Abstract
The aim of this work was to study different desalination technologies as alternatives to conventional reverse osmosis (RO) through a systematic literature review. An expert panel evaluated thermal and membrane processes considering their possible implementation at a pilot plant scale (100 m3/d of purified water) starting from seawater at 20 °C with an average salinity of 34,000 ppm. The desalination plant would be located in the Atacama Region (Chile), where the high solar radiation level justifies an off-grid installation using photovoltaic panels. We classified the collected information about conventional and emerging technologies for seawater desalination, and then an expert panel evaluated these technologies considering five categories: (1) technical characteristics, (2) scale-up potential, (3) temperature effect, (4) electrical supply options, and (5) economic viability. Further, the potential inclusion of graphene oxide and aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes in the desalinization processes was analyzed. The comparative analysis lets us conclude that nanomembranes represent a technically and economically competitive alternative versus RO membranes. Therefore, a profitable desalination process should consider nanomembranes, use of an energy recovery system, and mixed energy supply (non-conventional renewable energy + electrical network). This document presents an up-to-date overview of the impact of emerging technologies on desalinated quality water, process costs, productivity, renewable energy use, and separation efficiency.
Highlights
Desalination is a separation process intended to increase water availability in structurally water-deficient countries that suffer recurrent periods of drought
Fragkou and Budds [136] argued that, in Chile, desalination serves to disarticulate drinking water from fresh water, with implications for economic growth, social development, and water policy. They show that desalination entails more than providing additional water to alleviate shortages, and rather constitutes a strategy that permits the reorganization of water sources so as to allow new forms of capital accumulation, through both the water industry as well as the major industries that are threatened by scarcity
They argue that this has three important implications: (1) replacing freshwater with desalinated water for human consumption changes the social relations of control over water, by rendering consumers dependent on desalination plants and their risks, (2) this disarticulation serves to liberate fresh water to sustain the same industries that encroached on drinking water sources, and (3) as a supply-led solution, desalination alleviates some of the water shortages that had been attributed to Chile’s water market model, thereby reducing pressure for reform
Summary
Desalination is a separation process intended to increase water availability in structurally water-deficient countries that suffer recurrent periods of drought. The International Desalination Association (IDA) [1] reported that 150 countries apply desalination, based on daily activities of more than 300 million people worldwide. Between 2016 and 2019, the number of desalination plants and the daily water production increased by 12.4% and 41.2%, respectively, proving the accelerated growth of this technology [1,2]. Saudi Arabia has the largest water-production installed capacity, with 12 Mm3/d, representing 9.81% of the worldwide capacity, followed by the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Spain, and China, at 7.5, 4.7, 3.6, and 3.0%, respectively. After World War II, the commercial exploitation of desalination focused on technologies based on thermal processes that use phase change to separate volatile solvent
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