Feasibility of salt production from inland RO desalination plant reject brine: A case study (original) (raw)
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By-product recovery from Saudi desalination plants
Desalination, 1987
Saudi Arabia has the largest capacity of desalination inventory in the world. Desalination in Saudi Arabia account for approximately 50% of the world capacity. In these massive desalination plants, huge amounts of drained brine are disposed. Besides the large flow rates of the disposed brine, sea water intakes in Saudi Arabia, Red Sea and/or Arabian Gulf, have the maximum salinity in the world. This increases the amount of the dissolved minerals in the desalination blowdown. In particular, the produced by-product brine from desalination plants will have a double salt concentration. The use of drained brine in appropriate processes can yield magnesium, calcium, potassium, chlorine and bromine as well as salt, sodium chloride. Recovery of such resources is considered very attractive in Saudi Arabia which has a limited natural resources. The hot weather and the unlimited spaces available in Saudi Arabia make the process more feasible.
Reuse of RO Desalination Plant Reject Brine
Journal of Phase Equilibria and Diffusion, 2010
In this work we try to study the feasibility of salt production from a reject brine coming from a desalination plant in Skhira in the south of Tunisia, This plant treats 22,008 m3/day of raw water to produce 9984 m3 of fresh water and 12,024 m3 of rejected water and has the advantages of being environmentally friendly and producing commercial products in crystalline, slurry, and liquid forms. The process involves an application of the solubility diagrams in order to valorize the reject brines. These solutions are considered as strongly concentrated brines and containing several elements such as: Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Cl−, and SO42−. This observation leads us to consider the complete hexary system Na+, Mg2+, K+, Ca2+/Cl−, SO42−//H2O which includes four quinary systems. A number of physico-chemical analyses were employed (Potentiometry, complexometry, gravimetry, XRD, and SEM). At the end of an isothermal and isobaric evaporation of the reject brine, we could recover various salts (NaCl, KCl, CaSO4·2H2O, MgSO4·7H2O…) very useful for industry and agriculture.
Recovery of Valuable Products from Reject Brine from Seawater Desalination Plants
Recovery of Valuable Products from Reject Brines, 2022
Desalination plants do not only produce potable water, but also for every liter of freshwater output an average of 1.5 liters of hypersaline reject brine containing additionally potentially hazardous chemicals added in the desalination process. Ecotoxicological studies have proven negative environmental impacts on marine ecosystems caused by the dumping of such residues in the sea. This fact sometimes leads to a rejection of desalination projects by the local population because of concerns about possible negative impacts on the fishing industry and tourism. Therefore, improved brine management strategies are required to mitigate the negative environmental and economic impacts on waste management and drinking water production. This paper presents a strategy that uses reject brine to produce valuable products such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium salts, as well as additional byproducts with a high demand by the chemical industry, agriculture or other industries such as caustic soda, bromine, green hydrogen or green ammonia. The production of valuable products from waste streams generates additional revenue sources leading to an overall reduction in desalination costs, while at the same time mitigating negative environmental impacts. Depending on local settings and project characteristics, in an ideal case, a cero liquid discharge seawater desalination can be implemented with the use of solar evaporation ponds, if necessary, in combination with technical evaporation systems for reject brine processing. However, the general drawback of such a cero liquid discharge strategy is the very high energy demand for water evaporation, required for fractional salt crystallization. This shortcoming can be at least partially compensated by producing in areas with high evaporation and low precipitation where solar evaporation can be ideally used, such as those found on the Pacific coast of northern Chile and Peru.
Comparative study of brine management technologies for desalination plants
Brine management systems for desalination plants • Technologies for reducing the volume of the generated brines • Technologies for salts recovery form brines • Brine conditioning for other processes a b s t r a c t In recent years, reverse osmosis (RO) has grown as an alternative to traditional potable water sources. A major disadvantage of the RO process is the huge amount of brine and its negative impact as a result of its high salinity. This brine is usually discharged to inland water bodies or to the sea and constitutes a threat to ecosystems and species, such as Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean Sea; thus, further research is needed for introducing environmentally friendly and economically viable management options for RO brines. This paper gives an overview of recent research as well as different technologies available at several scales to overcome the environmental problems and evaluate profitability related to discharge of RO concentrates. The treatment options have been classified into four different groups according to their final purpose: 1) technologies for reducing and eliminating brine disposal, 2) technologies for commercial salt recovery, 3) brine adaptation for industrial uses and 4) metal recovery. Solar evaporation, two-stage reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, integrated processes and brine adaptation for the chlor-alkali industry are some of the topics that this paper deals with. In the conclusion section, all of the technologies are compared emphasizing all their advantages and drawbacks, feasibility and development stage in order to provide a decision tool to select the best technology for each situation.
Using ZLD technique for safe and economic disposal of desalination plant brines in Egypt
Water shortage is one of the greatest problems of modern societies, because of the increase in world population and the fast economic development. In Egypt water requirements is expected to increase from 63 milliard cubic meters in 1997 to 83 milliard cubic meters in 2025. In addition to the fresh water from the Nile River and groundwater, desalination of brackish and sea water is inevitable. The contribution of desalination to drinking water supply is expected to be more than 0.5 million cubic meters per day in the year 2025. However, the widespread of brine discharges to the sea and inland as wastewater from desalination plants may affect environment. This paper assesses the possibility of using the zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technique as a possible solution for the brine disposal problems. Thinking about a Zero Liquid Discharge processes is one of the most attractive solutions to the brine environmental dilemma. ZLD refers to process that fully remove water from the reject brine stream, so the end product is a solid deposit of precipitate salts. In Zero Liquid Discharge Desalination, not only brines will stop to be an environmental menace, but also the recovery of the desalination process will reach values near the 100%. ZLD has been regarded for many years as an uneconomic solution and, therefore was engaged in limited cases. However, the increasing rate of population growth, shortage of water in many places around the world and the growing understanding about the need for environment protection has brought this issue back to focus. This paper presents feasibility for salt production from brine using ZLD technique. It concentrates on reverse osmosis type of desalination plants in Egypt. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the amounts of brine salts nowadays and the expected amounts in 2025 in Egypt. It presents also economical feasibility of a new brine treatment system in order to decrease the total volume of brines generated and even achieve the zero liquid discharge in desalination processes. On the top of mitigating the negative environmental impacts, additional distilled water and salts were estimated to assess the possible economic return of ZLD introduction to the desalination process in Egypt. It could be concluded from the study that, the introduction of ZLD technique to reverse osmosis desalination plants in Egypt, would viable and has economic and environmental return. It could be recommended that, more attention should be paid for ZLD case studies in Egypt, using real economic models.
Techno-Economic feasibility of extracting minerals from desalination brines
Desalination, 1988
Extraction of minerals from desalination brines represents a potentially important source of minerals. It is usually recommended for reducing fresh water production cost and minimizing waste disposal. In this paper, a techno-economic appraisal for the production of sodium chloride and caustic soda from Saudi desalination brines is presented.
Journal of Environmental Management / Elsevier, 2021
This study examines which management methods are the most recent and advanced in managing rejected brine generated from desalination plants. It also provides up-to-date information regarding the most adequate technologies that generate a minimum quantity of rejected brine via the use of minimization techniques and analyzes the method of direct disposal that has lately received noticeable improvements. It further discusses the reuse of discarded brine to recover valuable goods and sequestration of carbon dioxide. Sustainability is an important parameter that needs consideration to achieve uninterrupted operation of the discarded brine management to achieve the least environmental, social, and economic aftermath. To properly deal with any environmental issues related to brine disposal, different methods are implemented so that, in the end, higher water recovery is achievable from the desalination processes, namely brine minimization and rejection technologies (pressure retarded osmosis, microbial desalination cell technology), membrane-based technologies (vibratory shear enhanced processing, forward osmosis, electrodialysis, electrodialysis reverse, and electrodialysis metathesis, pervaporation method, thermal-based technologies (wind-aided intensified evaporation, brine concentrators, ohmic evaporator, membrane distillation, multi-stage flash distillation. This review also critically examined the two conventional approaches commonly used in life cycle assessment (LCA), when evaluating the ecotoxic effect of discarded brine. It intends to discuss the currently available methods and propose an improved method for evaluating the toxicity potential of brine on the aquatic ecosystem originated from seawater desalination plants. The Group-by-Group method takes into consideration the demerits of the two methods of the traditional method of LCA or chemical-specific approach as it provides a more holistic coverage for complicated brine to be disposed of. Recently, attention has been focused on recovering valuable metals from the discharged concentrated brine waste. Certainly, attaining marketable products from the discharged concentrated brine would offer an economic benefit and reducing the whole desalination costs. Ion imprinting polymers have potential applications in metal recovery from brine. Finding selective, more efficient, and less expensive imprinted polymers for extraction/preconcentration of valuable ions is a vital and challenging task. Lastly, the brine should be seen as a resource and not as a waste to attain sustainability in its management approaches. Hybrid processes would be highly recommended to get the absolute transformation of the discarded brine from desalination processes to more valuable constituents.
The state of desalination and brine production: A global outlook
• Unconventional water resources are key to support SDG 6 achievement. • Desalinated water production is 95.37 million m 3 /day. • Brine production and energy consumption are key barriers to desalination expansion. • Brine production is 141.5 million m 3 /day, 50% greater than previous estimates. • Innovation and developments in brine management and disposal options are required. Editor: Ashantha Goonetilleke Rising water demands and diminishing water supplies are exacerbating water scarcity in most world regions. Conventional approaches relying on rainfall and river runoff in water scarce areas are no longer sufficient to meet human demands. Unconventional water resources, such as desalinated water, are expected to play a key role in narrowing the water demand-supply gap. Our synthesis of desalination data suggests that there are 15,906 operational desalination plants producing around 95 million m 3 /day of desalinated water for human use, of which 48% is produced in the Middle East and North Africa region. A major challenge associated with desalination technologies is the production of a typically hypersaline concentrate (termed 'brine') discharge that requires disposal, which is both costly and associated with negative environmental impacts. Our estimates reveal brine production to be around 142 million m 3 /day, approximately 50% greater than previous quantifications. Brine production in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar accounts for 55% of the total global share. Improved brine management strategies are required to limit the negative environmental impacts and reduce the economic cost of disposal, thereby stimulating further developments in desalination facilities to safeguard water supplies for current and future generations.
Desalination Engineering: Environmental Impacts of the Brine Disposal and Their Control
Open Access Library Journal, 2020
Freshwater supplies remain more and more in lack corresponding to the increased demand for several human activities. Such difficult circumstances make desalination of saline water an obligation. Desalination to take out water from saline water has been proved as a safe non-traditional water supply. Nevertheless, like any human-founded method, desalination has conducted to several influences on nature. Charged with chemical products, brine is discharged back to nature. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions are liberated to the atmosphere. Brine and GHGs are the most important effects that have been broadly investigated with some attempts accorded to their mitigation and control strategies (M&CSs). This review examines the M&CSs related to the several environmental impacts (EIs) of desalination engineering and focuses on brine disposal. Numerous EIs could be avoided, or at least reduced, by integrating specific design standards and ameliorating applied technologies. The feedwater source possesses a considerable influence on EIs. At the identical degree, desalination engineering possesses an important impact on the EIs linked to brine features and energy consumption. Fresh desalination techniques have depicted decreased EIs relative to traditional thermal and membrane desalination methods. Further, employing renewable and waste energy sources has illustrated a considerable decrease in EIs related to energy consumption.