Fundamental chemistry and engineering aspects of post-treatment processes for desalinated water—A review

Abstract

The quality with which water is released from desalination plants is continuously increasing. Since desalination permeates are slightly acidic, contain very low buffering capacity and are very soft, post-treatment is always required. This paper reviews the knowledge accumulated in the last decades on desalination post-treatment processes. It covers fundamental chemistry aspects, required water quality criteria, advantages and disadvantages of currently applied processes, engineering and cost considerations, recent full-scale project experience and up-to-date research trends.