Abstract
The arid and semiarid regions usually are water-stressed. The available natural groundwater resources in these areas are, at times, saline and unfit for potable use. Desalination of saline water is a possible solution in such cases. However, discharge of concentrated brine is an issue, particularly in land-locked areas. In this regard, a case study has been presented for brackish water desalination in Western Rajasthan, India. As this is a land-locked desert area, zero liquid discharge (ZLD) desalination has been considered, offering a practical and sustainable solution. This study presents a novel approach to the model-based ZLD hybrid desalination system consisting of reverse osmosis and multi-effect distillation (RO-MED) systems producing drinking quality water and common salt. The simultaneous production of common salt has the potential to bring down the cost of drinking water produced by the system. A system design has been carried out for a real case based on the raw water analysis of groundwater in Western Rajasthan. Our hybrid (RO-MED-ZLD) model results indicate that RO reduced TDS from 4419 mg/l to 22 mg/l with a 67 % recovery rate. The proposed ZLD method recovers 93 % of salt crystals from MED brine solutions, potentially reaching 99 % with adjustments.
Published Version
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