Reverse osmosis desalination technology must be improved due to water scarcity in many parts of the world in order to supply people with safe drinking water. In order to generate the requisite quantity of clean, drinkable water while avoiding system damage, it is crucial that the system conditions are monitored and kept at the proper set points when running a reverse osmosis desalination process. In addition, with energy rising prices, it is also desirable to discover operational strategies to lower the energy consumption of reverse osmosis desalination operations when feed water variability is present. The technique for desalinating water using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is already well-established and advanced. Although it can account for up to 45% of the entire cost of permeate production, energy use makes up a significant amount of the total cost of water desalination. The high-pressure demand in RO operation (up to roughly 1000 psi for saltwater and in the range of 100–600 psi for brackish water desalting) has a substantial impact on the energy cost per volume of generated permeate (i.e., the specific energy consumption or SEC).
How to reduce Energy Consumption of An Industrial RO System?
The following methods can be used for reducing SEC in RO processes:
- Using a membrane made of a highly permeable material: Essentially, a membrane’s high permeability allows water to move through the membrane with ease, saving energy on the feed pump.
- Making use of an energy recovery device (ERD): The ERD will pressurize the feed by using the high-pressure brine to run through a rotary turbine that operates an auxiliary pump, lowering the load on the primary pump.
- Using intermediate chemical demineralization (ICD) at high recoveries: The ICD phase eliminates precursors of mineral scale from a primary RO concentrate stream and permits a further recovery of water in the secondary RO.
- Using renewable energy sources to reduce the cost of meeting the demand for power, and
- Using mathematical models to optimize RO operating conditions.
Many industrial examples show that the development and application of such methods have resulted in a reduction in the energy consumption of RO desalination. The model-based analysis is crucial for lowering SEC in RO procedures. The SEC has been demonstrated to be greatly decreased when the RO is operated close to the thermodynamic limit (where the applied pressure is just a little bit higher than the concentrate osmotic pressure). It is also conceivable to incorporate capital cost, feed input and pre-treatment, cleaning and maintenance cost, and other costs into the optimization framework using streamlined or first-principles-based models.
Conclusion
In order for RO desalination to be economically viable, energy consumption and recovery are crucial. In large-scale RO applications, ERDs save the product and SEC costs, whereas water recovery methods work well in smaller applications. By using low-energy, highly permeable membranes, feed pressure needs, and energy requirements are reduced. Above all, the permeate water may be reused and recycled for a variety of purposes to save energy throughout the RO process. Moreover, due to reductions in footprint, construction expenses, and the number of connections and pipes, the installation of wide-diameter RO modules for large-scale applications may save installation costs by up to 27%.
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