TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards sustainable circular brine reclamation using seawater reverse osmosis, membrane distillation and forward osmosis hybrids: An experimental investigation
AU - Son, Hyuk Soo
AU - Soukane, Sofiane
AU - Lee, Junggil
AU - Kim, Youngjin
AU - Kim, Young-Deuk
AU - Ghaffour, NorEddine
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-11-21
Acknowledgements: The research reported in this paper was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. The authors acknowledge the help, assistance, and support from the Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC) staff.
PY - 2021/5/27
Y1 - 2021/5/27
N2 - Desalination and wastewater treatment technologies require an effective solution for brine management to ensure environmental sustainability, which is closely linked with efficient process operations, reduction of chemical dosages, and valorization of brines. Within the scope of desalination brine reclamation, a circular system consisting of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), membrane distillation (MD), and forward osmosis (FO) three-process hybrid is investigated. The proposed design increases water recovery from SWRO brine (by MD) and dilutes concentrated brine to seawater level (by FO) for SWRO feed. It ultimately reduces SWRO process brine disposal and improves crystallization efficiency for a zero-liquid discharge application. The operating range of the hybrid system is indicated by a seawater volumetric concentration factor (VCF) ranging from 1.0 to 2.2, which covers practical and sustainable operation in full-scale applications. Within the proposed VCF range, different operating conditions of the MD and FO processes were evaluated in series with concentrated seawater as well as real SWRO brine from a full-scale desalination plant. Water quality and membrane surface were
analyzed before and after experiments to assess the impact of the SWRO brine. Despite their low concentration (0.13 mg/L as phosphorous), antiscalants present in SWRO brine alleviated the flux decline in MD operations by 68.3% compared to operations using seawater concentrate, while no significant influence was observed on the FO process. A full spectrum of water quality analysis of real SWRO brine and Red Sea water is made available for future SWRO brine reclamation studies. The operating conditions and experimental results have shown the potential of the SWRO-MD-FO hybrid system for a circular brine reclamation.
AB - Desalination and wastewater treatment technologies require an effective solution for brine management to ensure environmental sustainability, which is closely linked with efficient process operations, reduction of chemical dosages, and valorization of brines. Within the scope of desalination brine reclamation, a circular system consisting of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), membrane distillation (MD), and forward osmosis (FO) three-process hybrid is investigated. The proposed design increases water recovery from SWRO brine (by MD) and dilutes concentrated brine to seawater level (by FO) for SWRO feed. It ultimately reduces SWRO process brine disposal and improves crystallization efficiency for a zero-liquid discharge application. The operating range of the hybrid system is indicated by a seawater volumetric concentration factor (VCF) ranging from 1.0 to 2.2, which covers practical and sustainable operation in full-scale applications. Within the proposed VCF range, different operating conditions of the MD and FO processes were evaluated in series with concentrated seawater as well as real SWRO brine from a full-scale desalination plant. Water quality and membrane surface were
analyzed before and after experiments to assess the impact of the SWRO brine. Despite their low concentration (0.13 mg/L as phosphorous), antiscalants present in SWRO brine alleviated the flux decline in MD operations by 68.3% compared to operations using seawater concentrate, while no significant influence was observed on the FO process. A full spectrum of water quality analysis of real SWRO brine and Red Sea water is made available for future SWRO brine reclamation studies. The operating conditions and experimental results have shown the potential of the SWRO-MD-FO hybrid system for a circular brine reclamation.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/669297
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301479721008987
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106620972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112836
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112836
M3 - Article
C2 - 34052611
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 293
SP - 112836
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
ER -