Avesta Welding has the stainless steel consumables, expertise and support to satisfy the requirements of the desalination industry. Our consumables and services are used in desalination plants all over the world.
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When it comes to welding, customers choose our products because they satisfy and exceed the industry’s highest expectations. The same commitment to excellence is shown by our experts. To ensure first-class support, they spend a great deal of time travelling the world and working on-site with customers.
Thanks to our unique understanding of customer needs and our close collaborations with well-known steel suppliers, we offer a full range of purpose-designed consumables for all types of stainless steels and joints.
 Segment folder (pdf) 
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| Steel designation |
Recommended filler metal, Avesta Welding designations |
| EN |
ASTM |
Outokumpu |
MMA |
MIG |
TIG |
SAW |
FCW |
| 1.4307 |
304L |
4307 |
308L/MVR |
308L-Si/
MVR-Si |
308L-Si/
MVR-Si |
308L/MVR |
308L/MVR |
| 1.4404 |
316L |
4404 |
316L/SKR |
316L-Si/
SKR-Si |
316L-Si/
SKR-Si |
316L/SKR |
316L/SKR |
| 1.4438 |
317L |
4438 |
317L/SNR |
317L/SNR |
317L/SNR |
317L/SNR |
317L/SNR |
| 1.4539 |
904L |
904L |
904L |
904L |
904L |
904L |
- |
| 1.4547 |
S32154 |
254 SMO |
P12-R |
P12 |
P12 |
P12 |
P12 |
| 1.4162 |
S32101 |
LDX 2101 |
LDX 2101 |
LDX 2101 |
LDX 2101 |
LDX 2101 |
LDX 2101 |
| 1.4362 |
S32304 |
2304 |
2304 |
2304 |
2304 |
2304 |
2304 |
| 1.4462 |
S32205 |
2205 |
2205 |
2205 |
2205 |
2205 |
2205 |
| 1.4410 |
S32750 |
2507 |
2507/P100 |
2507/P100 |
2507/P100 |
2507/P100 |
2507/P100 |
Examples of common desalination processes
Multi-stage flash (MSF)
In the MSF process, the steam from the heating and evaporation of sea water provides the drinkable product. Evaporation and condensation are split into many stages and, to increase overall efficiency, repeated several times. The process is famous for the robustness and reliability it has demonstrated over the past 50 years. Thanks to the large capacity of the process, plant layout, operation and maintenance are all relatively straightforward.
Traditionally, MSF plants use clad steel. However, solid stainless steel is now being put forward as a more cost-efficient alternative. Indeed, recent trends indicate that solid duplex stainless steels offer the optimum solution.
Multi-effect distillation (MED)
The MED process is widely used in large, sea water desalination plants. Here, sea water is sprayed over an evaporator tube bundle and boiled. This process is continuously repeated, the steam condensing to give fresh water. Because evaporation takes place in a vacuum, the sprayed sea water reaches boiling point at relatively low temperatures. As a result, economy is superior and specific electricity consumption is low. Furthermore, it is possible to use lower grade materials to better effect.
Solid stainless steels such as 316L are the most common materials for large MED plants. Nonetheless, the highly alloyed 254 SMO is also popular. The possibility of exploiting the great strength of duplex stainless steels opens the way to further cost savings.
Sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO)
The reverse osmosis process exploits the fact that the ions in sea water are larger than water molecules. In effect, SWRO filters out dissolved salts and minerals by forcing sea water through a semi-permeable membrane. Home water filters and large desalination plants both use this same principle. The critical parts of SWRO plants (e.g. high-pressure piping, energy recovery systems and pumps) use more resistant materials such as 254 SMO and super duplex 2507.