity of the saline water from 65,000 µS/cm to 160 µS/cm and the conductivity of the seawater from 58,200 µS/cm to 243 µS/cm. Moreover, the size of precipitated crystals from saline water is 31.47 nm after APP-TH treatment, compared to 55.59 nm after TH-only treatment. They also dropped from 41 nm to 39.5 nm for seawater. Compared with traditional approaches, this research proposes an optimistic solution to address global potable water scarcity issues.

在此，提出了一种使用常压等离子体 （APP） 增强盐水和海水热脱盐过程的新方法。研究了 APP 处理联合热加热 （APP-TH） 对海水和盐水的能耗、电导率和 pH 值的影响。利用扫描电子显微镜和 X 射线衍射法，表征了沉淀晶体的形态、结构和化学成分的演变。与仅使用 TH 的方法相比，APP-TH 方法将盐水海水淡化的能耗降低了 40.5%，海水淡化的能耗降低了 52.82%。pH 值大致保持不变，盐水的 pH 值从未处理盐水的 7.1 略微下降到 APP-TH 处理后的 7.05。然而，经过 APP-TH 处理后，海水的 pH 值略有增加，从 7 增加到 7.8。APP-TH 处理后，总溶解盐减少，盐水的电导率从 65,000 μS/cm 降低到 160 μS/cm，海水的电导率从 58,200 μS/cm 降低到 243 μS/cm。此外，APP-TH 处理后盐水中沉淀晶体的尺寸为 31.47 nm，而仅 TH 处理后为 55.59 nm。海水的波长也从 41 纳米下降到 39.5 纳米。与传统方法相比，本研究提出了一种解决全球饮用水短缺问题的乐观解决方案。