Pioneering demineralized and desalinated water cost reduction with innovative brackish water RO membrane technology

Abstract

Breakthrough reverse osmosis (RO) membrane chemistry and innovative materials of construction have been developed to achieve highest possible NaCl rejection while maintaining maximum element productivity. Novel brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) membrane element delivers to end users state-of-the-art salt rejection (99.7%) at 30% lower energy consumption compared to current high rejection BWRO membranes in addition to tailored salt passage reduction of critical solutes as nitrate, boron, silica, and ammonium. The novel module component, low differential pressure (LDP) feed spacers, provide end users with up to 15% savings in direct RO energy reductions via the lowest feed-side pressure drop available in the market. The LDP spacer outperforms other spacers by reducing pressure drop while maintaining high active area and a unique BWRO element with productivity up to 14,000 gallons per day has been achieved. A financial analysis was carried out with a refined cost model using different economic frame conditions. It shows RO plant energy costs can be reduced by up to 30% in industrial applications without compromising the product water quality. In SWRO application, the size of the BWRO pass can be reduced by 19%, resulting in an overall water cost reduction of 0.53 UScts/m3 produced water.