Evaluating the efficiency of different microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes used as pretreatment for Red Sea water reverse osmosis desalination

Al-Mashharawi, Samir; Ghaffour, Noreddine; Al-Ghamdi, Mohanned A.; Amy, Gary L.

doi:10.1080/19443994.2012.699449

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…A recent study showed stable operation of a SWRO plant free of chemicals without causing any scaling [25]. In addition, the use of low pressure membranes in SWRO pretreatment can reduce or avoid the use of coagulation agents [20].…”

Section: Membrane Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: Current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability

2013

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Desalination capacity has rapidly increased in the last decade because of the increase in water demand and a significant reduction in desalination cost as a result of significant technological advances, especially in the reverse osmosis process. The cost of desalinated seawater has fallen below US$0.50/m 3 for a large scale seawater reverse osmosis plant at a specific location and conditions while in other locations the cost is 50% higher (US$1.00/m 3 ) for a similar facility. In addition to capital and operating costs, other parameters such as local incentives or subsidies may also contribute to the large difference in desalted water cost between regions and facilities. Plant suppliers and consultants have their own cost calculation methodologies, but they are confidential and provide water costs with different accuracies.The few existing costing methodologies and software packages such as WTCost© and DEEP provide an estimated cost with different accuracies and their applications are limited to specific conditions. Most of the available cost estimation tools are of the black box type, which provide few details concerning the parameters and methodologies applied for local conditions. Many desalination plants built recently have greater desalinated water delivery costs caused by special circumstances, such as plant remediation or upgrades, local variation in energy costs, and site-specific issues in raw materials costs (e.g., tariffs and transportation). Therefore, the availability of a more transparent and unique methodology for estimating the cost will help in selecting an appropriate desalination technology suitable for specific locations with 2 consideration of all the parameters influencing the cost. A techno-economic evaluation and review of the costing aspects and the main parameters influencing the total water cost produced by different desalination technologies are herein presented in detail. Some recent developments, such as the increase of unit capacity, improvements in process design and materials, and the use of hybrid systems have contributed to cost reduction as well as reduction in energy consumption. The development of new and emerging low-energy desalination technologies, such as adsorption desalination, will have an impact on cost variation estimation in the future.

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Section: Membrane Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the new plants are using lesser amounts of chemicals, which is more environmentally friendly and results in a great reduction in consumable costs [20].…”

Section: Membrane Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: Current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability

2013

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“…This rate quadrupled when fed with the high food to microorganism ratio (0.50 g/g d −1 ) permeate when compared to those in the low ratio (0.17 g/g d −1 ) permeate [16]. Apart from the MBR system, coagulation coupled with MF and UF membranes can be used as pretreatment for seawater RO desalination [22]. This can significantly reduce fouling of the RO membranes where soluble polysaccharides and TEP are major factors of the RO fouling.…”

Section: Biofouling Potentialmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Thus for RO membrane systems, feed waters with high biological activity require extensive pretreatment to lower the potential of biofouling development inside the RO membrane module [11]. Microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) alone, commonly used as pretreatment to RO membranes [22][23][24], cannot eliminate supply biodegradable substances dissolved in the fed seawater and subsequent membrane biofouling. Thus, the removal of biodegradable organics as well as microbial inactivation at the same time would be effective to control the biofouling [25].…”

Section: Desalination and Water Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm formation on RO membranes: the impact of seawater pretreatment

Ben‐Dov

Ben-David

Messalem

et al. 2016

Desalination and Water Treatment

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Membrane biofouling is an acute problem that interferes with filtration and pressure-driven desalination processes. In this study, ultrafiltration (UF) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) system were examined for their potential use in the removal of organic matter from seawater as pretreatment for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. The study showed that MBR treatment equipped with UF decreases total organic carbon, polysaccharides, and biofouling potential of RO membrane in comparison to feed seawater after UF treatment alone. Bacteria in the feed water and in the MBR system were characterized. The most abundant heterotrophic bacteria nourished from organic substances present in the MBR system belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria classes increased from~40% in seawater tõ 60% in the MBR. These results indicate that pretreatment using a seawater MBR system can improve RO feed water quality and reduce the biofouling potential of RO membranes.

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“…Traditional pretreatment techniques such as dual media filtration (DMF) as well as microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) are more commonly used for the pretreatment of seawater . Overall, the pretreated seawater using MF and/or UF has much higher quality than the conventional DMF .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface modification of anti‐fouling novel cellulose/graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (NS) microfiltration membranes for seawater desalination applications

Ibrahim

Banat

Yousef

et al. 2020

J of Chemical Tech & Biotech

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BACKGROUND Reverse osmosis (RO) is becoming the predominant technology for the future of desalinated of seawater. Nonetheless, operational challenges such as membrane biofouling in RO desalination plants result in membrane deterioration and high energy costs. In this regard, pre‐treatment technologies, such as microfiltration (MF) membranes, are proven to reduce the impact of membrane biofouling in RO systems. Hence, surface modifications of commercial cellulose MF membranes with graphene oxide nanosheets (GONSs) at different concentrations were carried out in this research study. The new membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy amongst other methods of analysis. A continuous cross‐flow MF system was used to investigate the performance of the new cellulose/GONS membranes with regards to total bacteria count (TBC) removal, water flux, and biofouling resistance. RESULTS TBC removal efficiency of 93.6 ± 2.4% and 27.4 ± 12.5% was achieved using the new cellulose/GONS membranes and control pristine cellulose membranes, respectively. This higher removal efficiency was achieved at a water flux of 334.7 ± 10.4 L/(m2 h). Furthermore, a dramatic 55% increase in the transmembrane pressure (TMP) of the pristine cellulose membrane was observed after 24 h operation compared to only a 6% increase in the newly fabricated cellulose/GONS membranes, reflecting their strong anti‐fouling properties. CONCLUSION Surface modification of MF membranes with anti‐fouling nanomaterials such as GONS has the potential to be implemented in the pretreatment of seawater to improve the RO performance and lower the energy consumption. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

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Evaluating the efficiency of different microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes used as pretreatment for Red Sea water reverse osmosis desalination

Cited by 18 publications

References 23 publications

Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: Current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability

Technical review and evaluation of the economics of water desalination: Current and future challenges for better water supply sustainability

Biofilm formation on RO membranes: the impact of seawater pretreatment

Surface modification of anti‐fouling novel cellulose/graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (NS) microfiltration membranes for seawater desalination applications

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