Desalination of brackish water for household drinking water consumption using typical plant seeds of semi arid regions

► Umbu seeds as desalination material of brackish water. ► Higher capacity salt adsorption when dried at 250 °C for 1 h. ► Abundance in semi-arid region of Bahia-Brazil. ► Changes characteristics of high hardness of the water to standard for human consumption. ► 1 g of material can remove the NaCl content of 1 L of water (0.6-1.2‰) at 50 °C.