Tag: USA
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ADC baselines SWRO desalination system performance
The Affordable Desalination Collaboration (ADC) has completed a major milestone in its test program that profiles the state-of-the-art performance for seawater reverse-osmosis (SWRO) technology. This testing ran over two years and involved operating seven sets of standard 8-in diameter membranes in seven-element pressure-vessels. The ADC demonstration plant was designed to produce between 48,100 to 75,600…
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Carlsbad project plan for green SWRO
The largest and most advanced seawater desalination project under development in the USA today is the 189,000 m³/d plant in Carlsbad in southern California. This project is collocated with the Encina coastal power generation station, which currently uses seawater for once-through cooling. The Carlsbad seawater desalination project is developed as a public-private partnership between Poseidon…
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Bureau pilot tests show MBR reclamation potential
Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a proven technology for wastewater reclamation that combines biological treatment with membrane filtration to achieve high quality effluent. Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH) and the city of San Diego have been conducting research on the MBR process since 1997 through various research projects. This article is derived from the report entitled Evaluation…
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San Francisco study proves impaired source still feasible
The Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD), near San Francisco, USA, has been exploring seawater desalination to provide a drought-proof supplement to its over-extended water supply. Desalination of San Francisco Bay water presents challenges for pretreatment due to the frequent changes in water quality from the ebb and flow of the tides and winds, seasonal changes…
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Southern California study identifies brine-concentrate issues
The Southern California Regional Brine-Concentrate Management Study is a collaboration between the US Bureau of Reclamation and 14 local and state agency partners, who together form the Brine Executive Management Team. The team identified the management of brine-concentrate from desalination and other water treatment processes as significant in addressing southern California’s water supply reliability. As…
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Low-Biofouling Polypropylene Feedspacers for Reverse Osmosis Applications
Polypropylene (PP) is a commercial polymer that is ubiquitous in membrane filtration as feedspacer due to its high chemical stability, low cost and versatile properties. The goal of this project was to develop low-biofouling polypropylene reverse-osmosis (RO) feed spacers, which can be used for desalination, through the functionalization of PP with copper ions since copper…
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Large Diameter RO Desalination Elements
In recent years, increasing the diameter of spiral elements has been studied as a method of lowering the cost of membrane treatment. It has been shown that the installed cost of a reverse osmosis (RO) plant can be reduced by up to 27% using larger diameter elements.Large diameter elements provide savings in footprint and building…
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Solar pond and membrane distillation merger in Nevada University
Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven membrane separation process that involves evaporation of volatile constituents (water in desalination applications) through a hydrophobic, microporous membrane. The vacuum-enhanced MD process recently patented by researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno in the United States has now been coupled with some equally interesting research at the university…
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Reclaiming the grass at Pebble Beach golf course
Tertiary treatment of wastewater has had a technology upgrade to improve play at Pebble Beach golf course, which recently hosted the US Open Championship. The problem was high sodium and total dissolved solids concentrations, and difficulties with reusing wastewater during low flows. Microfiltration followed by RO was selected to meet the water quality criteria. The…
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Small-scale desalination approach to a big water problem
A research project recently undertaken at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has revealed a new mechanism for desalination/purification of water, employing a microfluidic channel-network system, which could lead to the development of small and portable units. The authors have started to build a prototype device in the laboratory in order to demonstrate the necessary scale-up…