Patent ID: 8236158

Claim:
A method for desalinating saltwater, comprising: generating a drive voltage by: flowing a concentrate solution through a concentrate chamber; and flowing a diluent solution having an ionic concentration lower than an ionic concentration of the concentrate solution through a diluent chamber, the concentrate and diluent chambers forming a drive cell and sharing one of an anion and cation exchange membrane such that anions or cations flow from the concentrate chamber to the diluent chamber through the exchange membrane; applying a sufficient voltage that comprises the drive voltage across a first product chamber through which flows the saltwater to be desalinated and that is in ionic communication with the drive cell, wherein the sufficient voltage equals or exceeds a desalination voltage of the first product chamber such that cations and anions respectively migrate from the first product chamber and into a first cation and first anion discharge chamber each bounding the first product chamber and respectively having flowing there through a first cation and first anion discharge solution; wherein at least one of the first cation and first anion discharge solutions has an ionic concentration lower than the ionic concentration of the diluent solution.