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Actually, it looks like Ford-class carriers use, or will use (?), reverse osmosis for desal: http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/657412.pdf http://www.gao.gov/assets

Actually, it looks like Ford-class carriers use, or will use (?), reverse osmosis for desal: http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/657412.pdf http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/657412.pdf RO is already used in utility-scale desal plants: http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/Pages/DesalinatedWater.aspx http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/Pages/DesalinatedWater.aspx "This plant can produce 30 million gallons of water a day (136, 000 cubic meters) and is one of the region’s largest seawater reverse-osmosis plants."

JshWright 13y ago
Yeah, they've done away with many of the steam systems on the new carriers (including the catapult launch system, which is now electric). If you're trying to minimize energy (particularly steam) usage, then RO starts to make a bit more sense. On the Nimitz class, they have plenty of waste heat from the powerplant, and already had numerous steam distributions systems in place.