Abstract
This article shows the optimization of the reverse osmosis process in seawater desalination plants, taking the example of the Canary Islands, where there are more than 320 units of different sizes, both private and public. The objective is to improve the energy efficiency of the system in order to save on operation costs as well as reduce the carbon and ecological footprints. Reverse osmosis membranes with higher surface area have lower energy consumption, as well as energy recovery systems to recover the brine pressure and introduce it in the system. Accounting for the operation, maintenance and handling of the membranes is also important in energy savings, in order to improve the energy efficiency. The energy consumption depends on the permeate water quality required and the model of the reverse osmosis membrane installed in the seawater desalination plant, as it is shown in this study.
Highlights
Seawater desalination in water treatment plants has evolved considerably in the last five decades, in which the desalination process and its technology have changed and become more and more profitable and efficient
Following the state of the art in water desalination and the evolution of this process at the regional Canary level and at national and international levels, there are different desalination processes, such as Vapor Compression (VC), Multi-Effect Distillation (MSF), Multi-Stage Distillation (MED) and reverse osmosis, which currently account for 65% of all the processes used around the world [4,5,6,7]
Energy consumption depends on the permeate water quality required and the reverse osmosis membrane model installed in the desalination plant
Summary
Seawater desalination in water treatment plants has evolved considerably in the last five decades, in which the desalination process and its technology have changed and become more and more profitable and efficient. The water desalination process was a thermal process, but it has been changing with scientific technological advances towards a process of reverse osmosis, which dominates the current market [1,2,3,4,5]. We have developed techniques to improve the energy efficiency of seawater desalination membranes in strict compliance with the water quality parameters established by national and international regulations, or even by organizations such as the World Health Organization [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. We can highlight the acquisition cost of the elements, both initial and replacement, and among the most significant expenses are those related to the initial capital investment, operation and maintenance [25,26,27]
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