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Abstract
A reverse osmosis desalination unit is proposed to desalinate seawater. The pressure required to overcome the
osmotic pressure and initiate the reverse osmotic process is provided by utilizing the mechanical potential energy
results from the difference in heads between a high level column of seawater and a low level column of purified
water. A mathematical model is proposed to simulate the proposed unit behavior under steady and transient conditions.
The effect of different operating and design conditions on the purified water production rate is investigated.
Keywords: Desalination; Reverse osmosis process; Seawater purification; Membrane separation process; Mass
diffusion; Fickian diffusion
1. Introduction
Until about 1980, distillation was the preferred
method for desalinating seawater, although two
membrane-based methods, electrodialysis and
reverse osmosis proved more economical for desalinating brackish water of much lower salinity
than seawater. Due to the development of sturdy
*Corresponding author.
Presented at the EuroMed 2002 conference on Desalination Strategies in South Mediterranean Countries:
Cooperation between Mediterranean Countries of Europe and the Southern Rim of the Mediterranean.
Sponsored by the European Desalination Society and Alexandria University Desalination Studies and Technology
Center, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, May 46, 2002.
0011-9164/02/$ See front matter 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
266
Sea level
Pump
Seawater
Purified
water
2
Membrane
W = N w (H h )g
267
(6)
The rate of financial gain (in $/m2 of the membrane) obtained using the desalination unit is
given as:
G = FN w (1 kg (H h ))
(7)
N w = Aw (P )
(1)
3. Transient behavior
N s = As (c1 c 2 )
(2)
(3)
(4)
(8)
and as a result,
N w dh
=
c w 2 dt
(5)
dh Aw
[0.097rH 0.097h ]
=
dt c w 2
(9)
2
1 e 1t
1
(10)
where
1 = 0.097 Aw/cw2, 2 = Aw/cw2 [0.097 rH ]
Now, insert h from Eq. (10) into Eq. (5) or
Eq. (8) to get an expression for the transient
purified water production rate of the unit.
4. Power consumption by the modified and
classical RO units
To produce the same flow rate of purified water
Nw , the classical RO power consumption is given
as:
268
N
W = 101 w
r
Nw
Aw
(11)
r 1
Wm
H
=
h
Wc
r
H
(12)
5. Discussion of results
Many conclusions may be drawn from Eq. (12),
which is plotted in Fig. 2. The first conclusion is
the fact that the benefit of using the modified unit
increases as the specific gravity ratio r increases.
The modified unit consumes less power as
compared to the consumption of the classical unit
as the ratios r and (h/H) increase. As an example,
and for (h/H) = $0.9, the power consumption ratio
(Wm/Wc) is 0.55 for r = 1.1 and 0.4 for r = 1.2. As h
approaches H, the modified unit consumes no
power but in this case, the unit production rate
Nw is very small. As a result, the tube must be
1.2
1
Wm/Wc
0.8
0.6
r=1.05
r=1.1
r=1.2
0.4
0.2
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
h/H
(13)
0.5
0.4
r=1.05
r=1.1
r=1.075
1
0.8
Nw
Nw
1.2
h=0.0
h=1000
h=5000
h=10000
0.6
269
0.3
0.2
0.6
0.4
0.1
0.2
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
5000
10000
15000
20000
0.6
0.5
0.4
Nw
H=2000
H=5000
H=10000
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
500
1000
1500
h
2000
2500
3000
270
9000
8000
7000
0.12
0.1
G/F
6000
5000
h=0.0
h=1000
h=5000
h=10000
0.14
H=1000
H=5000
H=10000
0.08
0.06
4000
0.04
3000
0.02
2000
1000
5000
10000
0
0
10000000
20000000
30000000
40000000
Nw
0.8
0.4
0.2
0
10000000
20000000
30000000
25000
H=
0.6
20000
H=20000
H=10000
H=5000
H=1000
15000
H
0.097 kg (1 + r )h + kg + 0.097 r
0.194kgr
(14)
H=
0.097(1 + r )h +
0.194r
(15)
h
H
k
Nw
Ns
P1
P2
r
R
t.
W
271
Greek
1
2
P
1
2
Subscripts
1
2
References
[1] K.S. Spiegler and Y.M. El-Sayed, A Desalination
Primer, Balaban Desalination Publications, Santa
Maria Imbaro, Italy, ch. 6, 1994.
[2] C.J. Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Unit Operations, Prentice-Hall International, New Jersey, ch. 13,
1993.
[3] S. Sourirajan, Reverse Osmosis, New York, Academic
Press, Inc., 1970.
[4] H.T. Hammel and P.F. Scholander, Osmosis and
Tensile Solvent, Springer, New York, 1976.
[5] A.M. Ahmed and I. Moch, Seawater reverse osmosis,
272