High-impact innovations for high-salinity membrane desalination

Abstract

Reducing the cost of high-salinity (>75 g/L total dissolved solids) brine concentration technology would unlock the potential for vast inland water supplies and promote the safe management of concentrated aqueous waste streams. Impactful innovation will target component performance improvements and cost reductions that yield the highest impact on system costs, but the desalination community lacks methods for quantitatively evaluating the value of innovation or the robustness of technology platforms relative to competing technologies. This work proposes a suite of methods built on process-based cost optimization models that explicitly address the complexities of membrane-separation processes, namely that these processes comprise dozens of nonlinearly interacting components and that innovation can occur in more than one component at a time. We begin by demonstrating the merit of performing simple parametric sensitivity analysis on component performance and cost to guide the selection of materials and manufacturing methods that reduce system costs. A more rigorous implementation of this approach relates improvements in component performance to increases in component costs, helping to further discern high-impact innovation trajectories. The most advanced implementation includes a stochastic simulation of the value of innovation that accounts for both the expected impact of a component innovation on reducing system costs and the potential for improvements in other components. Finally, we apply these methods to identify innovations with the highest probability of substantially reducing the levelized cost of water from emerging membrane processes for high-salinity brine treatment.

Modeling Framework for Cost Optimization of Process-Scale Desalination Systems with Mineral Scaling and Precipitation

“…To achieve such high recoveries, we consider HPRO, an emerging desalination technology that is potentially more energy-efficient than traditional evaporation-based technologies. , Conventional seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) modules that operate at around 85 bar and commercial HPRO modules that can handle up to 120 bar are available today, but increasing maximum operating pressures would enable further increases in recovery. There is a considerable body of research focused on developing HPRO, with some recent works demonstrating that new membranes can operate at pressures in excess of 200 bar and suggesting that future advances may enable operation at even higher pressures. ,, Our analysis explores what would be achievable with the HPRO technology at such high pressures (as opposed to only what is achievable today).…”

Quantifying the Value of Technology and Policy Innovation in Water Resource Portfolios

“…We vary Capex ratio between −15% and +15% of the baseline assumption in 5% increments by adjusting Capex and Opex costs to achieve their desired ratio at a constant LCOW. The capex ratio can be controlled through strategic decisions made in the design phase of a water treatment plant, including selecting materials and energy‐efficient components (Dudchenko et al., 2021). For example, choosing high‐quality, durable membrane materials may raise upfront capital costs but reduce operational and maintenance expenses in the long run (Yusuf et al., 2020).…”

Quantifying the Benefits of Membranes with Ultrahigh Vapor Permeability for Membrane Distillation

“…To date, MD membranes with ultrahigh B are exclusively fabricated using advanced materials (e.g., carbon nanomaterials and covalent organic frameworks) and complex fabrication methods, − which might result in high membrane cost and eventually render the MD systems cost prohibitive (a simple economic analysis can be found in the Supporting Information). Thus, in future studies, techno-economic analysis should be coupled in the membrane fabrication processes to justify the economic viability of the membranes …”

“…Thus, in future studies, techno-economic analysis should be coupled in the membrane fabrication processes to justify the economic viability of the membranes. 40 ■ CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO BE ADDRESSED Based on above discussion, the benefits of membranes with ultrahigh vapor permeability are limited. In other words, the membrane vapor permeability of current MD membranes is not a limiting factor to practical MD operations.…”