Development of minimum-salinity feedwater for reduction of unit production cost of reverse-osmosis desalination plants

Abstract

Large energy consumption is one of the main weaknesses of RO desalination. A new method is proposed to reduce the energy consumption of RO desalination which depends on the salinity of the feedwater. Low salinity feedwater can be obtained using groundwater wells which extracts both fresh groundwater and subsurface sea water. Subsurface feedwater is advantageous in overcoming other problems associated with surface seawater intakes. Salinities of groundwater depend on a number of factors. In this work a new simulation-optimization model is proposed to identify well locations and pumping rates with would provide the required design flow rate with the minimum salinity. When groundwater is developed in a coastal area, the saltwater wedge advances inland and may contaminate existing groundwater wells, which must be prevented. The model can protect existing wells while developing minimum salinity feedwater. Examples are provided to demonstrate the usage of the model.

Facile synthesis of TiO2/ZrO2 nanofibers/nitrogen co-doped activated carbon to enhance the desalination and bacterial inactivation via capacitive deionization

“…The most straightforward solution to improve the quantity, as well as the quality of water, is desalination of salty water source like sea or brackish water, based on the generality of Earth’s water being saline 3 . Several conventional desalination methodologies have been carried out to improve the supply of fresh water, the most common of which are reverse osmosis (RO), electrodialysis and thermal distillation 4 , 5 . Unfortunately, each of these current methods has experienced problems such as excessive operational cost, high energy consumption, and secondary pollution 6 , 7 .…”