Bench-Scale Testing of Nanofiltration for Seawater Desalination
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 11
Abstract
A dual-staged nanofiltration process is being evaluated as an alternative to reverse osmosis for seawater desalination. The primary goal of this system is to reduce energy consumption while producing potable water at an acceptable recovery rate. Investigation of this system at the bench-scale level focused on membrane surface characterization, ion rejection (including boron, bromide, and iodide rejection), and flux decline. Results from this study showed that two commercially available nanofiltration membranes can effectively desalinate seawater. Although fouling was apparent—and resulted in approximately 20% flux decline over 3 days—a critical flux was not identifiable. Operation of the system at different cross-flow velocities revealed the significance of hydrodynamic conditions on the polarization modulus, and hence on membrane performance.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the American Water Works Association Research Foundation for their support of this project. On behalf of LBWD, Kevin L. Wattier, General Manager and Diem X. Vuong, former Assistant General Manager are to be thanked for their financial support and intellectual contributions. Also on behalf of LBWD, Janel E. Grebel and Phu Ngyuen, Civil Engineering interns and Tai J. Tseng, Treatment Plant Superintendent for operation of the pilot plant are to be thanked. On behalf of the University of Nevada, Reno, Tzahi Y. Cath, now Assistant Professor at the Colorado School of Mines, is to be thanked for his intellectual contribution to this project. This work was carried out at the University of Nevada, Reno and the Long Beach Water Department.
References
Allegeier, S. C., and Summers, R. S. (1995). “Evaluation of NF for DBP control with the RBSMT.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 87, 87–99.
Bischsel, Y., and Bunten, U. V. (2000). “Formation of iodo-trihalomethanes during disinfection and oxidation of iodide-containing waters.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 2784–2791.
Blau, T. F., Taylor, J. S., Morris, K. E., and Mulford, L. A. (1992). “DBP control by nanofiltration: Cost and performance.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 84, 104–116.
Brant, J. A., and Childress, A. E. (2002a). “Assessing short range membrane-colloid interactions using surface energetics.” J. Membr. Sci., 203, 257–273.
Brant, J. A., and Childress, A. E. (2002b). “Membrane-colloid interactions: comparison of extended DLVO predictions with AFM force measurements.” Environ. Eng. Sci., 19, 413–427.
CALFED. (2000). “Record of decision.” ⟨http://calwater.ca.gov/Archives/GeneralArchive/RecordOfDecision2000.shtml⟩.
Childress, A. E., and Elimelech, M. (1996). “Effect of solution chemistry on the surface charge of polymeric reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes.” J. Membr. Sci., 199, 253–268.
Childress, A. E., and Elimelech, M. (2000). “Relating nanofiltration membrane performance to membrane charge (electrokinetic) characteristics.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34, 3710–3416.
Clesceri, L. S., Greenberg, A. E., and Eaton, A. D. (1998). Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water, American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and Water Environment Federation, Denver.
Eriksson, P. (2004). “Reverse osmosis to concentrate ammonium nitrate in condensates from laboratory studies to industrial scale design and operation.” Proc., AIChE Annual Meeting, Austin, Tex.
Field, R. W., Wu, D., Howell, J. A., and Gupta, B. B. (1995). “Critical flux concept for microfiltration fouling.” J. Membr. Sci., 100, 259–275.
Hoek, E. M., and Elimelech, M. (2003). “Cake-enhanced concentration polarization: a new fouling mechanism for salt-rejecting membranes.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 37, 5581–5588.
Holmes-Farley, R. (1998). “Understanding seawater.” Aquarium frontiers, ⟨http://web.archive.org/web/20001008202306/www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/july/default.asp⟩.
Howell, J. (2004). “Critical flux revisited.” Proc., Conf. on Fouling and Critical Flux, Lappeenranta, Finland.
Lee, S., Amy, G., and Cho, J. (2004). “Applicability of Sherwood correlation for natural organic matter (NOM) transport in nanofiltration (NF) membranes.” J. Membr. Sci., 240, 49–65.
Magara, Y., Tabata, A., Kohki, M., Kawasaki, M., and Hirose, M. (1998). “Development of a boron reduction system for seawater desalination.” Desalination, 118, 25–34.
Manttari, M., and Nyström, M. (2000). “Critical flux in NF of high molar mass polysaccharides and effluents from the paper industry.” J. Membr. Sci., 170, 257–273.
Melnik, L., Vysotskaja, O., and Kornilovich, B. (1999). “Boron behavior during desalination of sea and underground water by electrodialysis.” Desalination, 124, 125–130.
Mulder, M. (1996). Basic principles of membrane technologies, Kluwer Academic, Boston.
Pastor, M. R., Ruiz, A. F., Chillon, M. F., and Rico, D. P. (2001). “Influence of pH in the elimination of boron by means of reverse osmosis.” Desalination, 140, 145–152.
Sablani, S., Goosen, M., Al-Belushi, R., and Wilf, M. (2001). “Concentration polarization in ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis: A critical review.” Desalination, 141, 269–289.
Tseng, T., Cheng, R. C., Vuong, D. W., and Wattier, K. L. (2005). “Developing an experimental protocol for evaluating low-pressure desalting membranes for seawater desalination.” Proc., AWWA Membrane Technology Conf., Phoenix.
Vrijenhoek, E. M., Hong, S., and Elimelech, M. (2001). “Influence of membrane surface properties on initial rate of colloidal fouling of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes.” J. Membr. Sci., 188, 115–128.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 9, 2005
Accepted: Mar 14, 2007
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.