Recently a novel self-heat recuperation (SHR) technology has been developed for energy saving. In the SHR process, both sensible heat and latent heat are circulated by compression work. Energy consumption is thereby drastically reduced. Using this technology, a new thermal desalination process is developed for reducing energy consumption. The energy required for this SHR-based process is explained by process simulation. It requires ~1/4 the energy of the conventional multi-stage flash desalination process, which is the most widely used thermal desalination. Thus, the proposed thermal desalination process is promising for application in industrial plants.