AWWA ACE54435

The number of membrane desalination plants is increasing. As the cost of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) has come down, the number of treatment plants providing new water resources has increased. With the increase in the number of plants has come an increase in plant capacity. Brackish water RO plants are also increasing in number and size. Typical RO designs include a number of small treatment trains to comprise the overall treatment capacity. Over the years, the capacity of the trains has increased from less than 1 million gallons per day (mgd) per train up to about 3 or 4 mgd per train. These developments have saved costs. Looking ahead though, do we need to have 25 RO trains in a 100 mgd facility? Is this the most economical way to design a large plant? This objective of this paper is to stimulate thought and discussion about the components that make up an RO plant and whether or not there may be more efficient ways to design large RO facilities. It would seem that large-scale RO plants are here to stay and therefore, this may be the right time to examine the current limitations to scaling up to large RO trains. Includes 13 references, figure.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

06/01/2001

Number of Pages:

10

File Size:

1 file , 240 KB