Lowering desalination costs by alternative desalination and water reuse scenarios

AbstractReverse osmosis (RO) has contributed to a large extent in positioning membrane desalination as one of the best available technologies to meet water demand in dry coastal areas. However, membrane desalination may still be perceived as an energy consuming and high cost desalination technology. Seawater Osmotic Dilution (SOD) may lower the energy consumption and the water cost by decreasing the salt content of seawater; and, at the same time SOD can become a sustainable technology that does not impact marine environments considering that less concentrated brines are discharged into the sea. The main objective of this study was the economical evaluation of SOD for the purpose of decreasing desalination costs. The authors have investigated the attractiveness and viability of SOD opportunities compared with standard RO membrane desalination. Three process configurations (desalination, desalination and reuse, SOD) were defined for a coastal area location, where the possibilities of water availability are...