Cost Of Fresh Water Research Articles

Application of advanced thermodynamics, thermoeconomics and exergy costing to a Multiple Effect Distillation plant: In-depth analysis of cost formation process

The high thermal energy consumption per m3 fresh water is one of the main barriers to the spread of thermally driven desalination processes and has limited their use to applications in countries with high reserves of fossil fuels or to specific technological solutions like dual purpose cogeneration plants and solar desalination systems. Being energy conversion efficiency a major issue to improve the performance of thermally driven desalination plants, thermoeconomic analysis has been attracting the efforts of researchers for the identification of margins for process improvement. In this paper a rigorous exergy and thermoeconomic analysis is presented for an 8 effect forward feed Multiple Effect Distillation plant, based on models developed in Engineering Equation Solver. The innovative contribution lies in the detailed methodological formulation with explicative notes on the main assumptions and in the high level of disaggregation used, which allows us to follow each specific subprocess and thus to acquire an in-depth understanding of the whole cost formation process. The results indicate that the monetary value associated with the physical and chemical exergy flows highly vary throughout the plant and that the contribution to the final cost of fresh water is higher for the distillate produced in the last effects.

Experimental and analytical study on productivity augmentation of a novel solar humidification–dehumidification (HDH) system

The aim of this study is to investigate analytically and experimentally the effect of using an induced atmospheric air, water heaters, external reflector and weather condition on the performance augmentation of humidification–dehumidification (HDH) system. This novel HDH system is a modified solar still with air blower and condenser used at humidification chamber inlet and outlet respectively and glass cover is positioned horizontally. Experiments were carried out in April 2014 under the climatological conditions of Madinah (latitude: 24° 33′ N, longitude: 39° 36′ 0″ E), Saudi Arabia. Performance of the HDH system is examined with and without water heaters and reflector. The experimental results showed that the daily productivity of the considered HDH system has improved when using both water heaters and reflector. A remarkable increase in productivity by about 210, 312 and 366% on three test days, namely, April 01, April 15 and April 30 respectively is obtained for still configured with two water heaters at 500W each and a reflector tilted at 20° compared to that without heaters and reflector. The estimated cost of fresh water produced through the considered HDH system is 0.035USD/L and the peak efficiency is 0.77.

The research on thermal and economic performance of solar desalination system with evacuated tube collectors

In this paper, a solar desalination system with evacuated tube collectors (ETCs) and low-temperature multi-effect distillation (LT-MED) is developed. It solves the problem of shortage of fresh water, while it also avoids the consumption of non-renewable energy resource and environmental pollution. The system configurations designed consist of ETCs, heat storage tank, flash tank, multi-effect distillation, electrical heating and cooling, and so on. Mathematical and economic models are established based on mass and energy conservation, and the thermal and the economic performance of the solar desalination system is analyzed by utilizing MATLAB. In this paper, the fresh water cost reduces with both the increasing of the area of ETCs and collector outlet water temperature. Recommendations given in this paper could be helpful in future initiatives regarding the research and development of this promising solar desalination technology.

Design of Solar Pond calculation and technique in Africa

Extracting energy from the sun has revolutionized the global energy industry. Different literatures have been reviewed to give an appropriate theory and mathematical model for the design of solar pond in Africa.The location chosen is Cairo,Egypt due to high annual solar radiation,feasible land, and fresh water conditions and cost effective. Energy balance equations have been computed from different case studies to show the factors affecting the efficiency of the solar pond such as effect of density, temperature, solar radiation, insulation thickness and depth of different layers .Optimum conditions for the design of a solar pond have been determined such as the thickness of the upper layer should not be more than 0.3m whereas the optimum thickness of gradient zone should be1-1.5m and the storage zone should be 1-4m.The main constraints in the design of a solar pond are different heat losses.But however, different techniques have been discussed for reducing the heat losses such as black painted concrete slab and concrete walls for minimizing the bottom losses and using a polystyrene top cover for reducing evaporation losses during night, winters and autumn. This technique can be very useful for the people of Africa specially dwelling in rural areas.

Bi-objective optimization of a water network via benchmarking

This paper presents an approach to water system retrofitting by estimating both the economic and environmental impacts of a water network structure, using bi-objective optimization. The environmental impact is evaluated via benchmarking. By using benchmarking, the decision maker can have an insight, not only into the environmental impacts of certain designs belonging to Pareto optimal solutions, but also into the competitiveness of the design within a particular production sector. The economic criterion used is the total cost of the water network involving the freshwater cost, wastewater treatment cost, and the annual investment costs of storage tank, piping, and local treatment unit installation. A mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model is used for water re-use and regeneration re-use within batch and semi-continuous processes. The Pareto fronts are generated using the classic and adaptive weighted-sum methods. The proposed approach was applied to an industrial case study within a brewery. The results obtained show that the benchmark could not be reached by process integration within the packaging area, therefore investment is needed regarding new technologies that lower freshwater consumption. Within the production area, however, the freshwater consumption could be reduced below the benchmark by water re-use and regeneration re-use, meaning that the brewery could achieve better performance than its competitors.

The planetary water drama: Dual task of feeding humanity and curbing climate change

This paper analyses the potential conflict between resilience of the Earth system and global freshwater requirements for the dual task of carbon sequestration to reduce CO2in the atmosphere, and food production to feed humanity by 2050. It makes an attempt to assess the order of magnitude of the increased consumptive water use involved and analyses the implications as seen from two parallel perspectives; the global perspective of human development within a “safe operating space” with regard to the definition of the Planetary Boundary for freshwater; and the social‐ecological implications at the regional river basin scale in terms of sharpening water shortages and threats to aquatic ecosystems. The paper shows that the consumptive water use involved in the dual task would both transgress the proposed planetary boundary range for global consumptive freshwater use and would further exacerbate already severe river depletion, causing societal problems related to water shortage and water allocation. Thus, strategies to rely on sequestration of CO2 as a mitigation strategy must recognize the high freshwater costs involved, implying that the key climate mitigation strategy must be to reduce emissions. The paper finally highlights the need to analyze both water and carbon tradeoffs from anticipated large scale biofuel production climate change mitigation strategy, to reveal gains and impact of this in contrast to carbon sequestration strategies.

Parametric analysis and optimization of combined gas turbine and reverse osmosis system using refrigeration cycle

This study proposes a systematic approach to analyzing and optimizing combined gas turbine (GT) and reverse osmosis (RO) systems. Two systems combining RO to produce freshwater and a GT power plant to generate the required power for the RO system were modeled. In the first system, the coupling between the RO and the power plant was only mechanical; while in the second system, the coupling was both mechanical and thermal, using a refrigeration cycle. The effects of seawater temperature and intake air temperature on the freshwater production of the systems were investigated and their optimal values were calculated. Economic modeling was applied in order to calculate the unit product cost of freshwater. The second system, with two RO units under optimal operation conditions, can increase freshwater production by 26% and save 21% in the production cost of 1 m3of freshwater as compared to the first system as a base system.

Solar Energy for Water Desalination

Abstract This paper presents the different solutions to the most commonly used desalination process (RO, MSF, MED), and solar energy production technology compatible with desalination. The goal is to assess the feasibility and profitability of the substitution of fuel energy used for desalination plants with renewable energy. A review of various technologies will define broadly features associated to each technology and range of cost that are expected. Finally, a review of various projects will detail the practical aspects of floor space and actual production costs of fresh water.

Geothermal waters heat integration for the desalination of sea water

Abstract The main objective of this work is to utilize the existing geothermal potential of the Greek island of Nisyros located in the southeastern part of the Aegean Sea for desalination of seawater. The technology most applicable for the exploitation of geothermal purposes is the multiple effect distillation process (MED). The exploitation of the geothermal hot water sources located in the island combined with an effective desalination technology can eliminate energy consumption from hydrocarbons, minimize the environmental impact and reduce dramatically the cost of fresh water. The determination of the overall environmental impact of the desalination plan by means of a Life Cycle Analysis, and the evaluation of the measure’s economical feasibility by means of Cost-Benefit Analysis and Life Cycle Cost methods will be shown. Exergy Analysis of the process will determine its thermodynamic efficiency. This work is to determine and demonstrate the feasibility of a geothermal-driven power-desalination plant ...

Optimization of Water Systems with the Consideration of Pressure Drop and Pumping

Novel automated design method has been developed to consider impacts of pressure drop and pumping arrangement in the water network in which water reuse is exploited to reduce freshwater consumption in process industries. A superstructure-based optimization framework has been developed to systematically consider all the key design issues simultaneously, including flow rate constraints, pressure-drop constraints, and other operational constraints, as well as to fully accommodate rigorous economic trade-off between freshwater cost, piping cost, and pumping cost. The proposed optimization study enables the identification of the optimal distribution of water within the network, together with the most appropriate location and capacity of pumps required for water systems. A robust and reliable solution strategy has been developed to effectively deal with computational difficulties associated with solving a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem, with the aid of the effective application of physical insights gained from conceptual understanding of the design problem. The network complexity has been readily controlled by imposing design constraints in the optimization. Examples have been provided to prove the effectiveness of the design method developed in this paper and to demonstrate the importance of considering pressure drop constraints in practice.

Integrated PV-thermal system for desalination and power production

A new process configuration for efficient utilization of solar energy for simultaneous production of potable water and electricity is presented. The proposed configuration incorporates photovoltaic/thermal(PVT)collectorstoproduceelectricityandtocollectthermalenergy,whichisusedto drive a low temperature phase-change desalination process to produce potable water. This configuration takes advantage of the fact that PVT collectors operating at lower temperatures are more efficient than the traditional PV panels; and low temperature phase-change desalination processes are more efficient than the traditional ones. Results from the theoretical analysis and mathematical modeling of the integrated system show that the PVT area of 30 m 2 with a cooling mass flow rate of 40–50 kg/h m 2 is adequate to supply the electricity (16–18 kWh) and freshwater needs (120 L) of a household of four. A case study was conducted to study the annual performance of the integrated system to provide the needs of the freshwater and electricity. Based on the economic analysis, additional costs incurred to modify an existing PV system will result in freshwater costs of 12.9$/m 3 which is acceptable for small scale desalination systems.

Possibilities for reuse of treated domestic wastewater in The Netherlands

The implementation of wastewater reuse is becoming an increasingly important means of supplementing water supply needs and/or reducing costs. The present paper provides examples of possible uses of treated domestic effluent for the three sectors, i.e. public water supply, industrial and agricultural uses with the aim to address the feasibility of these applications. It is concluded that, although The Netherlands as a whole is considered to be a low water stressed country, regional fresh water scarcity and costs can result in the need for applications of domestic wastewater reuse.

Experimental study on air bubbling humidification

A new process of solar humidification–dehumidification (HD) desalination by air bubbling humidification is designed. The studies are focused on the air humidifying experiments. The test-bed of air bubbling humidifier with a sieve plate is set up. The main factors affectinf air humidification are studied separately. The results show that the air relative humidity reaches 100% by humidifying in the range of the experiments. As the air flow rate increased, the quantity of air humidification, the pressure drop of air passing though the holes and the water level above sieve plate were all increased; as the temperature of air and water in the humidifier increased, the quantity of humidifying air increased significantly; as the height of water level above the sieve plate increased, the resistance of air passing though the humidifier increased, so that the blower power increased too; when the way of cooling air is improved, the GOR of the system can be enhanced and the cost of freshwater can be decreased. The stu...

A global optimal formulation for the water integration in eco-industrial parks considering multiple pollutants

A mathematical programming formulation for the water integration in eco-industrial parks considering streams with several pollutants is presented. The formulation is based on a superstructure that allows the wastewater reuse in the same plant, the water exchange with different plants, and a shared set of interceptors that must be selected to determine the network configuration that satisfies process equipments and environmental constraints. The model formulation considers wastewater with several pollutants, and optimizes the network according to the minimum total annual cost, which includes the costs of fresh water, piping and regeneration. A new discretization approach is also proposed to handle the large set of bilinear terms that appear in the model in order to yield a near global optimal solution. The results obtained in several examples show considerable savings with respect to the solutions of the individual plant integration policy commonly employed for these types of problems.

Planning Model for the Design and/or Retrofit of Industrial Water Systems

Planning models for industrial water systems are needed to address future environmental regulations, increasing costs of freshwater, variability on the quality of the available freshwater source, and bottlenecks caused by expansion of the capacity plant, among other reasons. In this paper, we present a method to address an increase in plant capacity associated with new water-using units planned to be added through time and/or an increase in the mass load of existing water-using units. We compare this method with two ad-hoc alternatives, which exhibit good performance for the examples shown.

Climate Change and Health in the Urban Environment: Adaptation Opportunities in Australian Cities

Urban populations are growing rapidly throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Cities are vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change because of their concentration of people and infrastructure, the physical (geographical, material, and structural) attributes of the built environment, and the ecological interdependence with the urban ecosystem. Australia is one of the most highly urbanized countries in the region and its already variable climate is set to become hotter and drier with climate change. Climate change in Australia is expected to increase morbidity and mortality from thermal stress, bacterial gastroenteritis, vector-borne disease, air pollution, flooding, and bushfires. The cost and availability of fresh water, food, and energy will also likely be affected. The more vulnerable urban populations, including the elderly, socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, and those with underlying chronic disease, will be most affected. Adaptation strategies need to address this underlying burden of disease and inequity as well as implement broad structural changes to building codes and urban design, and infrastructure capacity. In doing so, cities provide opportunities to realize "co-benefits" for health (eg, from increased levels of physical activity and improved air quality). With evidence that climate change is underway, the need for cities to be a focus in the development of climate adaptation strategies is becoming more urgent.

Reuse of waste water from ready‐mixed concrete plants

PurposeThe purpose of this study is the examination of the properties of waste water obtained from a ready‐mixed concrete plant and its utilization potential as mixing water for concrete production.Design/methodology/approachSamples of waste water from several points of a water recycling process from a ready‐mixed concrete plant were examined for their chemical properties (Cl‐, SO42‐, alkalies, total solids, pH) and compared with the specifications applied for concrete mixing water. Also samples of dry sludge powder from the water‐recycling process tank were taken and tested for their chemical composition, particle size distribution, mineralogical composition and thermogravimetrical results. The water samples were examined for their behavior in concrete specimens with and without admixtures and also for their effect in water demand and setting times in cement pastes.FindingsAll tests showed that waste water is suitable for concrete mixing water and that it can be used without any treatment or dilution, thus contributing to water saving.Practical implicationsWaste water from ready‐mixed concrete plants is classified as waste hazardous for disposal due to its high pH value (over 11.5). Very few ready‐mixed concrete plants that recycle waste water follow a complicated process through multiple overflows and a stage of neutralization, with HClaq addition.Originality/valueIt is obvious that the results of this investigation contribute to the protection of the environment from hazardous waste water disposal and the ready‐mixed concrete industry from fresh water costs and any additional cost for buying and conserving an unnecessarily complicated water‐recycling system.

Production of Freshwater and Energy from Earth’s Atmosphere

The author offers a new, cheap method for the extraction of freshwater from the Earth’s atmosphere. The suggested method is fundamentally dictinct from all existing methods that extract freshwater from air. All other industrial methods extract water from a saline water source (in most cases from seawater). This new method may be used at any point in the Earth except the Polar Zones. It does not require long-distance freshwater transportation. If seawater is not utilized for increasing its productivity, this inexpensive new method is very environmentally-friendly. The author’s method has two working versions: 1) In the first variant warm (or hot) atmospheric air is lifted by the inflatable tube in a high altitude and atmospheric water vapor is condensed into freshwater: 2) in the second version, the warm air is pumped 20-30 meters under the sea-surface. In the first version, wind and solar heating of air are used for causing air flow. In version 2) wind and fans are used for causing air movment. The first method does not need energy, the second needs a small amount. Moreover, in variant 1) the freshwater has a high pressure (> 30 or more atm) and can be used for production of energy such as electricity and in that way the freshwater cost is lower. For increasing the productivity the seawater is injected into air and a solar air heater may be used. The solar air heater produces a huge amount of electricity as a very powerful electrical generation plant. The offered electricity installation is 100 - 200 times cheaper than any common electric plant of equivalent output.

Water Integration of Eco-Industrial Parks Using a Global Optimization Approach

This Article presents a mathematical programming model for the mass integration of eco-industrial parks. The model considers the reuse of wastewater among different industries and the constraints given by the process sinks and the environmental regulations for waste streams discharged to the environment. The model allows the optimal selection of treatment units to satisfy the process and environmental regulations. The objective function consists of the minimization of the total annual cost, including the treatment unit costs, the piping costs, and the cost of fresh water. A new discretization approach is proposed for the model reformulation to handle the bilinear terms of the model as part of a global optimization strategy. Results show that significant savings can be achieved for the design of an integrated eco-industrial park with respect to the integration of each individual industry.

A water network optimization using MATLAB—A case study

The methodology of mass and energy integration is widely applied for reduction of water consumption, which belongs to the area of mass integration, and is also energy integration problem if water is considered an energy source (cooling water and steam). This work presents a study of water-consumption reduction through optimization of the process superstructure. A petroleum refinery water network was analyzed and a solution is proposed to minimize the costs of fresh water and wastewater treatment. Three processes which use water, with three contaminants, were monitored and three potential treatment units are proposed. The procedure was based on relaxation of a non-convex non-linear programming problem into a mixed integer linear programming (MILP). The MILP model was further simplified using heuristic rules and solved by using MATLAB.