CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Water is significant to human, environment and development but is a finite and

vulnerable resource. The supply of fresh water has come to attention globally and is
gradually becoming an environmental and economic issue since the access to good
quality water is on the turn down while demand is increasing (Veolia Water Solutions
and Technologies, 2007; Oyoh, 2016). This challenge is posed due to the rapid
population growth, climate change and increase in industrial activities and agricultural
activities (Park et al., 2011; Khawaji et al., 2007). In a span of 60 years, over 2.7 billion
has increased in Asia’s population with the Philippines having a higher fertility rate as
compared to other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia (Cleland,
2013; Orbeta and Pernia, 1999). Also, the lands under irrigation increased from around
50 million h.a. to over 267 million h.a. which led to more than six-fold increase in
freshwater withdrawals, from 580x109 m³/yr estimated for 1900 to 3700x109 m³/yr in
2000 (Oyoh, 2016). Water shortage and drought are already affecting countries around
the world from China, Sri Lanka, Syria, Iraq, Australia, United States of America and
even part of the United Kingdom. Approximately 70% of the water abstracted around
the world is used for irrigation with this figure rising to 80% in some countries (Oyoh,
2016). The available water resources from groundwater and rivers are limited and
gradually depleted due to scarcity and water quality deterioration caused by factors such
as improper waste disposal (Khawaji et al., 2007; Oyoh, 2016). According to Gleick,
as of 1998, Philippines is one of the countries that has a percentage of 1% - 25% of the
population without access to safe drinking water (Oyoh, 2016) and is supported by the
data from National Statistical Coordination Board that reported 16% of Filipino
households lacked access of potable water amounting to about 19 million people. Due
to this, reports show that around 6000 Filipinos die from such diseases, having diarrhea
as the country’s second leading cause of death according to the Department of Health
(Rappler, 2014).

The major reservoir of the earth is the ocean which accounts to about 97% of the
earth’s water having the remaining 2% locked in icecaps and glaciers and about 0.5% -

1
1% available fresh water for plants, animal and human needs. Vast reserves underlie
the earth’s surface but costs greater due to its difficulty of exploration and depth
(Khawaji et al., 2007). On the other hand, seawater is unsuitable for human
consumption, industrial and agricultural resources unless subjected to process of
desalination (Oyoh, 2016).

Desalination is the process of removing salt from water to produce fresh water
that contains less than 1000 mg/L of salts or total dissolved solids (TDS) (Linares et
al., 2014). In seawater desalination process, saline seawater is separated into two
streams. One is the fresh water stream with a low concentration of dissolved salts and
a concentrated brine stream (Khawaji et al., 2007). More than 12,000 desalination
plants have already operated as of 2006 producing about 40 million cubic meters of
water per day and is predicted to grow by 12% per year to 2010 reaching an expectancy
of 94 million m3/day capacity by 2015 (World Health Organization, 2007). This process
requires energy and utilizes different technologies for separation which tends to
improve over the years as several techniques are used in making it cost and energy
efficient. Several technologies were developed on the basis of thermal distillation,
membrane separation, freezing and electrodialysis, highlighting the reliable and
established processes such as multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation and reverse osmosis
(RO) processes (Park et al., 2011; Khawaji et al., 2007).

Desalination technique is influenced by factors like feed water salinity, required

product quality, labor cost, plant area, energy cost and local demand for electricity
(Valavala et al., 2011). Thermal desalination is the separation of salt from water by
evaporation and condensation, whereas membrane desalination is the diffusion of feed
water through a membrane retaining the salts. The most common membrane
desalination process is reverse osmosis considering a polymer membrane with high
permeability to water but not for dissolved solids. Higher pressures are applied in order
to have a great pressure difference across the membrane and osmotic pressure of feed
water operating at pressures between 55 and 68 bar. Due to the improvement of
materials, RO costs have decrease significantly most especially in energy costs. One of
the major improvements is the high salt rejections or salt removal rates (>99%) as high
as 99.7% - 99.8% under standard test conditions of 32,000 mg/L NaCl, pH 8, 5.5 MPa
and 8% recovery (Linares et al., 2014; Valavala et al., 2011). Other improvements
include installation of energy recovery devices and use of more efficient pumps.

2
Recently, at an energy consumption rate of 1.8 kWh/m3 with the use of highly
permeable RO membrane elements demonstrated to have a 50% recovery on a pilot-
scale system. Being able to understand the minimum energy required in this separation
process provides a comparison or guide for further technological improvements and
efforts in decreasing the energy demand (Elimelech and Phillip, 2017). The market
share of RO plant was 43% in 2004 and is forecasted to increase up to 61% in 2015 due
to the advantages of low energy requirements, low operating temperature, small
footprint, modular design and low water production costs (Oh et al., 2008).

According to Pilipinas Water Resources, Inc. (PWRI), the vast amount of

seawater surrounding the Philippines is an advantage that could be used as a rational
and sustainable solution to the water crisis that is currently experienced (Mosqueda,
2016). Due to different reasons such as population growth, high urbanization,
environmental degradation, natural disasters and climate change, Philippines is posed
with a massive water shortage problem a decade from now according to environment,
energy and climate change office of United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) (Jerusalem, 2016). In this study, the authors aim to design a
seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant in order to alleviate the lack of potable
water supply.

1.2 Objectives

The main objective is to design and develop an off-shore reverse-osmosis

desalination plant.

Specific objectives include:

1. To evaluate the feasibility of a desalination plant that utilizes reverse-osmosis
technology with the factors including raw materials, production, utility and
plant location.
2. To design a process that will produce a sustainable and safe water solution.
3. Propose a site location and develop the lay-out of the plant.
4. Selection of equipment and fittings for the plant.

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1.3 Significance of the Study

With the world’s increasing population and the water consumption per person,
the water demand in also arising considerably. According to the World Health
Organization, less than 1% of the planet’s water resources are fresh water and
accessible for humans, varying on the area we study, the climate and the time of the
year. Access to fresh water is limited and contamination is a great problem. To avoid
such crisis arising from the lack of water supply, some countries need to preserve their
sources of water, reduce its contamination, regulate the supply and demand, and lastly
hold the growth of population (Martinez, 2010).

The World Health Organization in 2010 states that thirty-one countries, inhabited
by less than 8% of the world’s population, face chronicle fresh water deficit. At the
same year The World Health Organization also states that by 2030 it is foreseen that
forty-eight countries will face this deficit, affecting more than 2,800 million inhabitants.

Human life depends upon the existence of fresh water. According to the World
Health Organization, fifty liters per person and day is the minimum quantity of water
needed to maintain a certain level of hygiene and avoid the transmission of infectious
diseases. From the fifty liters just 0.75 are for drinking and the rest would be for self-
cleaning, cooking, washing and others.

In our planet, the hydrosphere has around 1,386 million km2, of this area the most
is covered by the oceans, near three out of four parts of land surface to be more precise,
which have a salinity of 3% in weight, which make it completely useless for any kind
of usage. The rest is fresh water, but about 69% is present as ice and snow covering
polar and mountain areas. The leftover is present as groundwater in a 29.9% and as
lakes, rivers and reservoirs in a 0.3% (Martinez, 2010).

Due to the increasing demand and the depletion of the freshwater sources, over
the centuries there have been references of efforts to obtain freshwater from salt water
and one method of doing so is by desalination. At present, only 0.7% of the drinking
water produced stems from saltwater. 60% of the world’s population lives than 100 km
away from a maritime coast (Cluster Maritime, 2009) making desalination an
undeniable alternative resource.

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1.4 Scope and Limitations

The study is limited by the available resources and literature in seawater

desalination to produce safe water for household use. All the data will be limited to the
available resources found in Philippine agencies and departments, especially in the use
of water for household.

5
 CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Plant Location

The plant will be located at Miag-ao, Iloilo. It is located in the southwestern part
of the Province of Iloilo in the island of Panay. Miag-ao is one of the seven towns
compromising the First District of Iloilo Province. It is situated 40 kilometers
Southwest of Iloilo City and 58 kilometers from San Jose, the capital town of Antique
(Municipal Profile of Miag-ao, 2018).

The municipality has a land area of 15,680 hectares or 156.80 square kilometers.
The urban area composed of 22 barangays has an area of 2055.16 hectares or 20.5516
square kilometers while the remaining 97 barangays have a total area of 13,624.84
hectares or 136.2484 square kilometers. The municipal waters serving as fishing ground
for both migratory and endemic fish has an area of 48 square kilometers. Miag-ao’s
coastline stretches for 16 kilometers spanning 22 barangays (Municipal Profile of
Miag-ao, 2018).

The climate in Miag-ao has two pronounced seasons: dry from November to
April and wet during the rest of the year. The maximum temperature stands at 32.2
degree Celsius and the minimum is 22.9 degree Celsius (Municipal Profile of
Miag-ao, 2018).

2.2 Water Quality

Water is a solution of various salts, which in whole establish the characteristics

of it. Therefore knowing its composition in order to be able to submit it to a separation
treatment or desalination through membranes is essential. The principal cations found
in water are Calcium (Ca2+), Magnesium (Mg2+), Sodium (Na+) and Potassium (K+)
where as the most abundant anions are Chloride (Cl-), Sulfate (SO42-), Carbonate (CO32)
and bicarbonate (HCO3-). The predominance or abundance of any of these elements
makes it necessary to treat the water or use it directly (Martinez, 2010).

6
 The quality of the required product water as well as the quality of the raw water
supplied contributed to the process is essential when choosing either process. As an
example, the desalination process consumes the same amount of energy independently
of the provided salinity, therefore they are only appropriate for seawater desalination.
Also especially pure water required for specific industrial applications needs of post-
treatment if reverse osmosis process is used. Respecting the salinity of seas and oceans,
it is anything but constant (Martinez, 2010).

Table 2.2.1. Planet’s seas and oceans average salinity.

Sea / Ocean Salinity (ppm of TDS)
Baltic Sea 28,000
North Sea 34,000
Pacific Ocean 33,600
South Atlantic Ocean 35,000
Mediterranean Sea 36,000
Red Sea 44,000
Persian Gulf 43,000-50,000
Dead Sea 50,000-80,000
Worldwide Average 34,800
(Source: Valero et al., 2001)

One way to classify water is according to its salinity taking into account the
total dissolved salts it contains.

Table 2.2.2. Salinity ranges of different kinds of water

Denomination Water Salinity (ppm of TDS)
Ultrapure 0.03
Pure 0.3
Deionized 3
Fresh water (poor) <1,000
Brackish 1,000-10,000
Saline 10,000-30,000
Marine 30,000-50,000
Brine >50,000

7
 The water quality required depends on its use. For certain industrial processes
waters with salinity up to 5,000 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS) can be used but in
power plants the limit is negligible. In agriculture, some crops tolerate up to 2,000 ppm
of total dissolved solids, although the land, climate, brackish composition, irrigation
method and applied fertilizers can alter this value. For human consumption, the limit is
1,000 ppm of total dissolved solids, even though in some arid areas an extra intake of
salts can be beneficial for the body (Martinez, 2010).

2.3 Desalination

2.3.1 Desalination Process

Desalination technologies have been used rapidly over the past few decades
throughout the globe to produce clean drinking water from groundwater, seawater and
brackish, to improve the quality of already existing supplies of fresh water for human
consumption, commercial applications or to treat industrial and municipal wastewater
prior to reuse or discharge (Oyoh, 2016).

Desalination is growing so fast globally that it is more than certain that it will
play a significant role in water supply in the years to come. Desalination is growing
particularly in parts of the world where water availability is low. Annual desalination
capacity seems to increase rapidly as years go by (Zotalis et al., 2014).

Desalination can be defined as any process that removes salts from water. A
desalination process essentially separates saline water into two parts - one that has a
low concentration of salt (treated water or product water), and the other with a much
higher concentration than the original feed water, usually referred to as brine
concentrate or simply as ‘concentrate’ (Krishna, 1989).

2.3.2 SWRO Desalination Plants in the Philippines

The Mactan desalination plant was found feasible by Japanese consultants who
conducted the study in 2005 (Berrondo, 2005). The plant is the largest desalination
plant that utilizes RO technology in the Visayas and Mindanao, it became operational
in 2013 and initially supplied 22,000 cubic meters (cu.m.) of water per day to South
Road Properties locators and mainly to SM Seaside City Cebu Mall but is expandable

8
up to 50,000 cu.m. per day. Its current capacity is 25,000 cu.m. per day (Sun Star Cebu,
2013).
The company is selling water at P47 per cu.m. to SRP locators, which they said
is cheaper than Metropolitan Cebu Water District’s commercial rate of P57 per cu.m.
(Sun Star Cebu, 2013).
Moreover, in 2017, Mactan Rock Industries Inc. (MRII) received a P500-
million expansion project to provide desalinated water to Mactan Island. The multi-
million expansion was the company’s response to the increasing demand for water
supply, especially in industries. When fully run, the desalination plant could supply a
total of 25,000 cu.m. of water per day (Mosqueda, 2017).
Furthermore, the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) in Bohol endorsed
the seawater desalination project of the municipality of Dauis for China funding to
finally solve the water source problem in Panglao Island. The proposed project can have
a daily capacity of 840 cu.m. per day. The plant will employ a photovoltaic power of
electricity generation which will be matched with micro-grid system to desalinate water
through RO membrane technology (Bohol Chronicle, 2017).
On the other hand, Ilijan Plant developed by KEILCO-KEPCO Ilijan
Corporation, the largest power plant in the Philippines with a combined cycle power of
1,200 MW generating capacity utilizes membrane technology to produce purified
water. The plant consists of two power blocks, which share a common membrane based
Seawater Desalination system for their make-up water requirements. The desalination
system sources water from the Luzon Sea and has a total installed capacity of 17,000
cu.m. per day (Aquatech International, 2017).

2.4 Plant Seawater Intake

The intake is a critical component of every seawater reverse osmosis facility
and controls to a great degree the design and operational cost of downstream treatment
processes. Intake designs are highly site specific, possibly more so than any other aspect
of the desalination facility (Pankratz, 2015).

Environmental impacts associated with concentrate discharge have historically

been considered the greatest single ecological impediment when siting a seawater
desalination facility. However, recent analyses have noted that marine life impingement

9
and entrainment associated with intake designs were greater, harder-to-quantify
concerns and may represent the most significant direct adverse environmental impact
of seawater desalination (Pankratz, 2015).
But on a study by Watereuse Association published on 2011 stated that
appropriately sited, designed, and operated seawater desalination plant intakes can have
minimal environmental impacts on the marine environment and resources. In fact,
based on recent studies, impingement and entrainment resulting from well-planned and
designed open ocean intakes would be minor: the equivalent of the daily food intake of
one pelican and the loss of the annual bio-productivity of five adult female halibut.
2.4.1 Plant Seawater Intake Methods
Open intakes are by far the most widely used type of source water collection
facilities worldwide because they are suitable for all sizes of desalination plants; they
are more predictable and reliable in terms of productivity and performance; they are
easier and more cost-effective to operate and maintain; and they usually offer better
economy of scale for desalination systems of capacity greater than 5 million gallons per
day (MGD) (Watereuse Association, 2011).
On the other hand, beach wells offer advantages for small seawater desalination
plants. It has proven to be economical for plants of capacity smaller than 4 thousand
cubic meters per day, but open intakes have found significantly wider application for
large seawater RO desalination plants (Voutchkov, 2005).

2.5 Desalination Process Technologies

Desalination processes are often classified into two categories as thermal or

membrane separation in which both technologies operate to produce fresh water with
dependence to energy. On a worldwide basis, the thermal and membrane capacity
amounts to about 7 billion gallons per day in early 2000, with about 50% in thermal
processes and 50% in membrane processes (Parise, 2012; Krishna, 1989; Oyoh, 2016).
Over the years and improvement in technology, desalination processes have become
cost-competitive with other methods that are used to produce potable water for human
consumption (Oyoh, 2016). Due to continuing research and development on
desalination, other plants integrate thermal and membrane processes along with
emerging technologies which still undergoes further research such as forward osmosis,
humidification and ionic filtration (Mezher et al., 2010).

10
2.5.1 Thermal Desalination

Thermal technologies have dominated the desalination market historically, most

especially in the Middle East, where low energy costs and large scale cogeneration
plants have guaranteed their ascendancies. These processes are similar to the natural
water cycle of evaporation and condensation and produce output with very low salt
concentration wherein saline water is heated and condensed vapor is collected;
however, it is prone to formation of scales such as calcium carbonates or sulfates
(Mezher et al., 2010; Gude, 2015; Krishna, 1989). The thermal technologies can be
further divided into three groups: Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF), Multi-Effect
Distillation (MED) and Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD) (Krishna, 1989).

2.5.1.1 Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF)

MSF produces water by boiling and condensing the saline water. The feedwater
is preheated before entering the brine heater by passing through a series of tubes then
it is introduced into a vessel with a lower pressure resulting to a sudden boiling
(flashing) of the saline water. The condensed liquid drops into trays as hot distilled
water. The remaining water is then introduced to the next stage with an even lower
pressure until the saline water is cooled down and discharged. MSF plants usually
comprise of 18 to 25 stages. MSF has been the oldest and proven to be most reliable
thermal desalination technology however since it was claimed to have already reach its
maximum potential and maturity therefore having no margin for further improvement,
the installation of MSF plants is on a downward trend with 25% worldwide capacity
share. Also, MSF plants require relatively high energy consumption and massive
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Mezher et al., 2010; Hajeeh and Al-Othman, 2004;
Khawaji et al., 2007).

2.5.1.2 Multi-Effect Distillation (MED)

MED has been the oldest desalination method used in 1950s and 1960s that is
deemed to be very efficient thermodynamically. Multi-effect distillation occurs in a
series of vessels and uses the principles of evaporation and condensation at reduced
ambient pressure. In MED, a series of evaporator effects produce water at progressively
lower pressures. Water boils at lower temperatures as pressure decreases, so the water
vapor of the first vessel or effect serves as the heating medium for the second, and so
on. The more vessels or effects there are, the higher the performance ratio. MED has

11
been used in process industries such as sugarcane and salt production; however, it failed
to compete in the field of desalination due to its scaling problem and larger capital and
operating expenses. In terms of the amount of TDS in the output brine stream and outlet
water, MED has a similar product as to that of MSF but it requires lesser energy
therefore producing lesser emissions (Mezher et al., 2010; Krishna, 1989; Khawaji et
al., 2007).

2.5.1.3 Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD)

VCD process is used either in combination with other processes such as the MED,
or by itself. The heat for evaporating the water comes from the compression of vapor,
rather than the direct exchange of heat from steam produced in a boiler (Buros, 2000).
Compression can be aided with the use of a mechanical compressor or a steam jet. This
type of technology is often used in small-scale establishments such as resorts and
drilling sites where fresh water is not readily available. They are usually built to the
range of 3000 m3/day (Krishna, 1989; Khawaji et al., 2007).

2.5.2 Membrane Desalination

Membrane processes implore the aid of a physical barrier, such as membrane,

in the separation of dissolved salts from the feed water by mechanical, chemical or
electrical means between the feed water and the product (Gude, 2015). The membranes
prevent the passage of salt ions and are mostly operated in high pressures (Mezher et
al., 2010). Membrane desalination can be further divided into two broad categories
which are electrodialysis (ED) and reverse osmosis (RO) (Oyoh, 2016).

2.5.2.1 Electrodialysis (ED)

ED is based on the transport of ions through ion exchange membranes through

application of an electrical field. It is the most common membrane desalination
technique next to RO and is mainly used in small to medium-sized plants with salinity
of 1000 to 5000 mg/L total dissolved solids. Aside from that, this is also applied to
removal and concentration of nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus
from wastewater. Some of the advantages of ED are higher water recovery rates, longer
membrane lifetime, operation at elevated temperatures and less membrane scaling or

12
fouling; however, it is not suited to removal of other components such as viruses and
bacteria (Burn et al., 2015; Quist-Jensen et al., 2015).

2.5.2.2 Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a relatively new process that was commercialized in the
1970s (Buros, 2000). It is currently the most widely used method for desalination in the
United States. The Reverse Osmosis process uses pressure as the driving force to push
saline water through a semi-permeable membrane into a product water stream and a
concentrated brine stream (Krishna, 1989.). An RO system is made up of a pretreatment
process, high-pressure pump, membrane assembly and post-treatment process having
the brine discharge at a very high pressure and freshwater at a low pressure. RO has the
lowest energy consumption among the other commercial technologies therefore having
the lowest emission of gases. The developments in RO such as having low-cost but
efficient membranes lead to reduction of its operating cost which made it popular
recently (Mezher et al., 2010).

2.6 Reverse Osmosis (RO) Fouling Mechanism

Colloidal fouling, biofouling, organic fouling, and inorganic fouling are the main
fouling mechanisms of RO membranes. Particulate or colloidal fouling are suspended
solids and some metal-based hydroxides which accumulate on the surface of the
membrane over time and form cake fouling (Pontié, 2005). Biofilms from
microorganisms such as bacteria, fungus or algae can secrete polymers that anchor
themselves on the surfaces of the membrane, resulting to a thick layer of film clogging
membrane surfaces which may result to chemical decomposition of RO membranes
(Chua et.al, 2003). Asif et. al. (2011) suggested that biofilm behaves as a second
membrane, thus promoting high concentration polarization, high salt passage and low
permeate flux.
Scaling results from supersaturation of the RO brine relative to the low solubility
salts. With modern effective anti-scalants, scaling is a much smaller problem than
colloidal fouling through coagulation. (Ning and Tarquin, 2010).

13
2.7 Anti-fouling strategies

Treating effluents with a very low concentration of suspended solids to minimize

problems associated with membrane fouling is one of the limitations of RO membrane
desalination (Fraser et. al., 2011). Increased osmotic pressure from clogging will
increase energy consumption, resulting in decreased efficiency. To ensure the
feasibility and efficiency of RO systems, appropriate pretreatment method is needed.
Overall operational performance may be improved by minimizing membrane fouling,
increased removal of suspended solids, and dissolved organic matter from seawaters
(Jamaly et. al., 2014).
Prevention of colloidal organic and colloidal organic and biofouling is a much
more difficult task that usually requires and intensive pretreatment step (Pontié, 2005).
The selection of pretreatment technology is of great importance by using diverse
pretreatment strategies.
The two types of pretreatment technologies, conventional and non-conventional
technologies will be compared based on their operational cost and water quality.

2.8 Pretreatment

Seawater resources typically have a higher tendency for membrane fouling ad

require more extensive pretreatment processes than surface water and ground water
resources (Greenlee et al., 2009). Therefore a constant high feed water quality should
be maintained in order to successfully operate a Salt Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO)
plant. With this, suspended solids must be first removed and the feed pretreated in order
to prevent microbial growth on membranes. The choice of pretreatment process is based
on various factors such as feed water quality characteristics, space availability and RO
membrane requirements (Krishna, 1989).

2.8.1 Conventional Pretreatment Technologies

2.8.1.1 Disinfection and Pre-chlorination

Disinfection of seawater is needed to prevent the growth of marine life and

bacteria within the membrane modules and other parts of the Reverse Osmosis (RO)
desalination process from the intake to the discharge (Al-Borno et al., 1989). This could
be done by using conventional water treatment processes.

14
 Pre-chlorination is the process of adding chlorine to the raw water to control the
growth of marine organisms/microorganisms (algae, mussels, etc.) growing inside
pipes and tank walls (Jacangelo et al., 2018).

2.8.1.2 Coagulation

Coagulation is the most popular treatment process used for the removal of
potential foulants such as aqueous particulate and colloidal matter. The role of
coagulation is to combine small particles into larger aggregates by neutralizing the
charges of the particles (Sinha et al., 2004). Coagulants are added to the source seawater
to enhance removal of particulate and colloidal foulants in seawater pretreatment
facilities applying granular media filtration (Schneider et al., 2013). Coagulation may
enhance the removal of natural organic matter (Jacangelo et al., 2018).

2.8.1.3 Flocculation

Flocculation treatment has been widely applied in wastewater treatment field.

This process has many advantages, such as simple process, convenient operation, sgort
time-consuming, economically feasible and many more (Zhang,2014). Flocculants
(polymers) are sometimes applied at a very low dosage (0.25 to 0.5 mg/L) to improve
the performance. Use of polymer dosages higher than 1 mg/L should be avoided
because it usually results in high content of unused polymer in the filter effluent, which
in turn plugs the cartridge filters and deposits on the membrane elements causing
particulate and colloidal fouling (Edwards and Haarhoff, 2011).

2.8.1.4 Ozonation

The Environmental Protection Agency in 2018 states that ozone is a very

powerful disinfectant compared with either chlorine or chlorine dioxide. It is the only
chemical that can provide effective inactivation of either Giardia or Cryptosporidium
at dose levels not much greater than those used routinely for water treatment. It is,
however, an expensive disinfection technology in terms of capital and operating costs
(EPA, 2018).

2.8.1.5 Precipitation and scale inhibition

Salt Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) membranes can be subject to salt

precipitation and membrane scaling. Precipitation has been widely investigated in the

15
RO process between two bench-scale brackish water RO units that increased the water
recovery from the typical 90-98% overall (Gabelich et al.,2007 ; Rahardianto et al.,
2007). The precipitation process consisted of using either calcium carbonate (calcite)
or calcium sulfate seeding, along with pH control, to remove slightly soluble salts.
While gypsum seeding achieved a calcium removal of only 30%, calcite seeding
achieved 92–93% calcium removal within 30 min (Rahardianto et al., 2007). pH
adjustment can effectively control calcium carbonate scaling, while scale inhibitors
using antiscalants have been used to control various carbonate, magnesium hydroxide,
sulfate, and calcium scaling (Chua et al., 2003).

2.8.1.6 Dissolved Air Flotation

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) technology removes particulate and colloidal

foulants such as algal cells, oil, grease or other contaminants prior to conventional
media filtration or membrane filtration. DAF is effective in removing low-density
floating particles from water and could be a suitable pretreatment process for algal
bloom-impacted waters (Tabatabai, 2014). DAF allows light particles that settle slowly
to be removed more effectively and in a shorter time; it also usually produces a low
generation of sludge from the system (Valavala et al., 2011).

2.8.2 Non-Conventional Pretreatment Technologies

Non-conventional pretreatment technologies include membrane pretreatment

system that provides a barrier to particulates having significant benefits to the reverse
osmosis design (Prihasto et al., 2009).

2.8.2.1 Ultrafiltration (UF) and Microfiltration (MF)

UF and MF pretreatment techniques are increasingly used in drinking water,

seawater and wastewater applications since several studies have shown that they are
capable of reducing turbidities to <0.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU), regardless
of the influent turbidity level. They are also effective in the removal of viruses and total
coliform bacteria such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium (Ebrahim et al., 2000).
Compared to conventional technologies, UF can offer 30% cost savings as well as the
need for RO disinfection/cleaning to avoid considerable production loss (Jamaly et al.,
2014). MF on the other hand, offers more significant improvements on the performance

16
of RO desalination systems in terms of reliability and total operating costs. Reduction
in operating costs include less membrane replacement cost, less chemical consumption
costs and less maintenance costs (Jamaly et al., 2014; Ebrahim et al., 2000). UF and
MF membranes operate through a surface removal mechanism that resembles a fine
screen or sieve in which the pore size is highly uniform and have a narrow pore size
distribution. Particles are rejected by the membrane surface and remain on the feed side
if they are larger than the pores (Prihasto et al., 2009).

2.8.2.2 Nanofiltration (NF) and nanostructured membranes

A study conducted by Al-Sofi et al. (2000), concluded that the total hardness of
seawater feed was reduced by 86.5% while chloride ion falls down from 22,780 ppm
to 16,692 ppm in an NF permeate (Jamaly et al., 2014). NF pretreatment of seawater
can prevent scaling through preferential removal of scale-forming ions. Rejection of
scale-forming ions can vary considerably depending on the membrane (Llenas et al.,
2011). Moreover, incorporation of NF as pretreatment to RO systems results to
improved desalination efficiency, reduced fouling and less frequent cleaning of RO
membrane. Furthermore, the fabrication of nanostructured materials such as size-
selective membranes with pore sizes in the sub-nanometer range allows water
molecules to pass through while preventing the ions and operates similarly to a
molecular sieve (Jamaly et al., 2014). An example of nanostructured materials are
zeolites which are aluminosilicate minerals with microstructure composed of 3-8oA
pores. In summary, NF membrane offers reduction in treatment cost with high RO
design reflux and recovery, reduced RO membrane replacement, treatment of poor
quality surface water and reduced RO disinfection and cleaning (Jamaly et al., 2014).

2.8.2.3 Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

A further development in the pretreatment process is the membrane bioreactor

which is an integration of ultrafiltration and biological treatment process. The UF
membrane modules are submerged in the activated sludge to combine the biological
step and the solid-liquid separation into a single process. This allows improvement in
the effluent quality and reduces footprint significantly (Dukes and Gottberg, 2006;
Hadler and Kullmann, 2012). Currently, the membrane fouling is the main hindrance
in this technology and several configurations and methods of MBR have been studied

17
such as introducing plastic carriers for biomass in the biological tanks (de la Torre et
al., 2013).

2.9 Membrane Cleaning

The use of chemicals is prevalent and inevitable most especially for cleaning the
fouling or scaling from RO membranes. Several cleaning methods such as the use of
alkaline, acids, chlorine, detergents and surfactants are done in order to remove the
natural organic matter (NOM) acids, inorganic scales, scalants (CaSO4), bio-fouling
and colloids. Membranes can either be cleaned in place and offline and the optimum
membrane CIP cleaning rate can be determined through the interactions between the
foulants/scalants and the membrane along with the optimum cleaning agent
concentration at which removal efficiency is high. The preferential cleaning principle
for foulants was suggested as: silica colloids > adsorbed organic compounds >
particulate matter > iron and aluminum colloids > microorganisms > metallic oxides
(Kim et al., 2008). Another membrane cleaning method proposed is cleaning each
membrane individually in another pressure level, reversed speed flow, same chemicals,
but higher feed flow or also known as hydrodynamic cleaning. This requires increase
in the flow rate. With this, membrane replacement could be avoided wherein the amount
varies in relation to capacity and actual operation of the plant. The higher the capacity
and operation time, the lower the specific membrane cost. For example, the cost of
membrane replacement in Oia plant in Santorini costs €1500 to €6000 per element
(Avlonitis et al., 2003).

2.10 Post-treatment Process

In RO desalination system, the typical post-treatment process involves pH

adjustment, minimal remineralization, disinfection and boron removal. This treatment
should minimally meet or exceed the potable water quality standard (Kim et al., 2008).

18
Table 2.10.1 Operation and Maintenance Parameters for Desalination Plants
Cost Parameter Percentage of Total Operation
Association and Maintenance Costs
Maintenance Instruments, pump upkeep, 6%
facility upkeep including intake
pipeline pigging, minor
equipment replacement, CCTV
intake/wells and associated
cleaning
Legal/Permits Environmental monitoring, 2%
permit compliance
Operations *Labor 6%
*Sludge and solids waste 4%
disposal, bar rack and band
screen solid waste disposal
*Cartridge filters and RO 11%
membrane replacements
*Power (Energy) 55%
*Chemicals 6%
*Others 10%
Source: Watereuse Association, 2012

2.10.1 Remineralization and pH adjustment

Liming materials with the addition of carbon dioxide are used to remineralize
product water before distribution network and the pH is adjusted from 6.8 to 8.1 to meet
potability specifications (Kim et al., 2008).

2.10.2 Disinfection

Bacteria and other organisms in the products are killed by means of UV

radiation. This also involves treatment of disinfection by-product (DBPs) containing
bromide and iodide (Kim et al., 2008).

19
2.10.3 Boron Removal

This process should reduce the boron concentration close to zero in a cost
efficient manner. Ion exchange technology using boron selective resins is the treatment
used to remove boron from permeate water since it has high selectivity and is not
affected by operating conditions such as pH, temperature and salinity. Recently, the
boron rejection of newly developed membranes ranges from 92% to 94% (Kim et al.,
2008).

2.11 Brine Discharge

In RO desalination plants, one of the encountered problems is the generation of

concentrated effluent (brine solution) which is handled in order to avoid environmental
contamination. Due to the proximity of the plants to the coast, brine can be discharged
to the sea through brine pipes or submarine emissaries, in a place where it is quickly
diffused in the marine medium (Arnal et al., 2005). This is also one of the reasons why
the percent recovery is limited at an average of 50-70%. Typically, the brine recovery
RO (BRO) unit product water is blended with primary RO (PRO) feed water; however,
if the BRO product quality is acceptable, it is blended with the PRO product water.
Therefore, having a maximum overall product recovery of <90% is achievable with a
dual RO membrane system (Singh, 2009). Also, it can be reused as a raw material on
solar ponds to recover salts through natural evaporation with reduced energy
consumption (Hajbi et al., 2009).

2.12 Sludge Treatment

As a by-product, sludge poses a major economic and environmental challenge.

Improved wastewater treatment processes have resulted in significantly higher
quantities of sludge to be treated. A desalination plant in Bahrain uses a sludge
treatment in which it is passed through a clarifier and subjected to dewatering by
centrifugation (Suez Water Technologies and Solutions, 2012). The use of centrifugal
force to dewater waste sludge is already a proven process in waste disposal technology
in which it can be classified in to three general types namely, its use as a thickener,
dewatering unit and a combination of both (Ray et al., 1968).

20
2.13 Energy Recovery

Of the numerous technical advances in seawater reverse osmosis, “pressure

equalizing or isobaric energy recovery devices (ERD’s) have brought greatest
significant reduction of energy consumption. These devices transfer energy from
membrane reject stream directly to the membrane feed stream, thereby reducing the
duty of the high-pressure pump. RO systems without energy recovery convert the
energy of the reject stream to unavailable heat and noise across a brine valve, which
results to inefficiency and capital loss (Stover, 2011).

21
 CHAPTER 3
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

3.1 Raw Materials and Their Properties

3.1.1 Seawater
The only raw material for SWRO desalination plant is the source of
water. Seawater from Miag-ao will be utilized for the operation. The selection
of a saline water source and thorough water quality are of critical importance
for the successful planning, implementation and long-term operation of
desalination projects (Voutchkov, 2013). RO desalination plants are quite
sensitive as contrasted to other desalination technologies since it requires
excellent seawater quality with particle size range of 5-20 μm and silt density
index value less than 3.5. This requires seawater intake with filters at a high
pressure (Gille, 2003). The feed water quality can affect permeate recovery rate,
salt passage and feed pressure in terms of turbidity, suspended solids and water
temperature respectively (Kim et al., 2008). To have a better seawater quality,
the water must be extracted from the depth below 35 m since the debris load in
such depths is at least 20 times smaller than the surface water (Gille, 2003). The
feed water salinity and temperature affect both permeate salinity and required
operating pressure since feed water salinity and osmotic pressure are directly
proportional, having higher power consumption with higher salinity. At a range
of about 35°C, an increase of feed water temperature enables a decrease in
energy consumption. The typical pressure range for seawater is at 44.8 to 82.7
bars (Kim et al., 2008; Voutchkov, 2013). The operating conditions of the
SWRO desalination plant varies upon the water quality of the seawater intake
and other several properties such as turbidity with a desirable level at <0.1 NTU
(nephelometric turbidity units), TSS (total suspended solids) which depends
whether it is algal or non-algal-bloom conditions ranging from 1.5 mg/L to 40
mg/L and low chlorophyll a concentrations below 0.5 μg/L which are indicative
of non-algal-bloom conditions (Voutchkov, 2013).

22
3.2 Utilities
3.2.1 Water
Water is an integral part of the desalination process since it will be used
in cleaning and maintenance of the equipment. Water will be pretreated prior to
its use to avoid scaling and membrane fouling. A part of the water could be
taken from the processed water and also using an external source such as deep
well sources. Any waste solutions or slurry from the plant will be treated in the
Waste Water Treatment Facility as per the law requires. Brine discharges could
be subjected to solar evaporation in order to produce salt.

3.2.2 Electricity
Electricity will enable the operation of the plant and water desalination
requires large amount of energy. To have lower energy costs, optimization and
minimization of energy consumption along with use of alternative energy
sources is recommended. The plant will primarily obtain its power source from
Panay Energy Development Corporation and modification in traditional
processes were made by using pressure exchange system or energy recovery
system (Van der Bruggen and Vandecasteele, 2002).

3.3 Process Description

3.3.1 Source Water Screening
Screening facilities are the first treatment step of every desalination
plant. The open ocean intakes will be equipped with coarse bar screens followed
by smaller-size (fine) screens with openings of 1 to 10 mm that prevent the
majority of adult and juvenile aquatic organisms (fish, crabs, etc.) from entering
the desalination plant (Voutchkov, 2013).
Most aquatic organisms collected with the source water used for
production of desalinated water are removed by screening and downstream
filtration before the saline source water enters the reverse osmosis desalination
membranes for salt separation (Voutchkov, 2013).

23
3.3.2 Source Water Conditioning
3.3.2.1 Coagulation, flocculation and settling
Screened water will be pumped to a 3-stage tank that combines
advantages of ballasted flocculation and lamella clarification resulting in a high
rate of settling process.
Coagulants will be introduced in the first stage of the tank to create flocs.
The needed amount of coagulant is dependent on the size and charge of particles
dominating in the source water (Voutchkov, 2013). In the second stage of the
tank, microsands will be injected to make the flocs heavy and the polymers will
act as a glue to create sludge. The sludge will then settle at the bottom of the
settling tank at stage 3 whereas, the clear seawater will overflow and stored to
the clear seawater tank.
The coagulants most frequently used for membrane plant source water
conditioning prior to sedimentation or filtration are ferric salts (ferric sulfate
and ferric chloride). Aluminum salts (such as alum or polyaluminum chloride)
are not typically used, because it is difficult to maintain aluminum
concentrations at low levels in dissolved form, and small amounts of aluminum
may cause irreversible mineral fouling of the downstream RO membrane
elements. The optimum coagulant dosage depends on the pH and should be
established based on an on-site jar or pilot test for the site-specific conditions of
a given application (Voutchkov, 2013).
The type and dosage of polymer (nonionic or anionic) that is most
suitable for a given application should be determined by jar and/or pilot testing.
Typically, polymer is added at a very low dosage (0.25 to 0.5 mg/L). Polymer
dosages higher than 1 mg/L should be avoided, because they usually result in a
high content of unused polymer in the filter effluent, which in turn plugs the
cartridge filters and deposits on the membrane elements, thereby shortening the
useful life of the cartridge filter and expediting the need for RO membrane
cleaning. Polyelectrolytes are the most common flocculants used in industry
(Voutchkov, 2013).
Automated control systems will be installed to automatically adjust the
dosage of the chemicals to be used. Manual back-up systems will act as a fail-
safe when automated systems experience an error.

24
 3.3.2.2 Dual media Filtration
Before the seawater enters the RO membranes, its turbidity should be
first reduced in order to lessen membrane fouling. This is achieved by the
installation of dual media filters (DMF). The DMF contains 4 layers of
anthracite coal and sands. These are the media of choice because of the
differences in size and density. The larger but lighter anthracite coal will be on
top and the heavier but smaller sands will remain at the bottom. Many particles
in water are too small to be removed by sedimentation alone. Filtration removes
microorganisms and suspended matter from sedimentation treatment, or it
eliminates precipitated particles and flocs remaining after sedimentation (Camp,
2003).

3.3.3 Membrane Separation

3.3.3.1 Injected Chemicals
Three chemicals will be injected before the RO membrane filters. First,
the anti-scalant will be injected for controlling the scaling of the membrane
filters, then HCl for pH correction, and lastly, NaHSO3 for free chlorine
reduction.

3.3.3.2 Membrane Filters

Installed membrane filters will be able to remove: the remaining total
dissolved solids that remained from the DUAL MEDIA FILTER, bacteria and
other remaining organic compounds, colloids ranging from <0.2 microns and
dissolved silica. It is the finest range of filtration that can reject matter in 1 to
10 angstrom range (Jackson, 2008).
Every set of membrane filters in cartridges will be equipped with energy
recovery devices to reduce energy costs from using high pressure pumps.

3.4 Desalination Products and Characteristics

3.4.1 Product Water

The desired product of the seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant

is the potable water being produced. The quality of the water produced
depends on the characteristics of the seawater entering the plant. Water quality

25
is one of the key factors that have significant impact on plant configuration
and costs (Voutchkov, 2013).

3.4.2 Water Quality of Saltwater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants

3.4.2.1 Mineral Content

Content of minerals in the permeate produced by the saltwater

reverse osmosis desalination plant may vary over a wide range,
depending on the ion composition and temperature of the source of
water, the configuration of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane
system, and the salt rejection of the membranes used for desalination.
Seawater treatment by a two-pass reverse osmosis system can produce
water of suitable quality for all municipal, agricultural and horticultural
uses (Voutchkov, 2013). The two-pass reverse osmosis system changes
water at 48,000 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS) to 50 ppm of total
dissolved solids (Pergande et al., 2000).

3.4.2.2 Organics

Desalinated seawater produced by saltwater reverse osmosis

systems usually contains organics at a level which is much lower
compared to those of most traditional freshwater sources like rivers,
lakes, and groundwater aquifers. Low molecular weight algal toxins
such as domoic acid and saxitoxin are potential concern for the quality
of desalinated water originating from surface water sources. Seawater
reverse osmosis membranes can completely reject such organic
compounds and thereby can produce safe drinking water even when
the source water is exposed to such toxins (Voutchkov, 2013).

3.4.2.3 Pathogens

Saltwater Reverse Osmosis membranes are not an absolute

barrier for microbial contaminants, typically they are expected to
achieve pathogen removal of 4 to 6 logs or more. While the
membranes can consistently provide over 4-log or 99.99% pathogen
rejection, due to lack of standard procedures for reverse osmosis

26
 membrane integrity testing, they are only credited with a 2-log removal
of pathogens (Voutchkov, 2013).

3.4.3 Plant Discharge

Seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants generate three key waste

streams: concentrate or brine, which has 1.5 to 5 times higher salinity than the
source water, spent filter backwash water, and spent chemicals and flush water
from periodic RO membrane cleaning, which usually are of lower salinity than
the source water (Voutchkov, 2013).

3.4.4 Concentrate

The volume of concentrate generated by seawater desalination plants is

significant, because a typical SWRO separation process converts only 40 to 55
% of the source water into desalinated freshwater rejecting the remaining
source water as concentrate. Concentrate water quality is largely determined
by the quality of the source water and the design of the desalination plant.
Seawater concentrate contains over 99 percent of all source seawater salts and
dissolved constituents which creates a mineral content approximately 1.5 to 2
times higher than the source seawater (Voutchkov, 2013).

3.4.5 Spent Filter Backwash Water

Spent filter backwash water is a waste stream produced by the

pretreatment filtration system that serves to remove solid particles and other
compounds before the water stream can be treated by RO membranes. The
amount of solids contained in the spent filter backwash water is dependent on
the source water quality and type of pretreatment system used. Membrane-based
pretreatment produce larger volumes of backwash water about 1.5 to 2 times of
the source water. Also, depending on the pretreatment system, the waste stream
may contain iron salts used as coagulants in addition to suspended solids like
debris, silt, shell particles and other solids naturally found in the source water

27
(Voutchkov, 2013). The waste treatment and proper disposal of the concentrate
according to regulations set by the DENR will be further discussed in Chapter
8, Waste Management.

3.4.6 Spent Membrane Cleaning Chemicals

Spent membrane cleaning chemicals, e.g. chlorine, inorganic acid

typically H2SO4, inorganic caustic typically NAOH, organic acids typically
citric and oxalic acids, are waste streams generated from the chemical cleaning
inside the saltwater reverse osmosis desalination plant. The volume of spent
membrane cleaning chemicals are only found to be 0.5 to 1 percent of the total
plant discharge volume (Voutchkov, 2013).

28
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