Reverse osmosis economics

Concentration of Seawater by ED. In terms of membrane area, concentration of seawater is the second largest use. Warm seawater is concentrated by ED to 18 to 20% dissolved soHds using membranes with monovalent-ion-selective skins. The EDR process is not used. The osmotic pressure difference between about 19% NaCl solution and partially depleted seawater is about 20,000 kPa (200 atm) at 25°C, which is well beyond the range of reverse osmosis. Salt is produced from the brine by evaporation and crystallisa tion at seven plants in Japan and one each in South Korea, Taiwan, and Kuwait. A second plant is soon to be built in South Korea. None of the plants are justified on economic grounds compared to imported solar or mined salt. 

The technology that competes with ion exchange in wastewater application is reverse osmosis (RO), therefor it is appropriate to make some comparisons. Direct cost comparisons are not straightforward, and requires comparison of some of the hidden cost parameters. Since there appear to be few detailed comparisons in the open literature, there exists the general impression that RO is more economical than ion exchange. Whereas this may be true in a number of applications, as a general rule this is not the case. 

Asymmetric membranes have a tight, low-permeability, retentive zone that performs the desired separation and a more open, high-permeability zone that provides mechanical strength to the overall membrane. This structure is particularly critical to the economic viability of reverse-osmosis membranes. Asymmetric membranes operated in TFF mode must have the tight side facing the feed channel so that particles are retained on its surface and can be acted upon by the tangential flow. Asymmetric membranes operated in NFF mode can... 

It was recognized by both. the Florida and UCLA groups that economic utilization of reverse osmosis depended on obtaining a great increase in flux(and water oermeation constant) without serious loss in electrolyte rejection properties. It was also recognized that one path to increased flux lay in decreased membrane thickness. 

The comparison between the two major seawater desalting alternatives, reverse osmosis and distillation, is more complex then ever. The location, system size, time of implementation and economic parameters, especially the price of conventional energy and also the possibility of use of non-conventional energy in the future, such as solar or geothermal energy sources, may greatly affect the final decision. 

The successful development of asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes by Loeb and Sourirajan in the early sixties, at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been primarily responsible for the rapid development of Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology for brack sh/sea water desalination. Reverse Osmosis approaches a reversible process when the pressure barely exceeds the osmotic pressure and hence the energy costs are quite low. Theenergy requirement to purify one litre of water by RO is only O.OO3 KW as against 0,7 KV required just to supply the vaporisation energy to change the phase of one litre of water from liquid to vapour by evaporation. Thus RO has an inherent capability to convert brackish water to potable water at economic cost and thus contribute effectively to the health and prosperity of all humanity. 

The economics of Reverse Osmosis Process will be highly favourable provided the desalination industry is taken up in a big way bringing down the capital investment. Water management and distribution particularly the water supply in the rural areas must be given top priority and should be under the direct control of central and federal government agencies and in this endeavour reverse osmosis has a potential... 

For removing low levels of priority metal pollutants from wastewater, using ferric chloride has been shown to be an effective and economical method [41]. The ferric salt forms iron oxyhydroxide, an amorphous precipitate in the wastewater. Pollutants are adsorbed onto and trapped within this precipitate, which is then settled out, leaving a clear effluent. The equipment is identical to that for metal hydroxide precipitation. Trace elements such as arsenic, selenium, chromium, cadmium, and lead can be removed by this method at varying pH values. Alternative methods of metals removal include ion exchange, oxidation or reduction, reverse osmosis, and activated carbon. 

Reverse osmosis is now extensively used to reduce salt concentrations in brackish waters and to treat industrial waste water, for example, from pulp mills. Reverse osmosis has also proved economical (the cost can be as low as about 1 per 1000 liters) for large-scale desalination of seawater, a proposition of major interest in the Middle East, where almost all potable water is now obtained by various means from seawater or from brackish wells. Thus, at Ras Abu Janjur, Bahrain, a reverse osmosis plant converts brackish feedwater containing 19,000 ppm dissolved solids to potable water with 260 ppm dissolved solids at a rate of over 55,000 m3 per day, with an electricity consumption of 4.8 kilowatt hours per cubic meter of product. On a 1000-fold smaller scale, the resort community on Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, obtains most of its fresh water from seawater (36,000 ppm dissolved salts) directly by reverse osmosis, at a cost of about 10 per 1000 liters. 

As we have discussed already, the property of membrane semipermeability applies to all sorts of systems. Likewise, reverse osmosis may be applied to a wide variety of systems. An application that has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years is the production of potable water from saline water. Since no phase transitions are involved as, for example, in distillation, the method offers some prospect of economic feasibility in coastal regions. 

The cost for companies in terms of cash, possibly scarce water resources, ever tightening discharge limitations and perpetual liability for landfilled waste, requires that firms seek other solutions. The ideal solution is to develop economic point of use recycling and reuse systems. A technology that offers the potential for on-site recovery of a broad range of electronics and metal finishing applications is Advanced Reverse Osmosis (ARO). 

The greatest use of membranes is for reverse osmosis desalination of seawater and purification of brackish waters. Spiral wound and hollow fiber equipment primarily are applied to this service. Table 19.6 has some operating data, but the literature is very extensive and reference should be made there for details of performance and economics. 

By this process of reverse osmosis salts can be removed at very high values of osmotic pressure by exposing the solution to a thin vapor gap supported by capillarity. The process needs for its economical operation a gel which will remain permeable, while supporting the high air gap pressure. 

The use of sidestream sand filters or self-cleaning filters may be advantageous in reducing the level of suspended solids to help maintain clean waterside surfaces. If the size of the cooling system and the extent of the problem justifies it, blending with better quality water supplies or treatment of part of the makeup water volume by reverse osmosis (RO) may prove economically viable. 

Most gas separation processes require that the selective membrane layer be extremely thin to achieve economical fluxes. Typical membrane thicknesses are less than 0.5 xm and often less than 0.1 xm. Early gas separation membranes [22] were adapted from the cellulose acetate membranes produced for reverse osmosis by the Loeb-Sourirajan phase separation process. These membranes are produced by precipitation in water the water must be removed before the membranes can be used to separate gases. However, the capillary forces generated as the liquid evaporates cause collapse of the finely microporous substrate of the cellulose acetate membrane, destroying its usefulness. This problem has been overcome by a solvent exchange process in which the water is first exchanged for an alcohol, then for hexane. The surface tension forces generated as liquid hexane is evaporated are much reduced, and a dry membrane is produced. Membranes produced by this method have been widely used by Grace (now GMS, a division of Kvaemer) and Separex (now a division of UOP) to separate carbon dioxide from methane in natural gas. 

Although the integration of RO with other pressure-driven membrane processes has led to significant improvements in membrane-based desalination process economics, another fundamental problem is the environmental aspects of brine discharge from reverse-osmosis desalination plants. 

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