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Abstract
Reverse osmosis is the dominant technology in water desalination. However, some critical issues remain open: improvement of water quality, enhancement of the recovery factor, reduction of the unit water cost, minimizing the brine disposal impact. This book aims to solve these problems with an innovative approach based on the integration of different membrane operations in pre-treatment and post-treatment stages.
Membrane-Based Desalination: An Integrated Approach (acronym MEDINA) has been a three year project funded by the European Commission within the 6th Framework Program. The project team has developed a work programme aiming to improve the current design and operation practices of membrane systems used for water desalination, trying to solve or, at least, to decrease the critical issues of sea and brackish water desalination systems. In the book, the main results achieved in the nine Work Packages constituting the project will be described, and dismissed by the leaders of the various WPs.
The following areas are explored in the book: the development of advanced analytical methods for feed water characterization, appropriate fouling indicators and prediction tools, procedures and protocols at full-scale desalination facilities; the identification of optimal seawater pre-treatment strategies by designing advanced hybrid membrane processes (submerged hollow fibre filtration/reaction, adsorption/ion exchange/ozonation) and comparison with conventional methods; the optimisation of RO membrane module configuration, cleaning strategies, reduction of scaling potential by NF; the development of strategies aiming to approach the concept of Zero Liquid Discharge (increasing the water recovery factor up to 95% by using Membrane Distillation - MD; bringing concentrates to solids by Membrane Crystallization or Wind Intensified Enhanced Evaporation) and to reduce the brine disposal environmental impact and cost; increase the sustainability of desalination process by reducing energy consumption (evaluation of MD, demonstration of a new energy recovery device for SWRO installations) and use of renewable energy (wind and solar).
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Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half title page | 2 | ||
| Title page | 4 | ||
| Copyright page | 5 | ||
| Contents | 6 | ||
| Acknowledgement | 12 | ||
| List of contributors | 14 | ||
| Introduction | 18 | ||
| Chapter 1 | 20 | ||
| Water quality assessment tools | 20 | ||
| 1.1 INTRODUCTION | 21 | ||
| 1.2 WATER QUALITY CHARACTERIZATION TOOLS | 22 | ||
| 1.2.1 Liquid chromatography – organic carbon detection | 22 | ||
| 1.2.2 Fluorescence excitation emission matrix | 24 | ||
| 1.2.3 Enumeration, identifi cation and diversity of marine microorganisms including bacteria and phytoplankton | 27 | ||
| 1.3 DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICULATE FOULING INDICES | 31 | ||
| 1.3.1 SDI and MFI | 31 | ||
| 1.3.1.1 Tools and methods | 31 | ||
| 1.3.1.2 Evolution of the fouling indexes during a DMF cycle | 31 | ||
| 1.3.1.3 Comparison granular fi ltration/membrane fi ltration | 32 | ||
| 1.3.1.4 Conclusions | 33 | ||
| 1.3.2 Modifi ed fouling index ultrafi ltration at constant fl ux | 33 | ||
| 1.3.2.1 How to measure the MFI-UF at constant fl ux? | 34 | ||
| 1.3.2.2 Which pore size of membrane to use? | 34 | ||
| 1.3.2.3 Which membrane material to use? | 35 | ||
| 1.3.2.4 At which fl ux should the test be performed? | 35 | ||
| 1.3.2.5 Has salinity an effect in the MFI-UF measurements? | 35 | ||
| 1.3.2.6 Applications | 36 | ||
| 1.3.2.6.1 Raw water comparison | 36 | ||
| 1.3.2.6.2 Plant profi ling | 37 | ||
| 1.3.2.6.3 RO particulate fouling prediction | 37 | ||
| 1.3.3 Crossfl ow sampler modifi ed fouling index ultrafi ltration | 38 | ||
| 1.3.3.1 The rationale of CFS-MFIUF | 38 | ||
| 1.3.3.2 Fundamental study of CFS-MFIUF | 38 | ||
| 1.3.3.3 Effect of CFS and dead-end permeate fl ux ratio | 39 | ||
| 1.3.3.4 Prediction of RO fouling using CFS-MFIUF | 39 | ||
| 1.4 ASSESSMENT OF BIOFOULING POTENTIAL OF SALT AND BRACKISH WATER FOR RO DESALINATION PLANTS – BDOC/LC-OCD | 40 | ||
| 1.4.1 Method | 40 | ||
| 1.4.2 Sampling | 42 | ||
| 1.4.3 Test procedure | 42 | ||
| 1.4.4 Results | 42 | ||
| 1.5 DETERMINATION OF THE CONCENTRATIONS OF AOC AND ATP IN SEAWATER | 43 | ||
| 1.5.1 Introduction | 43 | ||
| 1.5.1.1 Biofouling and substrate utilization by bacteria | 43 | ||
| 1.5.1.2 Microbial growth potential of feed water | 44 | ||
| 1.5.1.3 Microbial biomass | 44 | ||
| 1.5.1.4 Study objectives | 44 | ||
| 1.5.2 Materials and methods | 44 | ||
| 1.5.2.1 Bacterial strains and precultivation | 44 | ||
| 1.5.2.2 ATP analysis | 45 | ||
| 1.5.2.3 Results | 45 | ||
| 1.5.2.3.1 Selection of test strains | 45 | ||
| 1.5.2.3.2 Nutritional versatility of strain HC and its growth yield for acetate | 46 | ||
| 1.5.2.3.3 AOC in North Sea water and feed water | 46 | ||
| 1.5.2.3.4 Determination of the ATP concentration of seawater | 47 | ||
| 1.5.2.4 Discussion and conclusions | 47 | ||
| 1.5.2.4.1 AOC | 47 | ||
| 1.5.2.4.2 ATP | 48 | ||
| REFERENCES | 48 | ||
| Chapter 2 | 50 | ||
| Evaluation and comparison of seawater and brackish water pre-treatment | 50 | ||
| 2.1 REMOVAL OF ORGANIC MATTER AND MICROBIAL CHARACTERIZATION IN PRETREATMENT MBR SYSTEM FOR RO SEAWATER DESALINATION | 51 | ||
| 2.1.1 Introduction | 51 | ||
| 2.1.2 Results | 52 | ||
| 2.2 SUBMERGED ULTRAFILTRATION FOR REDUCING NOM IN SWRO DESALINATION | 56 | ||
| 2.2.1 Introduction | 56 | ||
| 2.2.2 Experimental activity | 56 | ||
| 2.2.3 Results and discussions | 59 | ||
| 2.2.4 Conclusions | 61 | ||
| 2.3 COMPARISON OF GRANULAR MEDIA FILTRATION AND LOW-PRESSURE MEMBRANE FILTRATION FOR SEAWATER PRETREATMENT | 61 | ||
| 2.3.1 Introduction | 61 | ||
| 2.3.2 Pilot-scale experimental set up | 61 | ||
| 2.3.2.1 Granular media fi ltration with pre-coagulation/fl occulation | 61 | ||
| 2.3.2.2 Membrane pretreatment process | 62 | ||
| 2.3.2.3 Reverse osmosis pilot units | 63 | ||
| 2.3.3 Water quality parameters and fouling indices | 63 | ||
| 2.3.4 Results and interpretation | 63 | ||
| 2.3.4.1 Raw seawater quality | 63 | ||
| 2.3.4.2 Seawater quality at the outlet of each pretreatment | 64 | ||
| 2.3.4.2.1 Conventional analytical parameters (turbidity, particle counts, and SDI) | 64 | ||
| 2.3.4.2.2 MFI measurements | 64 | ||
| 2.3.4.2.3 Advanced analytical parameters – organic and bacteria content | 65 | ||
| 2.3.4.2.4 Impact of granular media fi ltration and MF/UF pretreatment on the RO process | 65 | ||
| 2.3.5 CONCLUSIONS | 67 | ||
| 2.4 COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT PRETREATMENT METHODS FOR RO DESALINATION | 68 | ||
| 2.4.1 Biofi lter as pretreatment to membrane based desalination: evaluation in terms of fouling index | 68 | ||
| 2.4.1.1 Objectives | 68 | ||
| 2.4.1.2 Experimental setup | 68 | ||
| 2.4.1.3 Variation of seawater characteristics during experiments | 68 | ||
| 2.4.1.4 Effect of fi ltration velocity to turbidity removal | 69 | ||
| 2.4.1.5 SDI10 and MFI | 69 | ||
| 2.4.1.6 Head build up | 69 | ||
| 2.4.1.7 Summary | 70 | ||
| 2.4.2 Fibre media fi ltration as a pretretment for seawater | 70 | ||
| 2.4.2.1 Objectives | 70 | ||
| 2.4.2.2 Materials and methods | 70 | ||
| 2.4.2.2.1 Seawater | 70 | ||
| 2.4.2.2.2 Coagulation | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.2.3 Fibre fi lter | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.3 Operational conditions | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.4 Results and discussion | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.4.1 Effect of in-line coagulation | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.4.2 Effect of different packing densities and fi ltration velocities | 71 | ||
| 2.4.2.5 Pressure drop and turbidity | 72 | ||
| 2.4.2.5.1 Effect of in-line coagulation | 72 | ||
| 2.4.2.5.2 Effect of different packing densities and fi ltration velocities | 72 | ||
| 2.4.2.6 Summary | 73 | ||
| 2.4.3 Submerged microfi ltration coupled with physico-chemical processes as pre-treatment to sea water desalination | 73 | ||
| 2.4.3.1 Background | 73 | ||
| 2.4.3.1.1 Critical fl ux experiments with seawater | 73 | ||
| 2.4.3.1.2 Effect of pre-treatment on fouling reduction | 74 | ||
| 2.4.3.2 Summary | 75 | ||
| 2.5 SUBMERGED HOLLOW FIBER SYSTEM AS PRE-TREATMENT FOR THE SEA WATER REVERSE OSMOSIS: EFFECT OF THE OPERATION CONDITIONS AND THE CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE PERMEATE QUALITY | 75 | ||
| 2.5.1 Introduction | 75 | ||
| 2.5.2 Method and materials | 75 | ||
| 2.5.3 Data analysis | 76 | ||
| 2.5.4 Results and discussions | 76 | ||
| 2.5.5 Conclusions | 80 | ||
| 2.6 ULTRAFILTRATION-BASED HYBRID PROCESSES FOR PRE-TREATMENT TO SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS DESALINATION 2.6.1 Introduction | 80 | ||
| 2.6.1 Introduction | 80 | ||
| 2.6.1.4 Conclusions | 86 | ||
| 2.6.1.3 Results and discussion | 83 | ||
| 2.6.1.2.1 Materials and methods | 82 | ||
| 2.6.1.2 Experiments with real seawater | 82 | ||
| 2.6.1.1 Preliminary tests with synthetic solutions | 81 | ||
| REFERENCES | 86 | ||
| Chapter 3 | 88 | ||
| Development of tools for RO fouling characterization and understanding | 88 | ||
| 3.1. MEMBRANE AUTOPSIES | 88 | ||
| 3.1.1 Introduction | 88 | ||
| 3.1.2 Presentation of studied sites | 89 | ||
| 3.1.3 Membrane sampling protocol and analytical tools | 89 | ||
| 3.1.4 Results | 90 | ||
| 3.2 SPECIFIC ORGANIC COMPOUNDS ANALYSES | 95 | ||
| 3.2.1 13C-NMR | 95 | ||
| 3.2.2 Flash pyrolysis – GC/MS analysis | 96 | ||
| 3.2.3 Thermochemolysis TMAH analysis: fatty acids analysis | 98 | ||
| 3.3 QUANTITATIVE BIOMASS PARAMETERS | 99 | ||
| 3.4 MOLECULAR ANALYSIS | 101 | ||
| 3.4.1 Adaptation of molecular tools to analyze microbial community structure: homogeneity and reproducibility | 101 | ||
| 3.4.2 Bacterial diversity at different desalination plants | 102 | ||
| 3.4.3 Evolution of bacterial communities in SWRO membranes from one full-scale desalination plant (Site D) according to module u | 102 | ||
| 3.4.4 Conclusions | 103 | ||
| 3.5 GENERAL CONCLUSION ON AUTOPSY TOOLS RELEVANCY | 104 | ||
| 3.5.1 Tools for microscopic observation | 104 | ||
| 3.5.2 Inorganic matter characterization | 105 | ||
| 3.5.3 Organic matter characterization | 105 | ||
| 3.5.4 Microbial characterization | 106 | ||
| REFERENCES | 107 | ||
| Chapter 4 | 110 | ||
| Development of cleaning strategies for RO membranes | 110 | ||
| 4.1 CLEANING OF SPIRAL-WOUND MEMBRANES | 110 | ||
| 4.1.1 Introduction | 110 | ||
| 4.1.1.1 Principles of biofouling processes and cleaning | 110 | ||
| 4.1.2 Study objectives | 111 | ||
| 4.1.3 Summary of results | 111 | ||
| 4.1.3.1 Evaluation of practical experiences | 111 | ||
| 4.1.3.2 Laboratory test for determining biomass removal effi cacy | 112 | ||
| 4.1.3.3 Effects of chemicals on restoring membrane performance in laboratory tests\nand in a pilot plant | 112 | ||
| 4.1.4 General discussion | 113 | ||
| 4.1.4.1 Membrane-cleaning paradox | 113 | ||
| 4.1.4.2 Limited removal of attached biomass | 113 | ||
| 4.1.4.3 Tools and tests | 113 | ||
| 4.1.4.4 Restrictions in the use of chemicals | 114 | ||
| 4.1.5 Conclusions and recommendations | 114 | ||
| 4.2 DEVELOPMENT OF A LABORATORY METHOD FOR TESTING MEMBRANE CLEANING PROCEDURES | 114 | ||
| 4.2.1 Introduction | 114 | ||
| 4.2.2 Principle of the test | 115 | ||
| 4.2.3 Production of biofi lm samples | 115 | ||
| 4.2.4 Biofi lm samples and biomass concentrations | 115 | ||
| 4.2.5 Cleaning test procedures | 116 | ||
| 4.2.6 Cleaning effi ciency for biofi lms on polymer tubing | 116 | ||
| 4.2.7 Validation tests | 118 | ||
| 4.2.8 Discussion and conclusions | 119 | ||
| 4.3 EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS ON MEMBRANE PERMEABILITY AND FOULANTS IN LABORATORY TESTS | 119 | ||
| 4.3.1 Introduction | 119 | ||
| 4.3.2 Methods and materials | 120 | ||
| 4.3.3 Analysis of inorganic compounds | 121 | ||
| 4.3.4 Results and discussion | 123 | ||
| 4.3.5 Conclusions | 127 | ||
| 4.4 EFFECTS OF CLEANING ON MEMBRANE PERFORMANCE IN A PILOT PLANT | 128 | ||
| 4.4.1 Introduction | 128 | ||
| 4.4.2 Pilot plant, membranes and test procedures | 128 | ||
| 4.4.2.1 Pilot plant | 128 | ||
| 4.4.2.2 Membrane elements | 128 | ||
| 4.4.2.3 Test protocols | 129 | ||
| 4.4.2.3.1 Hydraulic characterization of modules | 129 | ||
| 4.4.2.3.2 Principle | 129 | ||
| 4.4.2.4 Cleaning procedures | 129 | ||
| 4.4.2.5 Analytical procedures | 130 | ||
| 4.4.3 Results | 130 | ||
| 4.4.3.1 Permeability, pressure drop and salts retention | 130 | ||
| 4.4.3.2 Cleaning solution analysis | 130 | ||
| 4.4.4 Discussion and conclusions | 132 | ||
| 4.4.4.1 Discussion | 132 | ||
| 4.4.4.2 Conclusions | 132 | ||
| REFERENCES | 132 | ||
| Chapter 5 | 134 | ||
| Process strategies for mitigation of impact of concentrates on the environment | 134 | ||
| 5.1 INTRODUCTION | 135 | ||
| 5.2 WT 5.1: REDUCTION OF BRINE VOLUME | 135 | ||
| 5.2.1 BWRO concentrate disposal by deep well injection: design criteria for BWRO plants and fi eld test results | 135 | ||
| 5.2.2 Vacum membrane distillation | 141 | ||
| 5.3 WT 5.2: RECOVERY OF DISSOLVED SALTS AS CRYSTALLINE PRODUCT | 149 | ||
| 5.3.1 Membrane crystallization | 150 | ||
| 5.3.2 Wind-Aided Intensifi ed eVaporation | 157 | ||
| 5.3.2.1 BGU’s task | 157 | ||
| 5.3.2.1.1 Tasks description | 157 | ||
| 5.4 WT 5.3: ECONOMIC EVALUATION | 160 | ||
| 5.4.1 Description and results of the economical evaluation | 160 | ||
| 5.5 CONCLUSIONS | 165 | ||
| REFERENCES | 165 | ||
| Chapter 6 | 168 | ||
| Innovative technologies to reduce energy consumption in seawater desalination facilities | 168 | ||
| 6.1 INTRODUCTION | 168 | ||
| 6.2 PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MEMBRANES | 169 | ||
| 6.3 MEMBRANE DISTILLATION AND SOLAR ENERGY | 173 | ||
| 6.3.1 Development and validation of a meteorogical model | 174 | ||
| 6.3.2 Experiments at lab-scale on confi gurations coupling solar collector and VMD | 175 | ||
| 6.3.3 Design of a semi-industrial pilot plant | 175 | ||
| 6.4 STUDY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOLAR SYSTEMS COUPLED WITH MEMBRANE DISTILLATION | 176 | ||
| REFERENCES | 179 | ||
| Chapter 7 | 180 | ||
| Optimization and modelling of seawater and brackish water reverse osmosis desalination processes | 180 | ||
| 7.1 INTRODUCTION | 180 | ||
| 7.2 OPTIMIZATION OF NF MEMBRANES USED IN THE PRE-TREATMENT OF MEMBRANE BASED DESALINATION | 181 | ||
| 7.2.1 Membrane preparation | 181 | ||
| 7.2.2 Membrane characterization | 181 | ||
| 7.2.3 Development of NF membranes with low fouling properties | 185 | ||
| 7.2.4 Conclusions and outlook | 186 | ||
| 7.3 USE OF MEMBRANE CONTACTORS FOR CONTROLLING THE WATER GAS COMPOSITION | 186 | ||
| 7.3.1 Introduction | 186 | ||
| 7.3.2 Membrane characterization | 187 | ||
| 7.3.3 Results and discussion | 187 | ||
| 7.3.4 Conclusions and outlook | 190 | ||
| 7.4 COMPREHENSIVE MODELLING OF THE RO DESALINATION PROCESS AND OPTIMIZING HYDRAULICS IN SPIRAL WOUND ELEMENTS | 192 | ||
| 7.4.1 Introduction | 192 | ||
| 7.4.2 Materials and methods | 193 | ||
| 7.4.3 CFD modelling | 195 | ||
| 7.4.4 Results and discussion | 196 | ||
| 7.5 SUMMARY | 200 | ||
| REFERENCES | 201 | ||
| Chapter 8 | 204 | ||
| Integrated system confi guration | 204 | ||
| 8.1 INTRODUCTION | 204 | ||
| 8.2 WT 8.1: CRITICAL STATE OF THE ART OF THE DESALINATION TECHNOLOGIES | 205 | ||
| 8.3 WT 8.2 AND WT 8.3: STUDY AND OPTIMIZATION OF DIFFERENT INTEGRATED SYSTEMS | 206 | ||
| 8.3.1 Integrated membrane processes: systems’ design and analysis | 208 | ||
| 8.3.2 Integrated membrane processes: systems’ modelling | 211 | ||
| 8.4 WT 8.4: ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF THE INTEGRATED MEMBRANE SYSTEMS | 212 | ||
| 8.5 WT 8.5: QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS | 214 | ||
| 8.6 CONCLUSIONS | 215 | ||
| REFERENCES | 215 | ||
| Chapter 9 | 218 | ||
| Environmental impact assessment (EIA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) of membrane-based desalination plants | 218 | ||
| 9.1 INTRODUCTION | 218 | ||
| 9.2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS | 219 | ||
| 9.2.1 Concentrate disposal | 219 | ||
| 9.2.2 Pretreatment and cleaning chemicals | 220 | ||
| 9.2.3 Energy use | 221 | ||
| 9.2.4 Other environmental concerns | 221 | ||
| 9.3 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) | 222 | ||
| 9.3.1 EIA process | 222 | ||
| 9.3.2 Environmental monitoring | 223 | ||
| 9.4 BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES (BAT) | 224 | ||
| 9.5 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM | 225 | ||
| 9.5.1 Case study | 225 | ||
| 9.6 ENERGY AND EXERGY ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATED MEMBRANE SYSTEMS | 230 | ||
| 9.6.1 Integrated fl ow-sheets | 230 | ||
| 9.6.2 Results and discussion | 230 | ||
| 9.7 CONCLUSIONS | 232 | ||
| 9.8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 233 | ||
| REFERENCES | 233 | ||
| Conclusions | 234 | ||
| Appendix I | 238 | ||
| Deliverables list of MEDINA project | 238 | ||
| Appendix II | 242 | ||
| List of publications | 242 | ||
| JOURNAL ARTICLES | 242 | ||
| MAGAZINE ARTICLES | 243 | ||
| BOOKS, BOOK CHAPTERS, REPORTS | 243 | ||
| CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS | 243 | ||
| WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING | 245 | ||
| FURTHER PRESENTATIONS | 246 |