TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimization of two-stage seawater reverse osmosis membrane processes with practical design aspects for improving energy efficiency
AU - Kim, Jungbin
AU - Park, Kiho
AU - Hong, Seungkwan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) through Industrial Facilities & Infrastructure Research Program, funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) ( 1485016424 ).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Korea Environment Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) through Industrial Facilities & Infrastructure Research Program, funded by Korea Ministry of Environment (MOE) (1485016424).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - While single-stage is the general configuration for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), the two-stage design can increase the overall recovery of an SWRO system. Due to its high-recovery operation, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of two-stage SWRO is higher than that of single-stage. Thus, the two-stage configuration has not been extensively applied in the current desalination market. In contrast, recent studies have reported that the two-stage design can lower the SEC of SWRO compared to that of single-stage. However, the analyses were biased towards SEC, and the practical design aspects (e.g., permeate quality, water flux, and design ratios) were not systemically considered. Thus, this study examines the applicability of a two-stage SWRO system with a capacity of 100,000 m3/d that employs 1200 pressure vessels (PVs). Two-stage SWRO actually consumed a greater amount of energy than that of single-stage for typical SWRO recovery with the same number of PVs. In contrast, single- and two-stage SWRO produced permeate similar in quality, while the two-stage exhibited superior water-flux distribution along the PVs. Additionally, optimal ratios of permeate flow rate and number of PVs were determined by energy recovery devices type, where the ratio of 1:2 was selected for the reverse osmosis system with a pressure exchanger and 2:1 for that with a Pelton turbine. Considering SEC and other operational aspects, the use of two-stage SWRO was feasible at a 50–70% recovery rate.
AB - While single-stage is the general configuration for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), the two-stage design can increase the overall recovery of an SWRO system. Due to its high-recovery operation, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of two-stage SWRO is higher than that of single-stage. Thus, the two-stage configuration has not been extensively applied in the current desalination market. In contrast, recent studies have reported that the two-stage design can lower the SEC of SWRO compared to that of single-stage. However, the analyses were biased towards SEC, and the practical design aspects (e.g., permeate quality, water flux, and design ratios) were not systemically considered. Thus, this study examines the applicability of a two-stage SWRO system with a capacity of 100,000 m3/d that employs 1200 pressure vessels (PVs). Two-stage SWRO actually consumed a greater amount of energy than that of single-stage for typical SWRO recovery with the same number of PVs. In contrast, single- and two-stage SWRO produced permeate similar in quality, while the two-stage exhibited superior water-flux distribution along the PVs. Additionally, optimal ratios of permeate flow rate and number of PVs were determined by energy recovery devices type, where the ratio of 1:2 was selected for the reverse osmosis system with a pressure exchanger and 2:1 for that with a Pelton turbine. Considering SEC and other operational aspects, the use of two-stage SWRO was feasible at a 50–70% recovery rate.
KW - Design ratios
KW - Energy efficiency
KW - Seawater reverse osmosis
KW - Specific energy consumption
KW - Staged configurations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078961788&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.117889
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.117889
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85078961788
VL - 601
JO - Jornal of Membrane Science
JF - Jornal of Membrane Science
SN - 0376-7388
M1 - 117889
ER -