World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2018
Sustainable Desalination of Brackish Groundwater for the Las Vegas Valley
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2018: Groundwater, Sustainability, and Hydro-Climate/Climate Change
ABSTRACT
Desalination is a drought-resistant alternative for freshwater generation, especially for arid southwest with history of recurring droughts. With growing population and changing climate, water demands in the region are increasing, thus desalination becomes an effective option to supplement limiting freshwater resources. A major barrier to desalination is its high energy consumption and associated cost. Using renewables as an energy source for desalination has the potential to make it less costly and more sustainable. Las Vegas Valley is underlain by a shallow brackish groundwater aquifer with total dissolved solids levels varying from 1,000-10,000 mg l-1. The objective of this study was to determine the potential of using solar photovoltaic (PV) for pumping and desalination of a brackish shallow groundwater for a selected well in Las Vegas Valley. Brackish water pumping and desalination system using reverse osmosis was designed using industry-accepted criteria, and the corresponding energy consumption was determined. System advisor model was used for performance and economic assessment of solar PV. Energy consumption was shown to be largest for concentrate management, utilizing about 94% of the overall energy consumption. A 5.5 MW solar PV, with battery bank capacity of 255 MWh was found to be viable with positive net present value of $2.6 million. Reduction in carbon emissions due to PV deployment was found to be 4,700 metric tons CO2eq year-1. The methodology used in this study can be applied to other regions for sustainable inland desalination of brackish groundwater.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by National Science Foundation under the Grant No. IIA-1301726.
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Published In
World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2018: Groundwater, Sustainability, and Hydro-Climate/Climate Change
Pages: 311 - 322
Editor: Sri Kamojjala, Las Vegas Valley Water District
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8141-7
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© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Published online: May 31, 2018
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