Desalination converts salty water into drinkable water by removing salt and other solids from seawater or brackish water. Desalination can be defined as any process that removes salts from water. Official pdf, 5 pages world bank documents world bank group. Seawater desalination equipment is not only large equipment, includes desalination for marine.
Desalination uses reverse osmosis technology to remove water molecules from seawater. Membranebased seawater desalination processes have typically applied only ro. Between 1964 and 1967, the agency published the technical report series. Examining the economics of seawater desalination using the. Ro is used for both brackish water and seawater desalination as well as for waste water treatment and water recoveryreuse.
Ultrafiltration technology seawater reverse osmosis swro is a very robust and widely practiced desalination technique. Seawater desalination has become affordable and droughtproof water supply alternative for many urban coastal centers. Seawater desalination is most effective when implemented in water sectors with strong water policies, welldefined water resource availabilities and demand, and strong technical expertise. Israel proves the desalination era is here scientific. Ultrafiltration technology has been generally accepted as a. Seawater desalination an overview sciencedirect topics. Although the desalination process has been around for centuries, desalination plants allowing largescale treatment of water didnt come into being until the 1950s. Seawater desalination technology is to remove the inorganic salt in the sea water, and then remove impurities, bacteria and viruses, human body harmful substances and so on. Energy, technology, and the environment menachem elimelech and william a.
Desalination, removal of dissolved salts from seawater and in some cases from brackish waters of inland seas, highly mineralized groundwaters, and municipal wastewaters. As mentioned earlier, the first countries that used the desalination process on a large scale for drinking water production were in the middle east. Hybrid desalination technology has been created, aiming to explore new cycles of seawater desalination using solar energy. While brackish water sources, especially brackish aquifers, are limited in capacity and rate of recharging, the ocean has two unique and distinctive features as a. Seawater desalination plants began to be developed in the 1950s, and the first industrial desalination. Seawater and brackish water desalination technology has become an important and everincreasing industry, which has contributed to the social, economic, environmental, and human health aspects. The need for practical desalinization technology is rising in the context of global climate change. Reverse osmosis technology has improved considerably in the past two decades, and current desalination plants can desalinate seawater with much less energy than thermal desalination 4, 9. Advances in membrane technology have made desalination of seawater and brackish waters an increasingly viable alternative to produce safe drinkingwater. Membrane desalination technologies such as ro are known for their lower. Since then, ro membrane processes have steadily been improved, and the efficiency has increased to the point that they are now the technology of choice for most seawater desalination. Phillip in recent years, numerous largescale seawater desalination plants have been built in waterstressed countries to augment available water resources, and construction of new desalination plants is. Dec 16, 2014 seawater desalination, in fact, is one of the most expensive sources of fresh water.
Combining the use of nuclear energy with the industrial process of seawater desalination has been considered as far back as in the 1960s. At present, reverse osmosis is the most energyefficient technology for seawater desalination and is the benchmark for comparison for any new desalination. Seawater desalination in israel research office legislative council secretariat fs081415 1. Desalination is recognized as a possible means to augment the water supply using natural resources for meeting the growing demand of water. Seawater desalination offers a promising option for the supply of potable water.
The energy consumption of stateofthe art swro desalination plants is three to four times higher than the theoretical minimum energy of 1. The country is almost entirely comprised of drylands 1, with 60% of its land area covered by the negev desert in the south. Request pdf seawater use and desalination technology desalination processes for treating seawater, brackish water, and wastewater are increasingly used to provide communities with essential. Desalination processes may be used in municipal, industrial, or commercial applications. Costs of seawater reverse osmosis desalination projects. Desalination is an interdisciplinary journal publishing high quality papers on desalination materials, processes and related technologies. The byproduct of the desalination process is brine. The project, developed at uks cranfield university, is the first largescale project of its kind to use concentrating solar power csp technology in seawater desalination. With improvements in technology, desalination processes are becoming costcompetitive with other methods of producing usable water for our growing needs. Desalination technology an overview sciencedirect topics. These advances in technology have resulted in a sharp decline in the total water cost of desalinated water. Jul 29, 2016 the international desalination association claims that 300 million people get water from desalination, and that number is quickly rising. The process sees seawater pumped into a hydrological solar dome made from glass and steel, before it is superheated, evaporated and eventually precipitated as fresh. This technology has the potential to revolutionise water filtration across the world, in particular in countries which cannot afford large scale desalination plants.
Seawater desalination is an energy intensive process. Libertt l 1985 technical and economical trends of seawater desalting in the 90s. Oct 17, 2018 hybrid desalination technology has been created, aiming to explore new cycles of seawater desalination using solar energy. Marine seawater desalination covers a small area, can be used for a long time for. Growth patterns of the commonly used desalination technologies. Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. Water from the ocean is forced through tightlywrapped, semipermeable membranes under very high pressure.
Hongfei zheng, in solar energy desalination technology, 2017. New headway in desalination technology sciencedaily. It is interesting to note that one of the first seawater desalination. In recent years, numerous largescale seawater desalination plants have been built in waterstressed countries to augment available water resources, and construction of new desalination plants is expected to increase in the near future. In regards to budget and local demand for freshwater resources, there are several options for desalination plants, water purification approaches, and. Rajindar singh, in membrane technology and engineering for water purification second edition, 2015. Seawater use and desalination technology request pdf. Citescore values are based on citation counts in a given year e. Seawater desalination is a process to separate the salt and water, which can be achieved by the gasliquidsolid phase transformation. Seawater desalination, in fact, is one of the most expensive sources of fresh water.
Solar energy desalination technology explains how to obtain clean water from sea water using solar energy. Accra sea water desalination plant water technology. Pdf seawater desalination has been the cornerstone of the middle easts water supply strategy since the mid1950s, and most of the installed. Comparison of the three major desalination technologies reverse osmosis 3. Using desalination technologies for water treatment. Coastal regions, where the rise of seawater could encroach upon and contaminate groundwater. According to the use of the area and geographical environment, there will be different models of equipment for everyone to use. Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water.
Pdf advances in desalination technology researchgate. The following table includes examples of the reported contracted price for water produced by seawater desalination. Request pdf seawater use and desalination technology desalination processes for treating seawater, brackish water, and wastewater are increasingly used to. The process renders such otherwise unusable waters fit for human consumption, irrigation, industrial applications, and various other purposes. Pdf seawater desalination technology nikolay voutchkov. However, due to lower energy requirements, a desalination process called reverse osmosis ro2 now appears to have a slightly lower cost than distillation for seawater desalination unless a dual purpose electric power desalination plant is being built. Distillation is a wellestablished method of removing salt from water. Because of the heating and cooling involved, it requires about twice the energy of ro desalination. Although nf and ededr are also mature technologies and can be used for. Therefore, seawater desalination provides the logical solution for a sustainable, longterm management of the growing water demand pressures in coastal areas. Pdf seawater desalinationcosts and technology trends.
Kim choon ng, kaust professor of environmental science and engineering from the universitys water desalination and reuse center wdrc, developed a process that hydridised adsorption desalination ad and multieffect. Thermal technologies were the only options available for seawater desalination until reverse osmosis ro membranes were developed in the early 1960s. The project involves the construction of a 60,000m 3 day seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in a 6. Special methods and types used in solar desalination are introduced, providing new thoughts, concepts, and feasible solutions in the desalination field, along with the thermal and economic efficiency relating to current technology. However, due to lower energy requirements, a desalination process called reverse osmosis ro2 now appears to have a slightly lower cost than distillation for seawater desalination unless a dual purpose electric powerdesalination plant is being built.
Seawater, brackish water and fresh water have different levels of salinity, which is often expressed by the total dissolved solids tds concentration. The membranes allow the smaller water molecules to pass through, leaving salt and other impurities to be discharged from the facility. At present, the technology has been refined internationally. Environmental impact of seawater desalination plants. Federal research and adoption issues congressional research service 1 a primer on desalination interest in using desalination technologies to treat seawater, brackish water,1 wastewaters, and contaminated sources has increased globally and in the united states, as costs have fallen and. Desalination welcomes submissions detailing work that is clearly connected to water desalting including applications of desalination to seawater, groundwater and waste waters, such as thermal. Ide, the israeli company that built ashkelon, hadera and. Seawater desalination system 800,000 gpd 3000 cubic meter per day 200 gpd seawater desalination system watermaker our price. Israel proves the desalination era is here scientific american.
Shirazi, cost of water desalination in texas, texas water development board, austin, tx, october 2009, p. The more and more interest is being paid to desalination of seawater and brackish water in order to provide fresh water. For example, desalination has been gaining foothold in the waterscarce who region of the eastern mediterranean, along coastal areas of australia, on the west coast of the usa and in many. Seawater desalination san diego county water authority. Table 1 seawater desalination contracted water cost. The international desalination association claims that 300 million people get water from desalination, and that number is quickly rising. Distillation is perhaps the one water treatment technology that most completely reduces the widest range of drinking water contaminants. Seawater is vaporized and then condensed on a cooler surface. This paper focuses on water desalination processes and projects in greece. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture.
Through many years of experience it has been learned that the key to any successful reverse osmosis ro process is the pretreatment. Climate rehabilitation by rehydrating the landscape using water vapour derived from seawater, our technology creates a humid microclimate that promotes plant growth both inside and outside the greenhouse. Second world congress on desalination and water reuse, bermuda, november 1722. Seawater desalination technology appeared in the very early years of the last century. Pdf desalination technologies for developing countries. Swro5000 seawater reverse osmosis desalination system, 5000 gpd 18,900 lpd our price. Normally, seawater is fed to the desalination plant from about 50 m off the coastline at a depth of approximately 12 m. Sustainable job growth the system can thrive in even the harshest conditions and provides drought protection for local and regional growing industries.
1537 585 70 443 1547 406 418 159 408 759 1201 1214 1233 120 504 1049 1584 1436 925 182 616 499 1202 855 348 1576 909 1161 21 765 709 1122 257 975 1121 1331 95 1480 106 779 827 1186 1268