When you freeze salt water, the salt stays in the brine and the ice itself is fresh water. This also works for alcohol and water. You can “freeze distill” wine or beer by putting it in the freezer until it becomes an ice slurry, drain off the liquid and end up with a higher alcohol concentration in the decanted liquid.
Many chemists are familiar with the purification technique known as recrystallization. The pure substance forms crystals and the impurities remain in the liquid.
So all you need to do to get fresh water out of sea ice, is to simply melt it.
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