Reverse Osmosis Desalination Technology Research Articles

Adopting sea water reverse osmosis desalination technologies for sustainable development: lessons learnt from Algiers Science and Technology for membranes 2023 workshop

The city of Algiers hosted the workshop on Science and Technology for Membranes from 30th May to 1st June 2023—STM 2023, held in Algeria. The main topics focused on Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination technologies, decentralized autonomous systems, wastewater recycling for circularity, and the effects of green membrane processes on socio-economic growth. This review examines the influence of global trends and instabilities (i.e., climate change, disrupted supply chain platforms, natural disasters) on the steady supply of freshwater. The implementation of RO desalination solutions and their sustainability are assessed based on resiliency factors, which is helpful to screen water treatment alternatives based on technological benefits, ecological safety and environmental protection. Key takeaways from this study call for rolling out local membrane production capabilities, promoting the benefits of autonomous decentralized treatment systems, prioritizing innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and for developing RO-specific equipment recycling infrastructures. Implementing these new tactics can lead to mitigate water scarcity and enable a sustainable deployment of desalination membrane technologies in Algeria and its region.

Pilot study of emerging low-energy seawater reverse osmosis desalination technologies for high-salinity, high-temperature, and high-turbidity seawater

The increasing impact of climate change has worsened drought conditions, leading to a surge in the demand for seawater desalination. However, current seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination technologies are not energy-efficient for handling the high-salinity, high-temperature, and high-turbidity seawater found in the Arabian Gulf. Therefore, a pilot-scale SWRO desalination plant was established to evaluate the new desalination technologies. The pilot plant tested high-performance SWRO membranes, meshed tube filtration (MTF) as a low-energy pretreatment for the high turbidity induced by algal blooms, and membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) to improve permeate quality. The high-performance SWRO membrane demonstrated exceptional salt rejection and produced permeate quality in the range of 250–455 mg/L from the feed with salinities of 47,500–53,500 mg/L. MTF was effective in controlling turbidity, and the energy consumption was reduced by 77 % compared to the existing pretreatment process. Furthermore, MCDI exhibited similar levels of energy efficiency as brackish water reverse osmosis and may have the potential for future deployment by enhancing process development. Based on the pilot plant results, it is expected that a 100,000–200,000 m3/d SWRO desalination plant will have a specific energy consumption of 3.11–3.13 kWh/m3 for final product water quality at or below 200 mg/L.

Design and optimization of an electrostatic fog collection system for water harvesting: Modeling and experimental investigation

Electrostatic fog collection presents a promising solution for addressing water scarcity by recovering water from fog. This study proposed a multi-channel electrostatic fog collector that utilizes multiwire-to-plate electrodes. Through numerical simulations, the charging and migration mechanisms of fog droplets were revealed. Additionally, the influence of electrode structure parameters on the electrostatic fog collection process was analyzed. Results show that during the charging process, droplet charge rapidly approaches saturation near the wire electrodes. Moreover, the fog collection efficiency increases with an increase in working voltage, but the growth rate decreases gradually at high voltage. The wire interval and wire-plate gap determine the electric field distribution, which in turn affects the collection efficiency. The effect of wire interval and wire-plate gap on the electric field distribution could be categorized into three zones: the insensitive region, the weak influence region, and the strong influence region. The simulation results show that the optimal range of the dimensionless wire interval falls in the weak influence region, specifically in the range of 0.8 ≤ S/G ≤ 1.6, where S/G represents the ratio of wire interval to wire-plate gap. The experimental results demonstrate that the electrostatic fog collector within this range can achieve a water collection rate of 123.7 g/min at 20 kV. The corresponding performance coefficient is 388.7 kg/kWh, which exceeds the 200–333.3 kg/kWh performance coefficient of commonly used commercial reverse osmosis desalination technology. These findings provide direction for the practical application of electrostatic fog collection technology.

Integration of desalination and energy conversion in a thermo-osmotic system using low-grade heat: Performance analysis and techno-economic evaluation

Freshwater and electricity cogeneration systems, using renewable energy sources, can play a crucial role at the water-energy nexus. By placing a hydrophobic, porous membrane between a hot saline water flow and a pressurized cold freshwater flow, thermal-osmotic energy conversion and thermal-osmotic desalination can be implemented simultaneously. A novel open-loop freshwater and electricity cogeneration system is proposed and evaluated, which consists of a hydrophobic membrane module, a seawater pump, two heat exchangers, and a hydraulic turbine. In the base case designed for a daily freshwater production of 3.9 × 104 m3/day, the net power output is estimated to be 2.15 MWe and the energy efficiency of power generation is 0.24%. Considering the economic benefits brought by the electricity production, the water production cost is 0.36 $/m3 with a global average industrial electricity price of 0.11 $/kWh. Compared with the commercial reverse osmosis desalination technology, the desalination cost of the hybrid system is reduced by over 28%. The parameter analysis is carried out and reveals that optimizing membrane properties and operating conditions can greatly improve the energy efficiency and reduce the water production cost. Improving the liquid entry pressure and permeability coefficient and reducing the thermal conductivity of the membrane are the key to improving the application prospect of the system.

Management of reverse osmosis concentrate by solar distillation

Abstract Disposal of rejected brine is a fundamental part of reverse osmosis desalination technology, it presents negative influences on the marine ecosystem due to the high salt content and the presence of other harmful chemicals in the concentrate. Solar distillation is a promising technology for brine management. The main goal of this study was to treat high salinity solution of reverse osmosis desalination brine and to recover valuable resources while producing freshwater. The implementation of the study is through two phases: the first phase includes desalination by a reverse osmosis process to produce fresh water and the concentrated brine, while the second phase consists of recovering solid salts using the solar distillation. Thus, different experiments of desalination by reverse osmosis pilot and solar distillation were carried out under optimal experimental conditions. The obtained results showed that chlorides are the most dominant constituents in the composition of brines, while the daily water productivity contributed to around 80% of the total productivity of the solar system (volume of the water produced/m2/day) and the amount of salt crystallized by solar distillation represents 35 grams per liter of brine, this salt is greatly demanded in several sectors such as agriculture, industry, and others.

Feasibility of Hybrid Desalination Plants Coupled with Small Gas Turbine CHP Systems

Nowadays, several technologies for desalination processes are available and widely employed. However, they consume a considerable amount of energy and involve high capital and operating costs. Therefore, the techno-economic analysis of a system coupling different energy sources with the desalination processes is of value. The possibility of coupling a small gas turbine combined heat and power system (GT CHP) with hybrid desalination plants (HDPs) has been assessed in this study. The proposed gas turbine power generation system, based on a single-stage centrifugal compressor and an uncooled centripetal turbine, provides design simplicity and reasonable installation costs for the power generating plant. The hybrid desalination technique, based on the use of two different desalination technologies, i.e., Reverse Osmosis (RO) and a thermal desalination process, has been chosen to better exploit the electrical and thermal energy produced by the mini CHP plant. The proposed solution is numerically investigated from both thermodynamic and economic points of view, and the results of the thermodynamic analysis of the cycle are used as input for the evaluation of the amount of freshwater produced and of costs. The economic assessment of standalone desalination systems is also shown for the comparison with the hybrid solutions here proposed. Results show that the total cost of the water produced by MED + RO was less than the total cost of the water obtained by MSF + RO, and that the energy cost of MED + RO hybrid desalination system was about 15% less than that for stand-alone RO desalination technology. Thus, the MED + RO hybrid desalination system can be considered a promising solution for the coupling with the proposed mini GT CHP plant, which, due to the small size and cost, as well as the easy installation, can be easily applied in off-grid or remote areas.

The economic synergies of modelling the renewable energy-water nexus towards sustainability

This study investigates the role of the water-energy-nexus in transition plans to achieve a future system with a higher share of renewable energy and lower excess water extraction. Applying a novel nexus approach, an interactive multi-period model is proposed to study the synergies of sustainable water and energy supply planning, taking into account operational flexibility of the water sector and its compatibility with inherent intermittency of variable renewable resources. For investigating synergies in designing both energy systems and water systems together, the path of technology cost reduction is assumed to be a function of experience and knowledge and estimated using two-factor learning curves. The learning-by-searching rate was higher than the learning-by-doing rate for utility-scale wind, photovoltaic and reverse osmosis desalination technologies, ensuring research & development investment can play a chief role in the development of these industries. The levelized cost and capacity factor of photovoltaic and wind resources in the Middle East were calculated using data from 81 projects. The results showed that planning the water and energy sectors as endogenous parts of one integrated system brings potential synergies. The levelized cost of variable renewable energy decreased by 20% and the levelized cost of desalinated water dropped 4%.

Potential for sustainable use of trees in hot arid regions: A case study of Emirati neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi

This paper explores the future of landscapes in arid, coastal regions based on 4 water-energy regimes, using a case study of villa neighborhoods in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It examines the potential for the planting of 15 selected tree species for carbon storage under various water-energy regimes to create carbon neutral (or negative) villa neighborhoods. Recent improvements to solar photovoltaic and reverse-osmosis desalination technology have lowered the carbon emissions for water production by over 99% relative to current gas-powered multi-stage flash desalination (0.08 kg CO2/m3 vs.12.8 kg CO2/m3). This allows trees planted in hot, desert climates to utilize treated ocean water while net sequestering between 1.7 and 38.2 kg C/tree/yr depending on species. When planted in existing neighborhood open spaces, we find that net carbon storage rates from trees are significant (15–800%) relative to operational emissions rates for building energy (cooling, lighting, equipment) when households are supplied from 100% renewable energy sources. Thus, as technology advances, landscape design strategies in the region could evolve to maximize planting to sequester carbon while also creating more comfortable outdoor spaces that enhance the livability of neighborhoods. This study provides a first step in identifying the potential for landscape architectural design to employ a tree-based, neighborhood scale, carbon storage strategy in arid regions such as those in the Arabian Peninsula. As nations move towards a carbon-neutral future, it is imperative to develop innovative solutions that address urban sustainability, especially in resource-challenged and extreme climate regions where new urban development is planned.

Techno-Economic Study of PV Powered Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant in the Jordan Valley

Jordan is one of the ten most water scarce countries in the world. In 2014, the share of water per capita per year in Jordan is 120 Cubic Meters (m3 ). The water deficit is estimated to be 160 Million Cubic Meter (MCM) in 2015. This deficit is projected to grow up to 490 MCM by 2025. This study discusses the possibility of using solar energy for brackish water desalination in Jordan Valley (JV) to reduce the pressure on the fresh water and the conventional energy consumption associated with the desalination process, as well as, to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions associated with the consumption of energy produced from fossil fuels. Photovoltaic (PV) powered brackish water reverse osmosis desalination technology (RO) has been investigated in this study. The PV system has designed using PVSOL software. The economic feasibility study of use PV system has been done using Average Incremental Cost of Water (AICOW), Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Net Present Value (NPV) in several scenarios. The results of the analysis showed that using PV systems for brackish water desalination for a small size single plant at current electricity tariff is not economically feasible for the farmers. But it is feasible for a larger size plant for ten farms or more, or with financial support from the government. The feasibility results showed that using PV systems for brackish water desalination for the government side are economically feasible even for a small size plant.

Evaluation of FO membrane performance for each type of pre-treatment from WWTP secondary effluents

The development of alternative water resources has emerged as an effective method for solving drought of water resources due to extreme weather and increase in water consumption. Recently, in Korea, there has been active research on reverse osmosis desalination technology, wastewater reuse using forward osmosis membranes, and the forward osmosis(FO)-reverse osmosis(RO) hybrid process combining these two technologies. In this study, the basic performance of FO membranes manufactured by three domestic and international manufactures such as Microfilter Co., Ltd., Toray Chemical Korea Inc., and Hydration Technologies Inc., were investigated for wastewater reuse. In addition, as an experiment to select feed solution, the selected membranes were operated 48 consecutive hours using three secondary effluents pretreated by the UF membrane with a pore size of and auto strainer with pore sizes of and as feed solution. Although there was not much difference in the operating performance. Thus, the treated water using the auto strainer was selected as feed solution applied to the assessment.

Economics of Renewable Energy for Water Desalination in Developing Countries

Freshwater shortage in many areas around the world presents a constraint to sustainable development. Desalination of saline water, especially seawater which accounts for more than 97% of the total water quantity on earth, represents a feasible option in many cases. The need for sustainable sources of energy to operate high energy - consumption desalination systems is mandatory. Future, in remote coastal and arid areas, the use of renewable energy for powering desalination plants could be a feasible option in view of several technical, economic and environmental considerations. In this paper, the issue of integration of desalination technologies and renewable energy from specified sources is addressed. The features of Photovoltaic (PV) system combined with reverse osmosis desalination technology, which represents the most commonly applied integration between renewable energy and desalination technology, are analyzed. Further, a case study for conceptual seawater reverse osmosis (SW-RO) desalination plant with 1000 m3/d capacity is presented, based on PV and conventional generators powered with fossil fuel to be installed in a remote coastal area in Egypt, as a typical developing country. The estimated water cost for desalination with PV/ SW-RO system is about $1.21 m3, while ranging between $1.18-1.56 for SW-RO powered with conventional generator powered with fossil fuel. Analysis of the economical, technical and environmental factors depicts the merits of using large scale integrated PV/RO system as an economically feasible water supply with an autonomous power supply.

Analysis and optimization of the low-temperature solar organic Rankine cycle (ORC)

Solar thermal driven reverse osmosis desalination is a promising renewable energy-driven desalination technology. A joint use of the solar thermal powered organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and the desalination technology of less energy consumption, reverse osmosis (RO), makes this combination interesting in some scarce water resource scenarios. However, prior to any practical experience with any new process, a comprehensive and rigorous theoretical study must be done in order to assess the performance of the new technology or combination of existing technologies. The main objective of the present paper is the expansion of the theoretical analysis done by the authors in previous works to the case in which the thermal energy required by a solar ORC is supplied by means of stationary solar collectors. Twelve substances are considered as working fluids of the ORC and four different models of stationary solar collectors (flat plate collectors, compound parabolic collectors and evacuated tube collectors) are also taken into account. Operating conditions of the solar ORC that minimizes the aperture area needed per unit of mechanical power output of the solar cycle are determined for every working fluid and every solar collector. The former is done considering a direct vapour generation configuration of the solar cycle and also the configuration with water as heat transfer fluid flowing inside the solar collector. This work is part of the theoretical analysis of the solar thermal driven seawater and brackish water reverse osmosis desalination technology. Nevertheless, the supplied information can be also used for the assessment of different applications of the solar ORC. In that case, results presented in this paper can be useful in techno-economic analysis, selection of working fluids of the Rankine cycle, sizing of systems and assessment of solar power cycle configuration.

A tribute to Sidney Loeb —The pioneer of reverse osmosis desalination research

The technical viability of RO desalination technology was demonstrated in the late 1950's by the pioneering work of Sidney Loeb and Srinivasa Sourirajan and a team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) led by Professors Joseph McCutchan and Samuel Yuster. Today Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalination is a mature process for the production of potable water from seawater and inland brackish water. RO membranes are also now widely used as part of the overall process for the treatment of wastewater for reclamation and reuse for irrigation, industrial, and groundwater recharge applications. RO desalination technology is used worldwide and has made it possible to develop new potable water sources in areas of the world where freshwater water sources are scarce.

High recovery system in seawater reverse osmosis plants

AbstractSeawater desalination by the reverse osmosis (RO) method is an energy‐saving system compared with the evaporating method, and can perform seawater desalination efficiently. Seawater RO desalination technology has been established and become a reliable system. Seawater desalination plants using RO technology have spread and the scale of the plants has increased significantly. More economical and efficient RO method seawater desalination systems have come to be required. A high recovery system, which offers reduction of plant construction cost and running cost was devised. Towards realization of this high recovery system, simulation and the field tests were done to confirm the practicality. Furthermore, a high recovery system was adopted for the biggest desalination plant in Japan, and it is performing favorably. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008

Advances in seawater desalination technologies

A number of seawater desalination technologies have been developed during the last several decades to augment the supply of water in arid regions of the world. Due to the constraints of high desalination costs, many countries are unable to afford these technologies as a fresh water resource. However, the steady increasing usage of seawater desalination has demonstrated that seawater desalination is a feasible water resource free from the variations in rainfall. A seawater desalination process separates saline seawater into two streams: a fresh water stream containing a low concentration of dissolved salts and a concentrated brine stream. The process requires some form of energy to desalinate, and utilizes several different technologies for separation. Two of the most commercially important technologies are based on the multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation and reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Although the desalination technologies are mature enough to be a reliable source for fresh water from the sea, a significant amount of research and development (R&D) has been carried out in order to constantly improve the technologies and reduce the cost of desalination. This paper reviews the current status, practices, and advances that have been made in the realm of seawater desalination technologies. Additionally, this paper provides an overview of R&D activities and outlines future prospects for the state-of-the-art seawater desalination technologies. Overall, the present review is made with special emphasis on the MSF and RO desalination technologies because they are the most successful processes for the commercial production of large quantities of fresh water from seawater.

A 13.3 MGD seawater RO desalination plant for Yanbu Industrial City

This paper presents the major design criteria and features for the 13.3 million gallons per day (MGD) seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant that is currently under construction in Madinat Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah, Yanbu Industrial City, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The seawater RO plant is made up of six trains of about 2.2 MGD capacity each. The plant consists of five major systems: seawater supply, seawater pretreatment, high pressure pumping, RO modules, and permeate posttreatment. The paper also discusses technical issues and parameters associated with the plant design, and advances made in the seawater reverse osmosis desalination technology.

Life cycle assessment of MSF, MED and RO desalination technologies

In this work, a comparison of the commonly deployed commercial desalination technologies worldwide—multistage flash (MSF), multieffect evaporation and reverse osmosis (RO)—is assessed by applying life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA, a powerful, and internationally accepted tool used to examine environmental cradle-to-grave consequences of making and using products and services, identifies and quantifies energy and material usage and waste discharges. The International Standard Organization (ISO) 14000 impact factors, which are internationally accepted standard indicators for environmental impact assessment, have been evaluated, and different evaluation methods (Centre for Environmental Studies (CML) 2 baseline 2000, Eco-Points 97 and Eco-Indicator 99) have been applied to different scenarios. The assessment includes the entire life cycle of each desalination process, encompassing extraction and processing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, plant operation and final reject disposal.

Integrating hybrid systems with existing thermal desalinationplants

In Gulf countries, most power plants are co-generation power desalting plants (CPDP) that generate electric energy and also produce fresh water through the desalination of seawater. This paper provides detailed technical and economical analyses to evaluate a new generation of dual purpose technology that includes the integration of reverse osmosis (RO) processes with existing thermal desalination processes and power generation (triple hybrid system) at Layyah plant, Sharjah, UAE. Hybridization of sweater reverse osmosis (SWRO) and the multi-stage flash (MSF) technology was considered to improve the performance of latter and reduce the cost of the produced water. Moreover, “idle” power in winter (seasonal surplus of unused power) was mainly utilized by RO to further reduce the cost of the hybrid system for six months of the year. Spinning reserve was also used to further reduce the cost of the proposed hybrid system. Integration ofthe three processes of MSF, MED, and RO desalination technologies could be made at different levels through which the resulting of water cost will depend on the selected configuration and the cost of materials of construction, equipment, membrane, energy, etc. Thus, the capital and annual operating costs were calculated for all potential alternatives for various plant capacities. It was found that for all plant capacities, integrated hybrid systems resulted in most cost effective solution. For example, at a capacity of 50 MIGD, the present worth of the cost was calculated to be 588.7, 443.2, and 380 million US$ for MSF, MED, and hybrid RO systems, respectively.

Present status of reverse osmosis in Japan

This paper describes the present status of the reverse osmosis in Japan. The Water Re-use Promotion Center has been developing sea water reverse osmosis desalination technology under the supervision of M.I.T.I. Two stage desalination plant is under construction using new type spiral wound module developed by a Japanese company with a grant of M.I.T.I. The total amount of the capacity of the installation of reverse osmosis plants is about 60,000 m 3/day corresponding to about 30 % of the world wide. Some activities of private companies are reviewed briefly.