Desalination 126 (1999) 213218

Submarine seawater reverse osmosis desalination system

Paolo Pacentia*, Mario de Gerlonib, Mario Realib, David Chiaramontic, Sven O. Grtnerc, Peter Helmd, Michael Sthrd
a

European Commission, DG JRC, Environment Institute, RE Unit, I-21020 Ispra VA, Italy Tel. +39 (0332) 785613, Fax +39 (0332) 785013, E-mail: paolo.pacenti@jrc.it b ENEL Spa, Hydraulic and Structural Centre, via Pozzobonelli 6, I-20162 Milano, Italy c EnergiaTA-Florence, piazza Savonarola 10, I-50132 Florence, Italy d WIP, Sylvensteinstr. 2, D-81369 Mnchen, Germany

Abstract The project presented addresses the strategic topic of providing drinking and irrigation water through seawater desalination via a very energy-efficient and cost-competitive submarine technology. In conventional surface based industrial desalination plants applying the reverse osmosis (RO) technology, the freshwater flow behind the membranes is approximately 2045% of the inlet seawater flow, depending on membrane type and characteristics. The resulting brine is disposed off into the sea. While state-of-the-art RO installations generate the required pressure with seawater resistant high-pressure pumps, the innovative submarine approach uses seawater hydrostatic pressure. The desalinated water, produced at about atmospheric pressure and collected in a submarine tank at the same working depth, is pumped to the sea surface. This approach saves about 50% of the electricity consumption with respect to an efficient conventional RO plant (about 22.5 kWh/m3) since only the outlet desalinated water is pumped instead of the inlet seawater, thus reducing the pumping flow rate by 55 80%. It avoids the pretreatment of the inlet seawater, therefore saving costs for chemicals and equipment. Keywords: Submarine; Desalination unit; Energy efficiency; Reverse osmosis; Hydrostatic pressure

1. Introduction Conventional RO systems have the disadvantage that they have to pressurise large amounts of water in the feed. Recent advanced technology points to energy-recovery systems _________________________
* Corresponding author.

utilising hydraulic turbines to extract as much mechanical energy as possible from the brine stream before its disposal. The main operative difference to the RODSS technology concerns the fact that in the RODSS system a high-pressure pump is required for pumping the desalinated water produced at great depth up to the sea surface. Only a low-head circulation pump is needed for feeding sea water to the RO modules and for

Presented at the Conference on Desalination and the Environment, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, November 912, 1999. European Desalination Society and the International Water Services Association. 0011-9164/99/$ See front matter 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

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discharging the produced brine away from them. Fig. 1 shows a sketch of the RODSS system. The small prototype desalination unit, equipped with three RO modules, will be immersed at a depth of approximately 600 m below sea level. The RO process will then be driven by the seawater hydrostatic pressure, and the produced desalinated water will be pumped through a tube from the submarine desalination unit to the sea surface via a specially designed pumping device. The target freshwater production rate is about 12 m3/d. The RODSS technology as well as the financial and management framework has been deeply investigated during a definition phase. The work resulted in an innovation project IN20519I carried out by EC JRC Ispra, ENEL PIS Milan, WIP Munich, and EnergiaTA Florence, and is co-financed by the European Commission through the innovation programme of the DG XIII. Overall water production cost has been evaluated in view of a subsequent industrial implementation of the concept; technical features of this project are protected by a specific patent shared between the partners. This technology presents different advantages compared to conventional RO desalination systems and is particularly suitable for islands and remote coastal areas with small

to medium water demand and weak electricity supply infrastructure. A supply with renewable energies can be envisaged. 2. Analysis of the technical feasibility Already in the 60s, some researchers considered the exploitation of the hydrostatic pressure of seawater at a sufficient operative depth as a means to increase the energy efficiency of the RO industrial desalination at that time developing. After some decades of outstanding developments in the field of RO membranes as well as in submarine and offshore technology, the RODSS system can exploit mature and technically reliable technologies, so that, overall, it presents no special technical feasibility issue. The feasibility of the RODSS concept was already proven through R&D and experiments in deep sea within the framework of the PRODESAL project (PRO DESALination, Towards the Large Scale Development of Decentralised Water Desalination, contract RENACT94-0018). RO experiments at great depth (550 m) have been successfully carried out in the Tyrrhenian Sea offshore between Corsica and Tuscany in 1996 by JRC Ispra and EnergiaTA-Florence. This experience has provided valuable data and useful insights for the RODSS design. The goal of the campaign was the technical validation of the Deep Water Reverse Osmosis concept, by testing the behaviour of the Reverse Osmosis modules of a simplified experimental facility (RODS-LAB, see Fig. 2) in real shortterm operational conditions. The experimental facility designed and constructed for the trials was composed by the following main elements: RO module (DuPont Permasep type B10-6410T), freshwater tank, ballast, valves, feed-brine pump, instrumentation, hoist cable, electricity and data transmission cable. Data measured were: pressure, facility inclination, salinity, flow rate, electricity

Desalinated water Seawater Brine

Fig. 1. The basic scheme of RODSS

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Fig. 2. The RODS-LAB unit used during the test near Pianosa (Italy)

supply, temperature. The whole experimental facility weighed approx. 200 kg. The experimental facility in its final version was equipped with the module located in the upper part of the tank, connected by a steel pipe to the internal part of the desalinated water container. The feed-brine circulation pump had been installed in a separate chamber located under the main tank. It was a magnetic-drive pump, capable of operating at high base pressure conditions. The results were very promising; in fact the desalinated water quality was very good in comparison to the water produced in conventional RO plants as well as to commercial mineral water. 3. RODSS design layout The RODSS prototype, an upgraded version of the RODS-LAB unit used in the PRODESAL project, is currently under design and consists of a steel cylindrical vessel of diameter 70 cm and 2 round steel plates being connected to the cylinder by flanges. Including the internal parts, it should be floating by itself. In the cylinder, the components will be distributed in a way to stabilise the unit with the heavier parts at the bottom and the lighter ones at the top. The two pumps will be in the lower

region of the cylinder, under the buffer tank for the freshwater (at least 200 l volume). Permeators and data acquisition electronics will be in the upper part of the unit. The complete prototype will have a length of at least 4.5 m. Estimating the permeator flow rates it turned out that with 3 Permasep modules, type B-10, model 6440T, in 550 m depth a product water flow rate of about 11 m/d results, maintaining a conversion factor of 2025%. The RO modules available on the market are not adapted to working under high external pressures. In particular, the covers of the modules must be capable of withstanding not only internal pressures (as occurring usually in superficial plants), but also the external hydrostatic pressure. For this, the modules are placed inside the container, which is under atmospheric pressure. The submerged buffer tank is placed below the modules in order to obtain a natural fall of the desalinated water. The composed armoured submarine electric cable, which powers the unit, will contain both 500 and 240 V power supply for pumps, all sensors and accessories (electric valves, instrumentation, control units, etc.), and fibre optic cables for data and video transmission. The cable will have a wet weight of about 0.3 t/km and will be coupled to the reinforced freshwater tube. The alimentation of the pump motors will be effected by a single diesel generator, with a second one in stand-by, feeding both the 240 V/2 ph and the 500 V/3 ph, via an inverter for fresh water flow regulation. Both the unit and the sea line will be deployed from the seashore with the help of a tugboat. At the submersion point, an anchor log will lower the unit together with the sea line. The floating unit will be held 2030 m above the seafloor. The feed line will be well above sea-bottom to avoid sediments entering RODSS. A staged filter (wide and fine) will prevent further particles from penetrating the unit. The brine line

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Seawater inlet

Video camera Non-return valve RO modules

Filter box

Electro valve

Seawater conduit Flow meters Video camera External sensors

Desalinated water tank

Pressure sensors Control unit

Freshwater highpressure pump Bilge pump Signals to fibre optic converters Brine outlet Submarine cable

Sea water circulation pump Three-way valve Freshwater tube to the shore

pensive devices requiring frequent maintenance with consequently reduced plant productivity. Another drawback in conventional plants is related to the need of a suitable chemical pretreatment of available feed water to assure adequate working and durability of semi-permeable membranes, all of which represents a sizeable increase in equipment and operational costs. The following points clarify the advantages of the RODSS technology: A plant operating according to the invention requires roughly half the electric energy required by a conventional optimised plant of equivalent desalinated water production capacity (around 2 kWh/m vs. some 45 kWh/m), Osmotic membranes function better and have an increased lifetime since they can operate at a reduced conversion coefficient r (ratio between the desalinated and the treated seawater flow rate; r 0.100.30 instead of conventional values r 0.350.45), No chemical pretreatment of feed water is required since deep-sea water is rather free from critical organic and inorganic contamination, leading to minimum biofouling of membranes, The obnoxious noise of conventional plants is substantially eliminated. The following features are also noteworthy: The free seawater hydrostatic head eliminates the need of a high-pressure pump in the feed/brine circuit where only a low-head circulation pump is required; this fact eliminates pulsating pressure waves, which are known to decrease the overall performance of membrane modules and membrane lifetime, The produced desalinated water is of better or similar quality with respect to the water produced in conventional plants operating at an equivalent pressure level, just a coarse filtration of feed water is sufficient to avoid membrane clogging by external materials.

Fig. 3. The RODSS plant.

will be connected to the bottom of the unit and discharged about 510 m below in a way that does not interfere feeding. Commercial acoustic release systems will be employed for both sea line and unit to ensure safe recovery to the sea surface and later to the shore. A schematic design of the RODSS unit is reported in Fig. 3. Presently utilised energy-recovery devices in conventional RO plants present several drawbacks from both the technical and the economical viewpoints since they are complex and ex-

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Interventions for installation, substitution, and maintenance operations are designed to be carried out at low cost in straightforward ways (see Fig. 4), thus ensuring plant availability and reliability of the water supply offered to the user. The main objective of this project is to build a desalination plant based on the proposed technology and operate it in Pantelleria Island, Sicily, in the Mediterranean Sea, over a period of several months, starting early 2000. This will allow verifying notably the medium-term effects of the deep-sea water on the components.

Water in

Air in

In order to define a detailed final configuration of the RODSS plant as well as to identify the most appropriate operational parameters, it has been considered necessary to sample the deep-sea water in the selected area. The aim of this activity is to define the quality and main characteristics of the water flowing into the RO modules at approx. 600 m below the sea level. This information will be necessary to identify the best counter-measures to overcome operational problems such as scaling, crystallisation, fouling, etc. In fact, one of the main goals of the project is to verify whether the deep-sea water at the selected site really allows avoiding the membrane pre-treatment. The operating parameters of the RODSS unit, such as the conversion factor, cannot be precisely defined until the water quality is analysed. The parameters that will be measured in Pantelleria are: salts concentration, TDS, Silt Density Index SDI, temperature, pH under CaCO3 saturation, organic and inorganic compound composition, granulometry of solid deposits, quantity of anaerobic bacteria. The water sample will be collected by means of a Niskin sampler in the sea zone where the RODSS unit will be installed.

Control unit 2 coils: electric cable, water tube Electric cable and water tube (joined) RODSS unit Supply vessel

Fig. 4. Installation procedure of RODSS.

5. Conclusions Water represents a strategic resource for global sustainable development aimed at peoples welfare while saving the environment. As a consequence, desalination technologies, ever more frequently assumed in socio-economical development plans, represent a technoindustrial sector in great expansion. The proposed novel submarine RODSS desalination plant presents advantageous features from the energetic, operational, and ecological viewpoints, when compared with conventional RO-SW desalination plants of equivalent freshwater production capacity.

Removal procedure

4. Ongoing activities

Deployment procedure

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In the near future commercial RODSS plants with 5000 m3/d capacity will be investigated. Such plants are suitable for those islands and remote areas with small to medium water demand where submarine sites at about 550 600 m depth below the sea level can be found within a few km distance off the shore. The combination with wind or solar electricity supply is a promising option for Mediterranean remote sites with no or weak electric grid infrastructure, but with high renewable energy potential. A preliminary analysis has indicated a rather promising economic potential for RODSS and that implementation of this remarkably energy efficient desalination technology may usefully affect the overall development of islands and coasts lacking an adequate supply of freshwater.

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] European Project Prodesal Towards the Large Scale Development of Decentralised Water Desalination, Contract RENA-CT94-0018. M. Reali, M. de Gerloni and A. Sampaolo, Desalination 109 (1997) 269. B.C. Drude and E. Klapp, Proc., 4th Int. Symp. on Fresh Water from the Sea, Heidelberg, 4, (1973) 125. K.S. Spiegler, Salt water purification. Plenum Press, New York, 1977. Data from DuPont brochure on the 2104 m3/d ROSW desalination plant at Ghar Lapsi, Malta, 1991. European Commission Project, INNOVATION Programme, CEC Contract No. IN 20519 I, 1999 2001. P. Pacenti and R. Colombo, Reverse osmosis deep sea desalination system, Proc., Euro-Med Workshop Petra 99, Petra, 1999.