Introduction to Desalination

and Membrane technology

Dr. Sergio Salinas
Delft, 2016

Membrane Technologies
Six different membrane technologies are applied for the production of drinking
and industrial water and in water reuse.
These technologies are :
microfiltration
ultrafiltration
nanofiltration
reverse osmosis
electro-dialysis
electro-deionization

(MF)
(UF)
(NF)
(RO)
(ED)
(EDI)

Membrane processes & main applications

MembraneProcess

MainApplication

ReverseOsmosis

Desalination:Seawater
Desalination:BrackishWater

Nanofiltration

Removal:Sulphate,Hardness,NOM
andmicropollutants

Ultra/Microfiltration

Removal: Suspendedand
ColloidalMatter/
Disinfection

Principles of Membrane Operation (AWWARF, 1996)

P (pressure driven)
QRetentate
CRetentate
QFeed
CFeed

QPermeate
CPermeate

Brine or
Concentrate
Product
4

Principles of Membrane Operation cont.

QPermeate
Recovery (R) = -------------(%)
QFeed

Maximize

CFeed - CPermeate
Rejection (r) = ---------------------(%)
CFeed

Maximize

Main applications Micro- and Ultrafiltration

Drinking water production
Removal
- Microbials e.g., Cryptosporidium, bacteria, viruses;
- Suspended and colloidal matter;
- Algae.
Pre-treatment for reverse osmosis and nanofiltration;
Removal
- Suspended and colloidal matter; Reduction SDI/MFI.
Waste water treatment/Water reuse/Membrane Bio Reactors
Removal
- Bacteria;
- Suspended and colloidal matter.

Conventional Water Treatment Processes Replaced by MF/UF

MF/UF w or w/o coagulant

7

Capacity in field of application Source: GWI

UF/MF as pretreatment for seawater RO

Media filtration
Dissolvedairflotation

Desalination Technologies
Group

Type

Distillation
processes

Multistageflashevaporation(MSF) Steamandelectrical

Membrane
processes

Multieffectevaporation(MED)

Steamandelectrical

ReverseOsmosis
Nanofiltration
Electrodialysis

Electrical
Electrical
Electrical
Electrical/chemicals

Electrodeionization
Ion
exchange

FormofEnergy

Cationandanionexchange

Chemicalsfor
regeneration

10

Applications of Desalination Technologies

Source

Technology

Seawater

Distillation
SWReverseOsmosis

Brackish/Fresh

ReverseOsmosis
Electrodialysis

Lowsalinitywater
(polishing)

Ionexchange

Hardwaterand
coloredwater

Nanofiltration

11

Normal operation range of desalting technologies

12

Fujairah -2, United Emirates Source: IDA yearbook 2011-2012

Combined: Power (2,000 MW),
Multi Effect Distillation (460,000 m3/day) and RO (136,000 m3/day)

13

Almost largest Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Plant

(Ashkelon, Israel, 2005). Capacity: 330,000 m3/day

14

Desalination Capacity
Source: Sabine Lattemann

15

Total desalination (seawater, brackish, waste water, and fresh water)

capacity in the world
80

Capacity
(Mm3/day)

70
60

MED
MSF

ED
NF

Total

RO
Total

50

RO

40
30
20

MSF

10
0
1950

MED
ED
NF

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Reverseosmosisisdominationthemarket,becauseinvestmentcostandenergycost
arelowerthanfordistillation(MSFandMED)
Source:DesalData,2015

16

Principles membrane filtration

Membranes consists of thin sheets or capillaries having a thin
wall.
They are usually made of organic polymers.
Very small pores are in these sheets or walls.
The membranes are assembled in membrane elements.

17

Pore size membranes

m
microfiltration

0.02 - 10

ultrafiltration

0.005 - 0.02

nm
20 - 10,000
5-

20

nanofiltration

<0.001

<1

reverse osmosis

<0.001

<1

Pores in reverse osmosis membranes are smaller than in

nanofiltration membranes
The smaller the pores in the membranes, the higher the required
pressure, and consequently higher energy consumption.

18

Rejection
Whether particles can pass a membrane or (partially) not (are partially or fully
rejected (can not pass) depends on:
Firstly
size of the particles;
size of the pores in the membranes;
So, the mechanism of sieving is governing for an important part the process.

19

Rejection
In addition

electrical charge of membrane pores;

nature membrane material;
electrical charge of particles (in particular for ions)
diffusion coefficient particles (ions)
process conditions e.g.,
- temperature;
- salinity;
- filtration rate (flux e.g., L/m2/h).

Play an important role as well.

20

Salinity
Salinity of seawater, brackish water, or fresh water is the result of presence of
cations and anions.
The most important combination of these ions is sodium/chloride.
Sodium ion is written as Na+
Chloride ion is written as Cl
Several other cations and anions are usually present as well e.g.,
Calcium Ca2+, Magnesium Mg2+, Potassium K+, Ammonium NH4+
Sulfate SO42-, Hydrogen carbonate HCO3-, Nitrate NO3-, Fluoride F-

21

Size particles (diameter)

dissolved
colloidal

<0.001m( <1nm)
0.001 1m(1 1000nm)

suspended

>1m ( >1000nm)

Sizeofinorganicions(includingattachedwatermolecules)

H+

0.053nm

H 2O

0.33nm

K+

0.25

Cl

0.24

Na+

0.37

NO3

0.26

Ca2+

0.62

HCO3

0.42

Mg2+

0.70

SO42

0.46
22

Size of microbials

Microbe
Algae

>10

Giardiacysts

5 15

Cryptosporidiumoocysts

3 5

Coliformbacteria

0.1 10

Viruses

0.02 0.03

23

Removal
Removal

RO

NF

UF

MF

ED

+/

.syntheticorganic
compounds

.naturalorganicmatter

+/

Inorganiccompounds
.monovalent:Na+,Cl
. divalent SO4

2,Ca2+

Organiccompounds

Microorganisms
Suspended/
colloidalmatter

24

Micro-,ultra-, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis

25

Spiral Wound Module:

Single Element (left) vs. Bank or Rack (right) (Ionics Corp.)

perforated
permeate tube

elements within
pressure vessels

26

Spiral Wound Element

e.g., 35 m2

27

Hollow Fiber Membrane

Single Fiber (left) vs. Module (right) (Pall Corp.)

ID ~ 0.8 mm

e.g., 40 m2 28

Bank (Rack) of Hollow Fiber Modules

Aquasource UF modules,
125 m2, inside-out,
capacity: 10 m3/h at flux of 80
L/m2h

Small Footprint
Pentair/XFlow Aquaflex
Insideoutside/150m2/
PES/Backwashwithairscour
inside

29

Immersed Membrane
Cassette (left) vs. System (right) (Zenon Environmental)

possible
aeration

30

Tubular Modules

Diameter: Tubular > Hollow Fiber

31

Ceramic Modules
Monolith

Dead End
w/
Periodic Backwash

Ceramic Tubes (Tubular)

similar to hollow fiber (larger diameter)

32

Flat Sheet (Kubota)

Immersed

33

Membrane Materials
Materials:
Polymers:
RO and NF:
e.g., Polyamide (PA), Cellulose Acetate (CA)
UF and MF:
Polysulfone (PS), Polyethersulfone (PES), Polypropylene (PP),
Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF), Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Membranes
Single Layer vs. Support Layer + Thin Film
Ceramics (e.g., Alumina (aluminum oxide))

34

Energy consumption membrane technologies

From the start of all six membrane technologies, energy was a major issue
Electrodialysis makes use of an electrical current.
Energy consumption is proportional with the removal of salt (ions)
Reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and ultra- and microfiltration are
pressure driven membrane techniques.
Water is forced to flow through small pores in RO, NF, UF, and MF
membranes are:
thin sheets
or
tubes, capillaries with a thin wall

35

Energy consumption and pressure

Conventional
Drinkingwater
UF/MF
NF
BrackishRO
BrackishED
ROSeawater
Distillation
Costofenergy

bar

kWh/m3

heat

0.5 2
5 10
10 20

50 90

0.1 0.2
0.1 0.2
0.3 0.5
0.5 1.0
0.5 1.0
3 4

1 4

160MJ/m3

$0.05 0.1/kWh

$5 15/GJ
36

Cost indications

or $ perm3
Seawaterreverseosmosis

0.50 1.00

Brackishwaterreverseosmosis

0.25 0.50

Electrodialysis

0.25 0.50

Nanofiltration

0.15 0.25

Ultra/microfiltration

0.05 0.10

Remark:EnergyisamajorcostcomponentinseawaterRO
37

Cost seawater desalination

38

Electrical power generation

Electrical Power is traditionally generated with:
diesels, using diesel as a energy source
steam / turbines using oil, coal, and gas as an energy source;
natural gas turbines using natural gas.
The result of this approach is the large amounts of carbon dioxide, which is
responsible for Global Warming.
Renewable energy is available from:
hydropower stations. Commonly applied when available.
wind farms. Gradually implemented.
photo voltaic generation. Farms and on small scale.

39

Seawater RO plant Southern Perth;

Energy consumption 3.6 kWh/m3 is supplied by windfarm

40

25 MW will be generated with windmills for

the Perth (Australia) seawater reverse osmosis plant

41

Solar park based on Photo voltaic cells: Gurajat (India)

42

Photo voltaic cells at the roof of a house

Generated
3,700kWhinoneyear.
Thisamount is
equivalenttothe
energyneeded
desalting 1,050m3
seawater.
Yearly consumption of
drinkingwaterfrom the
tapequals75m3.

43

Serious competition for reverse osmosis?

44

Questions
What is a membrane?
Are micro- and ultrafiltration able to reduce salinity?
Explain why or why not.
Which ion is better removed by reverse osmosis: chloride or sulfate?
Explain briefly your answer.
Why is reverse osmosis dominating the desalination market?
Are viruses effectively removed by microfiltration?
Why is electro-dialysis not removing bacteria?

45

Conventional vs. Advanced Water Treatment

Conventional Surface Water Treatment:
Coagulation, Sedimentation, Filtration, Disinfection
Objectives:
Removal of Turbidity, Color, and Microbes;
Some Natural Organic Matter (NOM)
Limitations:
Synthetic Organic Chemicals, SOCs;
Cryptosporidium (without O3 or UV);
Disinfection By-Products (DBPs), from Chemical Disinfectant(s);
Absence of Effective Barriers to New Emerging Contaminants

46

Conventional vs. Advanced Water Treatment - cont.

Advanced Water Treatment:

Granular Activated Carbon, GAC (SOCs, NOM)

Advanced Oxidation Processes, AOPs (SOCs)
UV Irradiation (Cryptosporidium)
Membranes
- SOCs, NOM, Cryptosporidium
- Integration into (Retrofitting of ) Existing Facility
- Alternative to Conventional Technology in New Facility

47

Drinking water production, Clay Lane, UK.

Capacity 160,000 m3/day (under construction in 2002)

48

Calculated cost Seawater RO in Spain

49