2012 10 Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings

January 2012
Research & Development Office

2012-10
The Knowledge Stream
Innovation Update
Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings for Seawater and Brackish Water

Equipment and process design improvements reduce RO desalination energy usage and associated costs
Bottom Line What Is the Problem?

The cost and energy needed to The need for additional water supplies continues to grow as population increases,
purify seawater thru reverse droughts occur, climate change effects escalate, and other factors pressure existing water
osmosis can be reduced. supplies. Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology can provide purified water from
seawater and inland brackish waters, but at higher cost and energy use than using non-
Principal Investigator saline sources.
Steve Dundorf, Energy use is the most expensive and environmentally taxing component of desalination
Technical Service Center operations. To reduce both costs and environmental impacts, the energy required for
303-445-2263, desalination operations must be reduced. Isobaric energy recovery devices can reduce
sdundorf@usbr.gov desalination energy use and associated costs.
Isobaric energy recovery devices have been widely used in seawater, but optimizing the
Collaborators latest RO technology lowers energy use and costs. However, the industry and public
Reclamation’s Science and are often unaware of this and may still believe that this is as cost prohibitive for most
Technology Program, Denver applications, as it has been in the past. In brackish water treatment, the use of isobaric
Technical Services Center, energy recovery devices to reduce desalination energy use and associated costs has not
and the ADC. The majority been widely implemented and demonstrated to the industry.
of project funding came from
Solution
the California Department of
Water Resources for seawater To demonstrate how the cost and energy needed to purify seawater thru RO can
testing and the Texas Water be reduced, this Science and Technology Program research project provided a
Development Board for brackish demonstration of the most efficient combination of the latest commercially available
equipment (including a full size eight inch RO membrane, high efficiency pump, and
water testing.
energy recovery devices).
Seawater RO
Seawater RO using an optimized
process creates an optimal cost
point at 6.81 kilowatt hours per
thousand gallons (kW-hr/kgal)
with a 50 percent recovery and
a flux of 9 gallons per square
foot of membrane per day.
Alternatively, an optimal energy Seawater Water Desalination Pilot Components
point of 5.98 kW-hr/kgal and Test Schematic
(1.58 kW-hr/m3) is achieved
with a 42.5 percent recovery.
— continued
Research and Development Office

www.usbr.gov/research
U.S. Department of the Interior
303-445-2125
Bureau of Reclamation Bldg. 56, Rm. 1017, Denver Federal Center,
Denver, Colorado 80225-0007
— continued
Brackish Water RO “Desalination technology

Since brackish water RO treatment requires less energy than treating seawater, net benefits all water
energy usage and cost benefits attained are modest by comparison. Net benefits managers and agencies
are most promising for water with low levels of silica due to scaling of pressure
that need to use saline
exchangers.
water sources to minimize
the risk of water supply
shortages. Seawater
and some brackish water
sources are more reliable
than many freshwater
sources.”
Kevin Price
Brackish Water Desalination Pilot Components and Test Schematic

Where Have We Applied
This Solution?
The innovative flow regime shown above did not produce a significant energy benefit
and an increased recovery was not possible due to silica scaling. Standard process A unique collaboration of
configurations with the pressure exchanger technology showed both an energy benefit leading government agencies,
over other energy recovery devices and a projected positive net decrease in cost of municipalities, RO membrane
water produced. manufacturers, consultants and
others formed the Affordable
Future Development Plans Desalination Collaboration
There are no specific future development plans for this research. Further reduction (ADC) in 2004 with the goal of
in RO energy use will likely come from small incremental improvements driven by reducing seawater desalination
public research funding and competition between equipment manufacturers. The
energy usage and associated
technology is approaching thermodynamic limits that cannot be improved upon.
costs. The ADC developed a
multi-phased effort that built
More information and operated a demonstration
The brackish water project has two main sources for additional information: desalination pilot at the U.S.
• Report: Energy Optimization of Brackish Groundwater Reverse Osmosis Navy’s Seawater Desalination
Desalination from the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB). Test Facility in Pt. Hueneme,
• Conference Proceedings of the American Membrane Technology California. Following the pilot
Association’s 2011 Annual Conference (July 17 – 20, 2011 Miami, Florida). seawater desalination project
success, the ADC reconfigured
The seawater project has two primary sources for additional information: the pilot for brackish RO
• Report: Optimizing Seawater Reverse Osmosis for Affordable Desalination energy recovery and mobilized
from California Department of Water Resources (forthcoming summer 2012). at the Kay Bailey Hutchison
• Conference Proceeding of the International Desalination Association World Desalination Plant in El Paso,
Congress in 2009. Texas.
The contents of this document are for informational purposes only, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of
Reclamation, its partners or the U.S. Government. Any mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute an
endorsement.

2012 10 Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2012 10 Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2012 10 Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

January 2012

Research & Development Ofﬁce

Reverse Osmosis Energy Savings for Seawater and Brackish Water

Bottom Line What Is the Problem?

Research and Development Ofﬁce

Brackish Water RO “Desalination technology

Brackish Water Desalination Pilot Components and Test Schematic

You might also like