Abstract
Population growth has increased in the last two centuries. In the driest countries, water supply alternatives are scarce, and desalination is an alternative to guarantee water supply. The question is what conditions must be met by the new desalination plants to achieve the objectives of sustainability. The present study is an analysis of the social, economic, and environmental variables that are critical in the development of desalination plants: technology used, energy sources, correction of the generated environmental impacts, and the most appropriate contractual model for its development. These attributes justify at the time of writing why reverse osmosis is the safest and most efficient technology among those available and those that are under investigation. It is proposed to incorporate renewable energy production sources, although it is still necessary to continue depending on the significant contribution of the traditional energy sources. The need will also be demonstrated to adopt corrective measures to mitigate against the impact produced on the environment by energy production and to implement monitoring plans to confirm the validity of these corrective measures. Finally, turnkey contracts are proposed because osmosis technology is complex, although technology should be justified by means of a decision support system. One of the determining factors is proposed in this present analysis.
Highlights
“Sustainable development is the one which satisfies the present needs without threatening the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs”
Considering that the main question is to guarantee the supply of water in quantity, quality, and safety to millions of people, the proposals made below offer sufficiently argued solutions
Today, the recommendations and conclusions are the following: 1. The technology to adopt for desalination is reverse osmosis, considering the several stages and energy recovery measures and opportunities available along the process
Summary
“Sustainable development is the one which satisfies the present needs without threatening the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs”. According to Stover [10], in the 1990s and 2000s, the innovation in the desalination industry focused on reducing energy consumption, improving the performance and reliability of the reverse osmosis membranes and the innovation of energy recovery devices It is worth highlighting the improvement in the processes, such as the use of a second layer of reverse osmosis for the retained water on the first stage (brine), increasing fresh water compared to raw water and decreasing residual brine. When there is an imbalance between supply and demand for electric energy, this is reflected in desalinated water production decreasing This explains why at the time of writing desalination projects in the Middle East used 50% evaporation technology and 50% reverse osmosis technology, with a tendency to increase this latter technology. The desalination technology, the necessary energy, and its production; The environmental impact and measures to neutralize it; The management of the construction and smooth running of the plants
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