Seawater reverse osmosis plants construction

Applications RO is primarily used for water purification seawater desalination (35,000 to 50,000 mg/L salt, 5.6 to 10.5 MPa operation), brackish water treatment (5000 to 10,000 mg/L, 1.4 to 4.2 MPa operation), and low-pressure RO (LPRO) (500 mg/L, 0.3 to 1.4 MPa operation). A list of U.S. plants can be found at www2.hawaii.edu, and a 26 Ggal/yr desalination plant is under construction in Ashkelon, Israel. Purified water product is recovered as permeate while the concentrated retentate is discarded as waste. Drinking water specifications of total dissolved solids (TDS) < 500 mg/L are published by the U.S. EPA and of < 1500 mg/L by the WHO [Williams et ak, chap. 24 in Membrane Handbook, Ho and Sirkar (eds.). Van Nostrand, New York, 1992]. Application of RO to drinking water is summarized in Eisenberg and Middlebrooks (Reverse Osmosis Treatment of Drinking Water, Butterworth, Boston, 1986). 

In addition, the seasonal population of McMurdo Station continued to grow which increased the demand for water. For that reason, the US Congress in 1960 authorized the construction of a nuclear-fission reactor in order to provide power for the desalination of seawater. The components arrived on December of 1961 and were installed in a building that was erected at a site on the slope of Observation Hill above the station (Fig. 2.9). This reactor, which was put into operation in March of 1962, provided the power required to operate a desahnation plant that converted seawater into fresh water (Neider 1974). However, in spite of the technological snperiority of this process, water continued to be in short supply and had to be rationed. Matters came to a head when the representatives of the Antarctic Treaty Nations determined that the nuclear reactor violated the Treaty and therefore had to be shut down, dismantled, and all parts of it had to be removed from Antarctica. The Office of Polar Programs (OPP) did what was required and all radioactive waste was shipped to CaUfomia The nuclear installation was replaced by a desahnation plant that is energized by fuel oil. The capacity of the present facility based on reverse osmosis is sufficient to provide an adequate... 

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