Desalination Methods

Desalination (also known as desalting) is the process by which fresh water is extracted from water containing other additives usually salt water in the case of water production where desalination produces fresh water from sea water. There are several major desalination techniques: Thermal Methods Multi-Stage Flash Distillation Multiple-Effect Distillation Vapour Compression Membrane Methods o Electrodialysis o Reverse Osmosis Sea Water Energy Desalination System Fresh Water
Figure 1.0 The underlying process of desalting

Brine

Thermal Methods
Thermal methods involve heat energy to produce fresh water from sea water, whereas membrane methods use osmosis and dialysis processes (methods found in nature) to selectively separate salts and water. Multi-Stage Flash Distillation Multi-stage Flash Distillation (commonly known as MSF) used to be the more common form of distillation due to its relatively old concept (MSFs have been built since the 1950s) and constant refinements have been made over time to the technology to improve efficiency, reliability, and capital returns.

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In MSF, the seawater is heated and cooled several times in order to cause rapid boiling and condensation of the water in numerous stages typically between 15-25 stages. Since during each stage a small amount of the water is vaporized, the more stages there are the higher the total surface area for evaporation exists and the more water is purified. The downside to having a large number of stages is that the capital costs can increase dramatically, and maintenance tasks increase in complexity. HydroTek has built several MSF desalination plants in Dubai, Perth and Sydney, and has been involved in several expansions at these sites. Multi-Effect Distillation Multiple-Effect Distillation (commonly known as MED) is very similar to MSF distillation in that the principle idea of boiling and condensing the water exists, but MSF is more prevalent because of its superior reliability (MED is the predecessor to MSF). However, MED has resurfaced in recent years because of its lower heat requirements, which results in lower corrosion of equipment. HydroTek has only built one MED desalination plant, the Tuas Seawater desalination plant in Singapore. Vapour Compression Vapour Compression (commonly known as VC) is generally used in combination with MED or MSF for small to medium scale desalination applications. VC uses pressure to vaporize the water, rather than having to use a boiler to heat the water with steam. VC is a useful technique in conjunction with MED and MSF because it allows the usage of lower operating temperatures due to the increased pressure, as the increased pressure reduces the boiling point of the water. VC is used primarily on sites which require fresh water and have limited access to it, usually consisting of industrial areas and drilling sites, rather than for fresh water production on a large scale. As a result, HydroTek has made several VC units as part of larger desalination facilities (usually at the primary stage of evaporation) but does not manufacture plants solely relying on VC technology. HydroTek VC units exist in the Sydney Harbour Desalination plant.

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Membrane Processes
While Thermal methods have their benefits, in the past 30 years Membrane Process forms of desalination have improved significantly enough such that it often provides higher efficiency and lower cost of capital than Thermal methods. The two methods of Membrane Processes are called Electrodialysis and Reverse Osmosis. Electrodialysis and Reverse Osmosis are very similar in concept except for the way the salt and water are separated, as shown below:

Figure 1.1 The Membrane Processes of Electrodialysis and Reverse Osmosis

Electrodialysis and Reverse Osmosis have similar basic components: - Pretreatment - Membrane Stack or Assembly - Pressure Pump - Post Treatment Electrodialysis Electrodialysis (ED) is based on the idea that since most salts dissolved in water are ionic-bonded, water can be separated from its dissolved salts by using charged electrodes and membranes with a selective passage of either positive or negative ions. The water is slightly pressurized and passed against the membrane (as seen in Figure 1.1) and due to the presence of positive and negative electrodes on either side, and the particular set up of the membrane, the salts are separated from the water as shown.

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Reverse Osmosis Reverse Osmosis (RO) is relatively new (only in use since the 1970s) and was not feasible in most parts of the world until recently due to greatly improved efficiency and cost cutting techniques. In terms of set up, Reverse Osmosis requires a high pressure pump compared to the ED method, and does not use electrodes. However, due to the nature of RO, pre-treatment is more important because the membrane surfaces must remain clean, as RO cannot handle high levels of suspended particles in water like ED can. This means that ED is more useful for water with a high level of contaminants in it, whereas RO is sufficient for sea water. The only downside to RO desalination is that the typical return rate of water is 40% of the total water intake; however the energy requirements are a fifth of that needed by MSF and other methods (which provides an extremely large advantage for costing). An RO plant (SWRO to be precise Sea water Reverse Osmosis) has the basic component set up as shown in Figure 1.2 below.

High Pressure Pump

Fresh Water

Post-Treatment

Pre-Treatment

Membrane Assembly Fresh water to water system

Saltwater Input Brine (concentrated discharge)

Figure 1.2 The basic SWRO components

The sea water feed is pre-treated to remove large suspended particles and the membrane is cleaned to ensure maximum efficiency of the SWRO process. Furthermore, the pre-treatment also removes salt precipitation and microbial growth which could occur on the surface of the membrane. -4-

The sea water input is then highly pressurized against the membrane, with the pressure pump supplying at least 54 to 80 bars (800 to 1,180 psi) of pressure. When the sea water input hits the membrane, part of the water is purified and passes through the membrane. At the same time, a part of the water (called brine) which has been discharged by the membrane and is heavily saturated with salts is removed (approximately 60% of the total water at the end of the process). The remaining discharged water is re-circulated again and this process continues. The membrane consists of a pressure vessel which must be able to withstand the entire pressure drop against it, and a membrane which allows the water to be pressurized against it. Since no membranes are perfect in their ability to extract salts from sea water, some small level of salt remains in the fresh water produced. Post treatment consists of making sure the water is stable and suitable for distribution. This may include adjusting the pH if the water is too acidic or basic, and removing dissolved gases (typically Hydrogen Sulfide and Carbon Dioxide). The brine which is removed as a by product from SWRO must be taken care of and is usually disposed of in the sea. Since the brine is merely concentrated sea water, the impact it has on the environment is minimal, but its disposal should be monitored responsibly because some minor environmental changes could occur. HydroTek has set up several RO desalination plants in Tel Aviv, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Method of choice: Reverse Osmosis

We believe that the ideal implementation for solving the Beijing water crisis is to produce a Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant. The main advantage of SWRO compared to the other methods described is that the energy and capital costs are significantly lower (as mentioned). Furthermore, the high level of water output required encourages the idea of implementing a SWRO plant due to its lower complexity when dealing with water output on a very large scale compared to the other methods.

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