University of Benghazi / Faculty of Engineering

Chemical Engineering Department / CHE 452 Seawater Desalination Technology

Dr, Omar Alshirif – Sheet One

1- Introduction

Desalination can be defined as any process that removes salts from water. Desalination
processes may be used in municipal, industrial, or commercial applications. With
improvements in technology, desalination processes are becoming cost-competitive with
other methods of producing usable water for our growing needs.

A desalination process essentially separates saline water into two parts - one that has a low
concentration of salt (treated water or product water), and the other with a much higher
concentration than the original feed water, usually referred to as brine concentrate or
simply as ‘concentrate’.

The two major types of technologies that are used around the world for desalination can be
broadly classified as either thermal or membrane. Both technologies need energy to
operate and produce fresh water. Within those two broad types, there are sub-categories
(processes) using different techniques.

1.1 Desalination Technologies

1.1.1 Classification of desalination processes

Desalination processes essentially entail the separation of nearly salt-free water from sea or
brackish water. The salts originally in the feed water are concentrated in a reject brine
stream, both by thermal and membrane separation methods [1]. Figure (1) shows an
overview of the main desalination process categories and their relationships [2].

The phase-change separation methods are classified into two main categories. The first is
concerned with the evaporation of water and the resulting vapour is condensed. The second
approach involves freezing the water, followed by the separation and melting of ice crystals.

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Membrane desalination processes include RO and ED. In the RO process, high pressure
forces fresh water to permeate through a semi-permeable membrane, leaving behind a
highly concentrated brine solution. While pressure is the driving force in the RO process,
electrical energy activates ED operation, causing electrically charged salt ions to move
through selective ion exchange membranes, leaving behind low salinity product water. In
both processes a highly concentrated brine stream is formed on the other side of the
membrane.

1.1.2 Main Desalination Techniques

There is no best method of desalination. A wide variety of desalination technologies

effectively remove salts from salty water (or extract fresh water from salty water),
producing a water stream with a low concentration of salt (the product stream) and another
with a high concentration of remaining salts (the brine or concentrate). Most of these
technologies rely on either distillation or membranes to separate salts from the product
water. Ultimately, the selection of a desalination process for Egypt as an example depends
on site specific conditions, including the salt content of the water, economics, and the
quality of water needed by the end user, and local engineering experience and skills. These
processes are described in greater details below.

The multi-stage flash (MSF) procedure is the most common technique for desalination,
found mostly in the Gulf area. Among other evaporation techniques, the multi-effect
distillation (MED) may be mentioned here, either with vertical or horizontal smooth tubes or
doubly fluted tubes (see the tower desalination process. The vapor compression course is
very popular for remote locations, resort areas, islands, etc. Although these two techniques
are not widely used, they are promising as far as good water quality, simple application,
reliability, and efficiency are concerned.

Membrane processes, mainly reverse osmosis (RO), are currently the rapid-growing
techniques for water desalination. Description is given below for other types of membranes,
which are used for water quality improvement [3].

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 Figure (1.1) An overview of the main desalination process and their
relationships.

Both seawater and brackish groundwater are purified by use of the two entirely different
approaches. Distillation or thermal processes on the one hand desalinate through
evaporation, while the membrane processes on the other hand employ the concept of
filtration. In 2005 the market place, when judged by installed capacity, the membrane
desalination process reverse osmosis (RO) leads with 46 percent of total capacity, closely
followed by a thermal process called multi stage flash (MSF) with 36 percent of total
capacity. The remaining 18 percent are divided among other thermal processes, such as
vapor compression (VC, 5%) and multiple effect evaporation (MEE, 3%), a membrane
process called electrodialysis (ED, 5%), and, other concepts (5%). [4] Table (1) gives a
summary of characteristics of major desalination technologies. [5] Meanwhile, Figure (2)
provides a graphical illustration of the process capacity distribution. It should be pointed out
that the desalination inventory, deals with the world global desalination, which comprises
seawater and non-seawater desalination together. The former exceeded 56% of the global

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 world desalination. This simply means that thermal desalination is the predominant of the
seawater desalination.

As demonstrated in Figure (2), the present review draws attention to aforementioned major
desalination processes. While short notes about the desalination processes, basic drawings,
condensed comparisons, and future of each process, are exhibited, for the major of the
desalination processes.

RO
46%

MSF
Ot her 36%
MED VC
5% ED
3% 5% 5%

Figure (1.2) World installed desalting capacity by process.

Table (1-1) Summary of characteristics of major desalination technologies

Multiple-effect
Reverse Electrodialysis Multistage flash
Characteristics distillation
osmosis (RO) reversal (EDR) (MSF)
(MED)
Energy cost Moderate High High Very high
Increases with Increases fast with Independent of Independent of
Energy/Salinity
salinity salinity salinity salinity
All water
Applicable to Brackish Seawater -brine Seawater -brine
types
Plant size Modular Modular Large Large
Bacterial Post treatment always
Possible Unlikely Unlikely
contamination needed
Final product Can be <10 mg/L Can be <10
On demand On demand
salinity TDS mg/L TDS
Easy to Only large
Easy to operate Small Only large
Complexity operate; small complex plants
footprint complex plants
footprint
Susceptibility to
High Low Low Low
scaling
Recovery 30-50 % High Poor(10–25%) Low but better
(seawater) up than MSF
to 90% for
brackish
water

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 1.2 Thermal Desalination

1.2.1 Multi-Stage Flash

The MSF distillation is currently the most common and simple technique in use, and
represents about 36% of worldwide desalination capacity up to the early 2005, Figure (3)
shows a schematic presentation of a MSF desalination plant. The pressurized sea water is
flow through closed pipes where it exchanges heat, with vapour condensing in the upper
sections of the flash chambers. Water is then heated to a certain initial high temperature,
using burnt fuel or external steam, and this allows flashing along the lower part of the
chambers, from chamber to chamber under reduced pressure conditions. Vapour generated
is allowed to flow through a mist eliminator to meet the condensing tubes, where heat is
transferred to the heating feed seawater. The condensate drips into collectors and is
pumped out as the plant product. Exhausted brine, concentrated in salt, is pumped out and
rejected to the sea. Part of the brine is recirculated with the feed in order to increase water
recovery. The technique consumes high energy as sensible heat and pumping. Increasing of
the energy efficiency is a function of the number of stages involved, highest temperature of
the preheated feed seawater, the better heat transfers at the condensing vapour, the better
utilization of the heat rejected with the product and the rejected brine, controlling and
preventing scale formation, prevention of accumulated non-condensable gases, etc.
Corrosion is associated with the highest temperatures, existence of dissolved oxygen in the
water, and the choice of materials for heat transfer surfaces.

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 Figure (1.3) Multistage flash with brine recirculation.

1.2.2 Multi-Effect Distillation, MED:

Nowadays, MED is one of the most promising evaporation techniques, which represent
about 3% of worldwide desalination capacity [4]. The concept of multi-stage evaporation is
common in the chemical industry. It has been used for many years for solution
concentration, crystallization, solution purification, etc. Basically, the method can use low-
temperature, at low-pressure steam as the main energy source. Steam from burnt coal or
fuel can be used, as well as spent steam emerging at the outlet of a steam-operated power
station. The primary steam is used to evaporate heated seawater and to generate more
steam at a lower pressure while the primary condensed steam is taken back to the
generation chamber, or to the steam generator of the power station. The secondary steam
generated goes into a second stage to condense while transferring the latent heat to low-
temperature seawater, flowing in falling film. The process is repeated as many times as the
design permits, between the upper possible temperature and the lower possible cooling
temperature which depends on seawater temperature. MED operates usually on horizontal

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or vertical pipes where steam condenses on one side of the heat transfer surface and the
seawater evaporates on the other. This uses a double film condensing-evaporating heat
transfer mechanism that is highly effective. Figures (4 and 5) show a schematic presentation
of a MED desalination plant.

Figure (1.4) Diagram of thermal vapour compression multiple effect

evaporation (horizontal tube).

distillate

brine

Figure (1.5) Diagram of stacked multiple effect evaporation

1.2.3 Vapor Compression Distillation, VC:

The vapor compression (VC) represents about 5% of worldwide desalination capacity [4].

The main mechanism of VC is similar to MED except that it is based on compression of the
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vapor generated by evaporating water to a higher pressure, which allows the reuse of the
vapor to supplying heat for the evaporating process. Compression of the vapor may be
carried out by using a mechanical compressor (the most common way), or by mixing with
small amounts of high pressure steam (Thermal Compression). The feed water is preheated
against brine and the product leaving the system. Heat transfer usually takes place in the
form of a double falling film, which is an effective heat transfer mechanism. The latent heat
of the condensed vapor is used to make more vapors on the other side of the heat transfer
surface. This is basically a heat pump process, so that the main need for energy is for
elevating the pressure to provide the driving force by temperature difference. VC is
considered to be the most efficient evaporation desalination process. The ability to operate
at low temperatures makes it possible to use simple metals like aluminum, with almost no
corrosion attack and safety from scale formation. The largest units available on the market
can produce up to 5,000 m3/day [3]. Figure (6) shows a schematic presentation of a MVC
desalination system.

Figure (1.6) Diagram of mechanical vapor compression.

1.3 Membrane Desalination:

Commercial Membrane-based processes used for water treatment include

microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse
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osmosis (RO), which represents about 46% of the worldwide desalination
[4]
capacity .Particle separation in the first two processes essentially involves
the use of a sieving mechanism (membrane) that allows particles smaller than
its pores to pass through but retains the larger ones. In the RO process, the
membrane allows only the solvent, termed the permeate, to filter through,
and retains the solute. NF occupies an intermediate position, allowing the
passage of both ions and other entities of a suitable size. MF, UF and NF
processes are commonly utilized to remove suspended material. However, NF
may also be used to remove certain large-sized ions from the solution. Only
RO, which is based on an entirely different concept, altogether, allows direct
and effective desalination. Table (1-5) gives a summary of characterization of
membrane separation processes. This table provides some information on the
principal characteristics of membrane systems.

The difference between these processes is that Nanofiltration membranes

have lower rejection rates for monovalent ions than RO membranes. RO
membranes generally have a 99.5% rejection rate for NaCl and a 99.99%
rejection rate for CaCl2. A Nanofiltration membrane might have a 75-percent
rejection rate for NaCl and 99.5% for CaC12 and other divalent salts [11].

Table (1-2) A summary characterization of membrane separation processes

Pore size or
maximum Operating
Separation process Substances removed
molecular weight pressure (kPa)
range (Å)
Microfiltration 0.1 to 10 microns 140 to 5,000 Bacteria, viruses, larger
colloidal particles,
precipitates and
coagulates
Ultrafiltration 10 to 1,000 Å 200 to 1,000 High molecular weight
1,000 to 500,000 proteins, large organic
daltons molecules and pyrogens
Nanofiltration 2 to 70 Å 180 to 550 to 1,400 Large divalent and some
10,000 daltons monovalent ions,
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 colourants and odorants
Reverse osmosis 1 to 70 Å 1,400 to 7,000 All of the above in
addition to monovalent
ions

As illustrated in Table (1-5), Reverse osmosis is one of four major cross-flow membrane separation
process used in the treatment of salt water. The other three are: - Micro filtration (MF), Ultra
filtration (UF) and Electro dialysis / Electro dialysis (ED/EDR).

Osmosis is a natural process. Fig. (7) depicts the Reverse Osmosis phenomena pure water
flows from a dilute saline solution, through a membrane, into a more concentrated solution.
The concentrated solution then becomes diluted with this flow of pure water. Fig. (7a)
illustrates osmotic flow. Pure water, separated from a salt solution by a semi-permeable
membrane, passes through the membrane. The membrane retards the flow of dissolved
solids (salts). The water flow across the membrane continues until the pressure created by
the osmotic head equals the osmotic pressure of the salt solution. This is called osmotic
equilibrium and is illustrated in Fig. (7b). By applying external pressure greater than the
osmotic pressure to the salt solution, the water flow across the membrane can be reversed
as shown in Fig. (7c). The permeate and its salinity is affected by feed pressure, intake,
concentration and temperature, as well as conversion, product pressure and time will
influence the capacity of a membrane (permeator), as in the following equation.

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 Fig. (1.7) Principles of reverse osmosis

Qw = Kw .A. TCF.FF. (∆P - ∆π) (1)

Where: Qw = Flow rate of water through the membrane.

Kw = Membrane permeability coefficient for water.

TCF =Temperature correction factor

FF =Fouling factor

∆P = Hydraulic pressure differential across membrane.

∆π = Osmotic pressure differential across membrane.

A = Membrane surface area.

Fig. (8) exhibits the spiral wound membrane cartage configurations. As shown in the figure,
a group of membranes separated by feed flow cross spacers, are wounded around a
perforated tube (like the sweet roll). A spiral wound membrane normally consists of several
spiral membrane cartridges (1-8, typically 6) connected together and placed in a cylindrical
pressure vessel as shown in Fig. (9). The feed water flows longitudinally from one cartage

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ends under a pressure towards the other cartage end, at which leaving as a brine,
meanwhile the permeate flows the perforated tube.

Fig. (1.8) Spiral wound membrane cartage schematic drawing.

The membrane envelope and spacer sheet are rolled up into a cylindrical bundle. From the
end of the bundle the spiral configuration of the cartridge can be seen. For most desalting
and treatment applications, cartridges are normally 2,4 or 8 inches diameter and about 12
to 40 inches long. A spiral wound membrane normally consists of several spiral membrane
cartridges (1-8, typically 6) connected together and placed in a cylindrical pressure vessel as
shown in Fig. (9).

Fig. (1.9) Spiral wound pressure vessel cross-section.

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A set of pressure vessels are attached to a skidded frame together with the high pressure
pump, media and micron filters, pre and post chemical treatment system, and measuring
and control systems as shown in Fig. (10).

Fig. (1.10) Simplified RO flow diagram.

It is clear from equation (1) that this process is directly depends on the applied pressure and
feed temperature, which they are, the keys of coupling processes.

1.4 Electrodialysis and Electrodialyses Reversal Processes, ED & EDR:

ED & EDR are of the two common membrane processes in desalination, which represent
about 5% of the worldwide desalination capacity [8]. ED is based on selective movement of
ions in solutions. ED uses a direct electric current to transfer ions through a membrane that
possesses fixed ionic groups chemically bound to the membrane structure. ED is primarily
used in desalting brackish waters. Electric energy is consumed in proportion to the quantity
of salts to be removed. Economics usually limit its application to feed waters of less than
10,000 mg/l TDS. However, for certain applications, ED’s special characteristics may
promote the technology over RO. The electrodialysis reversal process is based on the same
principles of electrochemistry as ED. The fundamental difference in operation is the periodic
automated reversal of polarity and cell function. This change is typically done three to four
times per hour to reverse the flow of ions across the membrane. This action improves the
tolerance of the technology to operations treating scaling-prone or turbid feed waters. EDR
has largely replaced the ED in the U.S. and in some other overseas markets. Figure (11)
illustrates the basics of the electrodialysis process.

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In EDR, the polarity of the electrodes is switched periodically. The concentrate stream is
then converted to the feed stream and the feed stream becomes the concentrate stream.
Reversing the flow increases the life of the electrodes and helps to clean the membranes.
When the membranes are operated in the same direction all the time, precipitant can build
up on the concentrate sides. Switching these compartments to demineralization
compartments help dissolve the scale builds up [6].

For 800 ppm to 2,000 ppm waters, the combination of capital (equipment, installation and
building required) along with long term O&M can favor EDR. This is especially true on
applications requiring higher water recovery. EDR systems operate with up to a 60% TDS
reduction per stage, depending on the specific constituents for water. [7].

Unfortunately, these processes are intensive energy consuming processes. Therefore,

coupling large desalination systems with the nuclear power plants can give a solution to
cope electricity and water demands.

Figure (1.11) Schematic diagram of the electrodialysis process.

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