Process simulation and analysis of high‐pressure reverse osmosis (HPRO) in the treatment and utilization of desalination brine (saline wastewater)

Abstract

Reverse osmosis (RO) is nowadays considered to be the most dominant desalination technology. Nonetheless, due to osmotic pressure constraints, conventional RO cannot desalinate brine effluents (>70 g/L of total dissolved solids [TDS]). Thus, high-pressure RO (HPRO), that is, RO operating at a pressure of more than 82 bar, has recently attracted the interest of the water and wastewater industry. To this aim, a process simulation for the HPRO process was implemented and several sensitivity analyses were conducted for the first time. The results showed that by increasing the recovery rate by 0.05, energy consumption decreased by 3.5%. An increase in the feed brine temperature from 5 C to 30 C increases the permeate flow rate (up to 0.929 m 3 /h), the permeate

Desalination effects on macroalgae (part b): Transplantation experiments at brine-impacted sites with Dictyota spp. from the Pacific Ocean and Mediterranean Sea

“…The available technological options often used for desalination include multi-effect distillation, multi-stage flash distillation and seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) (Panagopoulos, 2022a;Panagopoulos, 2022b;Panagopoulos and Giannika, 2022a). However, SWRO plants are the preferred desalination method due to its relative low cost, energetic efficiency and reduced environmental impacts (Fernańdez-Torquemada and Sańchez-Lizaso, 2007;Elsaid et al, 2020).…”

“…In addition, depending on the seawater source, brine discharges may contain low proportion of chemicals residues used throughout the process, such as coagulants, biocides and anti-scalants (e.g. Hoepner and Lattemann, 2003;Belkin et al, 2017;Panagopoulos, 2022a;Panagopoulos, 2022c;Panagopoulos and Giannika, 2022b). However, the impact magnitude has been mostly observed to be related to the volume, flow and dilution rate of the brine-receptive seawater body, together the osmotic sensitivity of the organism inhabiting the ecosystem (Loya-Fernańdez et al, 2012;Del Pilar Ruso et al, 2015;Missimer and Maliva, 2018).…”

Enhancing mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate gel beads by graphene oxide for the aerobic sludge immobilization in wastewater treatment

“…Wastewater discharge (e.g., industrial wastewater or brine) can degrade water quality, preventing it from being used directly for potable water (via desalination) and industrial applications. Therefore, wastewater treatment is crucial to protect the environment and water recovery and reuse [1][2][3]. Biological treatment is one of the most popular and effective in conventional wastewater treatment systems.…”

Performance of Hypersaline Brine Desalination Using Spiral Wound Membrane: A Parametric Study

“…Nevertheless, several studies have reported that this problem could be solved by using high-strength adhesives for gluing the membrane sheets together [ 21 , 23 ] and/or additional sealing techniques of membrane sheets [ 24 , 25 ] to improve module durability. Not only that, the development of high-strength materials and/or more robust module designs would also help to overcome the pressure limit of the conventional SWM module in the future, owing to the extensive progress in current membrane research [ 4 , 12 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Based on this, it is believed that the use of the SWM module with a higher pressure for hypersaline brine desalination may be a reality in the years to come.…”