First U.N. Desalination plant operation survey : U.N. Publication sales No. E.69. II. B.17, $2.00, 122 pp., New York, N.Y., 19

Seawater intake and pre-treatment/brine discharge — environmental issues

Impact of seawater desalination and wastewater treatment on water stress levels and greenhouse gas emissions: The case of Chile

Corrosion experience data bank system for desalination and power plants (corex)

During the operation of desalination plants of various principles, negative environmental impacts occur, firstly due to emissions of combustion products formed as a result of burning primary fuel required for the energy supply of the desalination process, and secondly due to emissions of concentrate, which is a solution of salts and minerals. Addressing the environmental problems associated with the operation of desalination plants is an urgent task. One possible solution is the development of energy-efficient installations in which brine is evaporated to a dry residue state, representing a commercially viable product. Since thermal desalination plants require heat removal for condensation of water vapor and supply of higher-potential thermal energy for the evaporation process, integrating heat transformers into the thermal schemes of desalination plants is promising. The authors have developed a thermal scheme of a gas-contact desalination plant, integrated with a steam compression heat transformer (HT). The influence of the working agent type on the performance indicators of the HT within the desalination plant was studied, and various HT energy carriers were analyzed. The highest transformation coefficient with the lowest compressor energy consumption is achieved when operating with the R600a working agent. Key performance indicators of the HT were calculated for different bubbling and drying temperatures of the steam-air mixture. The distribution of the working agent flow between the HT condensers was determined. It was established that the most efficient operating mode of the plant occurs at a heat lift height of 15°C. The developed technical solution for isobutane-based HT is effective at seawater salinity not exceeding 20 g/l.

Desalination experience in Morocco

Handling the variability and uncertainty associated with integrating large capacities of renewable energy sources (RES) into the power grid is a challenge that is increasingly influencing the power systems operation. At the same time, the growing need for desalinated water in arid areas increases the importance of suitable energy sources for sustainable operation of water desalination plants. However, as power and water system operators have traditionally operated their systems in isolation, there is a lack of understanding of the interdependence and interactions between these two systems. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a risk-based two-stage stochastic co-optimization framework that coordinates the operation of a renewable-rich power system with the operation of grid-connected reverse-osmosis water desalination plants (RO-WDP) to minimize their combined operational costs while increasing the utilization of RES. From the power system operation standpoint, the RO-WDPs are considered as controllable demand, and the proposed model integrates the energy flexibility of RO-WDPs in the day-ahead power system operation. The proposed model considers the operational constraints of both power and water desalination systems, thus co-optimizing their operation without compromising the reliable supply of power and water to end-users, while taking into account the uncertainty of the demands and RES. Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of the proposed coordination on enhancing the power system efficiency, facilitating RES integration, and minimizing the combined operational costs of both systems while minimizing their operating risk using conditional value at risk.

Chapter 9 - Satellites-Based Monitoring of Harmful Algal Blooms for Sustainable Desalination

Criteria and procedure for selecting a site for a desalination plant

Salt production by the evaporation of SWRO brine in Eilat: a success story

Improvement of the design and operation of desalination plants by computer modelling and simulation

The climate crisis is rapidly provoking water scarcity in several areas of the planet, where an exponential growth of the seawater desalination industry is expected. In this context, multiple efforts are currently under development to reduce potential impacts and promote the sustainability of this industry. The selection of a suitable site for a desalination plant is critical to ensure operational continuity and the environmental sustainability of its processes, optimizing the plant’s productive performance and thus safeguarding water security for final users. In this study, we apply a GIS-based Multi-Criteria Analysis (GIS-MCA) approach to explore and assess potential areas suitable for the construction and operation of desalination plants in Chile. Different environmental, social, and technical criteria were evaluated and weighted by expert criteria using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. From a total of 114,450 km2 analyzed, only 4.54% of the territory was classified as highly suitable, demonstrating the scarcity of space available to meet the growth expectations for the industry. These results suggest that GIS-based analysis provides a practical solution to determine suitable areas for developing desalination plants, highlighting the need to define priority areas for the sustainable development of the desalination industry in Chile with the required capacity to reach the national water security goals for the following decades.

Seawater desalination is a water technology that is becoming increasingly important in meeting the water needs of many countries around the world. One of the constraints associated with the operation of desalination plants is the production of a concentrated solution, known as brine, which can cause damage to the marine environment due to its high salt content. This paper presents a review of contemporary technologies aimed at addressing the environmental challenges posed by concentrated solutions produced in desalination plants. Among these solutions are evaporation ponds, surface water discharge, and deep well injection. Nevertheless, these approaches encounter sustainability concerns, substantial initial investments, and constraints in terms of universal applicability. A systematic comparison of all these technologies is conducted, focusing on their individual merits and drawbacks, as well as evaluating their feasibility and current developmental status. The objective of this comprehensive analysis is to provide a structured decision-making tool for identifying the most appropriate technology for specific circumstances.

Sensor fault detection and isolation (SFDI) approaches, based on support vector regression (SVR) plant sensor models and self-organizing-map (SOM) analysis, were investigated for application to reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant operation. SFDI-SVR and SFDI-SOM were assessed using operational data from a small spiral-wound RO pilot plant and synthetic faulty data generated as perturbations relative to normal plant operational data. SFDI-SVR was achieved without false negative (FN) detections for sensor deviations of ≳|10%| and FN detections of, at the most, ≲|5%|, and for sensor deviations of ≳|4%| at sensor fault detection (FD) thresholds of up to ∼|4%|. False positive (FP) detections were almost invariant, with respect to sensor FD, being ≲|5%| for sensor deviations of ≳|5%|. Corrections of faulty sensor readings were within SVR model accuracy (AARE < 1%) for SFDI-SVR and ≲|5%| for SFDI-SOM. Although SFDI-SOM has lower detection accuracy, it requires a single overall plant model (or SOM), while providing pictorial representation of plant operation and depiction of faulty operational trajectories.

The role of consultant engineers on personnel training and desalination plant operation

Across the globe and since the dawn of civilization, fresh water resources have been a major economic, environmental and political issue that affect human welfare and progress. Today, the desalination industry is experiencing rapid growth across the globe; unfortunately, the industry lacks several key elements that should make this expansion more efficient, more profitable to the owner, less expensive to the consumer and with limited impact on the environment. These elements include development of codes and standards for various desalination activities and having integral training programmes for qualifying the manpower. This study focuses on evaluating the training programme adopted since 1994 in the Doha West desalination and power plant. Further development of the plant manpower is achieved through short course training on various topics related to design, operation and maintenance of desalination and power plants. Evaluation of the training programme is presented in terms of various operating parameters, which include plant availability, production efficiency, performance ratio, specific manpower and specific consumption of cleaning acid and balls. Results show drastic enhancement in plant performance, where availability increased to 80% and production efficiency is close to 100%. Also, the plant performance ratio remains at values close to clean operation for more than half of the operating time. The specific manpower shows continuous decline because of the increase in the production efficiency and elimination of unnecessary overhead costs. Operation policy focused on increasing the use of on-line ball cleaning and reducing the frequency of acid cleaning. This is advantageous, since acid cleaning promotes metal corrosion, while on-line ball cleaning has negligible effect on the integrity of the preheater tubes.