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, We have awarded the Blaw-KnoK Company of Pittsburgh a contract to build a 35,000 gallon per day pilot plant to test another freezing process developed at Cornell University. This process is based on the flash evapora- tion of a volatile and immiscible hydrocarbon, such as butane, in direct con- tact with sea water to cause part of the water to freeze. . The conversion of fresh water by freezing is relatively new, but we feel,it has great potential. Theoretically, freezing has several inherent advantages over conventional distillation processes. For eKample, the,lesser tendency toward scaling and corrosion because of the low operating tempera- tures involved, and more important perhaps, the lower energy requirement to freeze sea water as compared to the energy required for the evaporation of sea wa,ter. " I have been asked to describe how we propose to dispose of the brine effluent of the conversion plants. For sea water conversion plants,of course, there is no problem, for the ,brine can be returned to the ocean where it will be rapidly diluted, but for inland plants for the conversion of brackish water the disposal of the brine may be a real problem. Under a contract with the Office of Saline Water, Louis Koenig of San Antonio, Texas, has conducted an investigation of a reconnaissance nature designed to outline feasible disposal methods. , The disposal processes recommended by this investigation are: Pipeline the water to the sea. Solar evaporate the waste to saturation and pipeline to the sea. Solar evaporate completely to dryness and convey by railroad to the sea. Pipeline the waste to a land dump closer than the seacoast. Evaporate to saturation and pipeline to a land dump. Solar evaporate to dryness and freight to a land dump. ,Solar evaporate to dryness and abandon at the plant site. Inject the "aste to underground formations. Solar evaporate to saturation and inject. Pipeline the waste and inject in an abandoned oil "ell. Evaporate to saturation and pipeline to an abandoned oil well. Discharge the waste to streams in timeS of flood., At both of the inland demonstration plants we are going to build we will be able to utilize the simplest of these methods, that is to pump the brine into nearby ponds where it will be evaporated by the sun. This briefly reviews the five processes that have been selected for demonstration plant testing. There are several other potential processes, some still under fundamental research and some in the laboratory stage of development that holds encouraging promise of producing fresh water from saline sources at low cost. G-8 "