Professional Documents
Culture Documents
RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
The Desalting
Prepared by 0. K. Buros
For the International
Desalination Association
ABC 's
Material in this booklet may be used freely. If portions are used, then credit must be
given to this publication or the original source of the material.
Contents
2
American government actively funded research and
development for over 30 years, spending about 300 Commercially Available Desalting Processes
million dollars in the process. These monies helped to
provide much of the basic investigation and development Major Processes
of the different technologies for desalting sea and brack-
ish waters.
- Multi-Stage Flash Distillation
By the late 1960's commercial units of up to 8000 cubic - Multiple Effect Distillation
meters per day (cum/d) [2 million gallons per day (mgd)] - Vapor Compression Distillation
were beginning to be installed in various parts of the
world. These mostly thermal-driven units were used to l Membrane
desalt sea water, but in the 197Os, commercial mem- - Electrodialysis
brane processes began to be used. Originally, the distil- - Reverse Osmosis
Minor Processes
l Freezing
l Membrane Distillation
l Solar Humidification
3
achieved with the units that had been built and operat- Most of the capacity in the USA consists of plants in
ing in the previous decades. A variety of desalting tech- which the RO process is used to treat brackish ground
nologies has been developed over the years and, based on water.
their commercial success, they can be classified into
major and minor desalting processes shown on page 3. Wangnick’s inventory indicates that the world’s installed
capacity consists mainly of the multi-stage flash distilla-
Worldwide Acceptance tion and RO processes. These two processes make up
about 86 percent of the total capacity. The remaining 14
An inventory completed in 1990 for IDA by Klaus percent is made up of the multiple effect, electrodialysis,
Wangnick indicated that the total capacity of installed and vapor compression processes while the minor pro-
desalination plants worldwide was about 13.2 million cesses amounted to less than one percent.
cum/d (3480 mgd). Desalting equipment is now used in
about 120 countries. Almost half of this desalting capac-
ity is used to desalt sea water in the Middle East and
North Africa. Saudi Arabia ranks first in total capacity
(about 27 percent of the world’s capacity), with most of it
being made up of sea water desalting units that use the
distillation process. The United States of America (USA)
ranks second in overall capacity, with about 12 percent.
4
All countries producing desalinated water in order of capacities from
maximum to minimum amount of fresh water in M3/day.
2- KUWAIT 1,334,650
3- UAE 1,306,846
4- USA 1,272,625
LIBYA 576,119
6- IRAN 368,689
7- BAHRAIN 311,620
8- QATAR 308,138
9- ITALY 261,066
10- USSR 259,951
ll- SPAIN 218,608
48,869 187 91
- -
156,170 69 36
Capacity NO. OF NO. OF
S. No. m3/Day Process Units Plants Feed Water
80-Singapore ME 2 2 Sea
10,509 RO 20 18 Brack/Sea
16,509 22 20
4,423 RO 8 Brack
1,200 ED 3 Brack
5,623 11
Capacity NO. OF NO. OF
S. No. m3/Day Process Units Plants Feed Water
Jubail-Riyadh 830,000 m3/day 465 kms- Steel API Std: 6 pump stations From Jubail Desal
Transmission Or Double line 60 in. dia. 430 MW capacity plants to Riyadh, via
219 million Terminal at H PT, D hahran., S h edgum,
IJSG/D Riyadh Hofuf, Khurais
300,000 rn 3 storage and Wasia,
in 6 Conc. tanks
Shoaibah-Makkah-Taif 182.000 m:‘/day 247 kms - Steel API Std: 4 pump stations Tunnel: 13.2 km in
Water Transmission 96 km Double line 56 in. dia. 85 MW capacity length. through Taif
Facility 48 million 55 km Single line 42 in. dia. Two terminals 30 million IJSG to
IJSG/D 4 X 50,000 m 3 storage Makkah
2 X 25,000 m,’ storage 18 million I JSG to
Taif
Assir Phase One 113,636 m3/day 215 kms - Steel API Std: 4 pump stations A series of tunnels
Water Transmission o r 140 km Pressure line Concrete cyl. pipes 108 MW capacity Total length 10.5 km
Facility 30 million 75 km Gravity line 42 in. 8r 36 in. dia. Large terminal Storage Total-
USGID 48 in. 8r 20 in. dia. A bh a 125,000 m3
Smalll - Bin Nauman
IJkad
Yanbu-Madina 104.000 m3/day 176 km - Madina Steel API Std: 2 pump stations 22 million IJSG/D
Water Transmission o r 50 km - Yanbu 32 in. dia. 17 MW capacity to Madina
System 28 million (Pressure lines) Asbestos Cement 6 million IJSG/D
IJSG/D Pipe 24 in. dia. to Yanbu
Al Khobar 2 190,000 m’/day 84.5 km Concrete c I pipes 1 pump station Stora eat:
Water Transmission or 1100 mm x ia. - 30 km and 1. Ala Khobar-96,000 ml1
System 50 million 1000 mm dia. - 71.5 km 7 blending stations 2. Dhahran-15,000Mr3
USC/D 900 mm dia. - 37.0 km Storage capacity Airport
500 mm dia.-25.25 km = 459,000 rn’ 3. Dammam-200,000 m 3
4. Sayhat-20,000 rn”
5. Qatif-88,000, rn”
6. Safwa-20,000 rn”
7. Rahemah-20,000 rn’j
Water Transmission 380,000 m3/day 389 km Steel API Std: 4 pump stations Branch lines
from Jubail to or Single line pressure 60 in. dia. - 389 km between 1. Zulfi line
Washem-Sudayr 100 million 384 km Prestressed concrete Jubail-Riyadh 400 mm dia. CCP
& Qasim IJSG/D Double line pressure 16,OO mm dia.-205 km Qasim 37.4 km
& Gravity 2,000 mm dia.-165 km Storage at 2. Sha qra Steel
Steel 48 in.-163 km Buray dah = 300,000 m3 Pipel ine 20 in.
Riya da h = 300,000 m3 96.8 km
25
Existing Desal Plants Along The Red Sea
Installed Capacity
Phase Process No. of Unit , Year of
Megawatts Operation
Installed Capacity
Phase Process No. of Unit _ Year of
Cubic m/day Megawatts Operation
- -
QUNFUDA I 3788
Planned
- - -
AL JUBAIL I MSF 6 136363 (5)360 1980
28
Desalting Technologies To boil, water needs two important conditions: the proper
temperature relative to its ambient pressure and enough
energy for vaporization. When water is heated to its
A desalting device essentially separates saline water into boiling point and then the heat is turned off, the water
two streams: one with a low concentration of dissolved will continue to boil only for a short time because the
salts (the fresh water stream) and the other containing water needs additional energy (the heat of vaporization)
the remaining dissolved salts (the concentrate or brine to permit boiling. Once the water stops boiling, boiling
stream). The device requires energy to operate and can can be renewed by either adding more heat or by reduc-
use a number of different technologies for the separation. ing the ambient pressure above the water. If the ambient
This section briefly describes the various desalting pressure is reduced, then the water would then be at a
processes commonly used to desalt saline water. temperature above its boiling point (because of the
reduced pressure) and will boil with the extra heat from
Thermal Processes the higher temperature to supply the heat of vaporization
needed. As the heat of vaporization is supplied, the
Over 60 percent of the world’s desalted water is produced temperature of the water will fall to the new boiling point.
with heat to distill fresh water from sea water. The
distillation process mimics the natural water cycle in To significantly reduce the amount of energy needed for
that saline water is heated, producing water vapor that is vaporization, the distillation desalting process usually
in turn condensed to form fresh water. In a laboratory or uses multiple boiling in successive vessels, each operat-
industrial plant, water is heated to the boiling point to ing at a lower temperature and pressure. This process of
produce the maximum amount of water vapor. reducing the ambient pressure to promote boiling can
continue downward and, if carried to the extreme with
For this to be done economically in a desalination plant, the pressure reduced enough, the point at which water
the boiling point is controlled by adjusting the atmo- would be boiling and freezing at the same time would be
spheric pressure of the water being boiled. (The tempera- reached.
ture required to boil water decreases as one moves from
sea level to a higher elevation because of the reduced Aside from multiple boiling, the other important factor is
atmospheric pressure on the water. Thus, water can be scale control. Although most substances dissolve more
boiled on top of Mt. McKinley in Alaska [elevation 6200 readily in warmer water, some dissolve more readily in
meters (20300 feet)] at a temperature about 16OC (28°F) cooler water. Unfortunately, some of these substances
less than boiling it at sea level.) The reduction of the like carbonates and sulfates are found in sea water. One
boiling point is important in the desalination process for of the most important is gypsum (CaSO,), which begins
two major reasons: multiple boiling and scale control. to leave solution when water approaches about 95OC
29
(203°F). This material forms a hard scale that coats any
tubes or containers present. Scale creates thermal and
mechanical problems and, once formed, is difficult to
remove. One way to avoid the formation of this scale is to
keep the temperature and boiling point of the water
below that of temperature.
In the MSF process, sea water is heated in a vessel called Large MSF plant
the brine heater, This is generally done by condensing The concept of distilling water with a vessel operating at
steam on a bank of tubes that passes through the vessel a reduced pressure is not new and has been used for well
which in turn heats the sea water. This heated sea water
then flows into another vessel, called a stage, where the
ambient pressure is such that the HEATING
water will immediately boil. The SECTION FLASH AND
HEAT RECOVERY SECTION , I
sudden introduction of the heated 1st Stage 2nd STAGE Nth STAGE
water into the chamber causes it
to boil rapidly, almost exploding
or_flashing into steam. Generally,
only a small percentage of this
water is converted to steam
(water vapor), depending on the
pressure maintained in this stage
since boiling will continue only
until the water cools (furnishing Condensate
30
of salt wit
developed. In this unit, the feed water could pass the evapo
from one stage to another and be boiled repeatedly rative
without adding more heat. Typically, an MSF plant can process.
contain from 4 to about 40 stages. Some of the
early water
The steam generated by flashing is converted to fresh distillation
water by being condensed on tubes of heat exchangers plants used
that run through each stage. The tubes are cooled by the the MED
incoming feed water going to the brine heater. This, in process,
turn, warms up the feed water so that the amount of but this
thermal energy needed in the brine heater to raise the process was
temperature of the sea water is reduced. displaced MED Plant
by the MSF
Multi-stage flash plants have been built commercially units because of cost factors and their apparent higher
since the 1950s. They are generally built in units of about efficiency. However, in the past decade, interest in the
4000 to 30000 cum/d (1 to 8 mgd). The MSF plants MED process has renewed, and a number of new designs
usually operate at the top feed temperatures (after the have been built. Most of these new MED units have been
brine heater) of 90- 120°C (194-248°F). One of the factors built around the concept of operating on lower tempera-
that affects the thermal efficiency of the plant is the tures.
difference in temperature from the brine heater to the
condenser on the cold end of the plant. Operating a plant MED. like the MSF process, takes place in a series of
at the higher temperature limits of 120°C (248°F) tends to vessels (effects) and uses the principle of reducing the
increase the efficiency, but it also increases the potential ambient pressure in the various effects. This permits the
for detrimental scale formation and accelerated corrosion sea water feed to undergo multiple boiling without sup-
of metal surfaces. plying additional heat after the first effect. In an MED
plant, the sea water enters the first effect and is raised to
Multiple Effect Distillation the boiling point after being preheated in tubes. The sea
water is either sprayed or otherwise distributed onto the
surface of evaporator tubes in a thin film to promote
The multiple effect distillation (MED) process has been rapid boiling and evaporation. The tubes are heated by
used for industrial distillation for a long time. One popu- steam from a boiler, or other source, which is condensed
lar use for this process is the evaporation of juice from on the opposite side of the tubes. The condensate from
sugar cane in the production of sugar or the production the boiler steam is recycled to the boiler for reuse.
31
Only a portion of the sea water 1st EFFECT 2nd EFFECT 3rd EFFECT Note: P i > P2 > P3
T, > T2 > Tg
applied to the tubes in the first P = Pressure
Vacuum
effect is evaporated. The remain-
Vacuum Vacuum T = Temperature
32
evaporation. VC units are usually built in the 20- to 2000-cum/d
The com- (0.005- to 0.5-mgd) range. They are often used for re-
pressor sorts, industries, and drilling sites where fresh water is
creates a not readily available.
vacuum in
the vessel Membrane Processes
and then
compresses
In nature, membranes play an important role in the
the vapor
separation of salts. This includes both the processes of
taken from
dialysis and osmosis that occur in the body. Membranes
the vessel
are used in two commercially important desalting pro-
and con-
cesses: electrodialysis and RO. Each process uses the
denses it
ability of membranes to differentiate and selectively
inside of a
separate salts and water. However, membranes are used
tube bundle
differently in each of these processes.
also in the same vessel. Sea water is sprayed on the
outside of the heated tube bundle where it boils and
partially evaporates, producing
more vapor. A portion of the hot brine is
recirculated to the spray nozzles for
further vaporization on the tube
With the steam jet-type of VC unit, bundle. The vapor gains heat energy by
being compressed by the vapor
Electrodialysis
Electrodialysis was commercially introduced in the early
196Os, about 10 years before RO. The development of
electrodialysis provided a cost-effective way to desalt
brackish water and spurred considerable interest in this
area.
34
the face of the membrane is placed between each pair of water and brine to emerge from the stack. Depending on
membranes. the design of the system, chemicals may be added to the
streams in the stack to reduce the potential for scaling.
One spacer provides a channel that carries feed (and
product) water, while the next carries brine. As the An electrodialysis unit is made up of the following basic
electrodes are charged and saline feed water flows along components:
the product water spacer at right angles to the elec-
trodes, the anions in the water are attracted and diverted
toward the positive electrode. This dilutes the salt con- r
tent of the water in the product water channel. The Raw
anions pass through the anion-selective membrane, but
Fe&water
35
channels in the cells from entering the membrane stack. and other
The feed water is circulated through the stack with a low- deposits in
pressure pump with enough power to overcome the the cells
resistance of the water as it passes through the narrow before they
passages. A rectifier is generally used to transform can build
alternating current to the direct current supplied to the up and
electrodes on the outside of the membrane stacks. create a
problem.
Post-treatment consists of stabilizing the water and Flushing
preparing it for distribution. This post-treatment might allows the
consist of removing gases such as hydrogen sulfide and unit to An EDR plant
operate with
fewer pretreatment chemicals and minimizes membrane
Electrodialysis Reversal Process (EDR) fouling.
36
direct current used to separate the ionic substances in Without this controlled
the membrane stack. discharge, the pressurized
feed water would continue
Reverse Osmosis to increase in salt concen-
tration, creating such
In comparison to distillation and electrodialysis, RO is problems as precipitation
relatively new, with successful commercialization occur- of supersaturated salts
ring in the early 1970s. and increased osmotic
pressure across the mem-
RO is a membrane separation process in which the water branes. The amount of the
from a pressurized saline solution is separated from the feed water discharged to
solutes (the dissolved material) by flowing through a waste in this brine stream
membrane. No heating or phase change is necessary for varies from 20 to 70
this separation. The major energy required for desalting percent of the feed flow,
is for pressurizing the feed water. depending on the salt
content of the feed water.
An RO system is made up
MEMBRANE of the following basic
HIGH ASSEMBLY
components:
Freshwater
POST-
PRE-
’ TREATMENT
*TREATMENT
. l Pretreatment
Stabilized
Freshwater
l Highpressure pump
Brine RO Plant
Discharge l Membrane assembly
Basic components of a reverse osmosis p/ant.
l Post-treatment
In practice, the saline feed water is pumped into a closed
Pretreatment is important in RO because the feed water
a portion of the water passes through the membrane, the must pass through very narrow passages during the
remaining feed water increases in salt content. At the process. Therefore, suspended solids must be removed
same time, a portion of this feed water is discharged and the water pre-treated so that salt precipitation or
without passing through the membrane. microorganism growth does not occur on the
37
Rotated 180o
39
40
membranes. Usually, wound sheet and hollow fine fiber. Both of these configu-
the pretreatment rations are used to desalt both brackish and sea water,
consists of fine filtra- although the construction of the membrane and pressure
tion and the addition vessel will vary depending on the manufacturer and
of acid or other chemi- expected salt content of the feed water.
cals to inhibit precipi-
tation. Post-treatment consists of stabilizing the water and
preparing it for distribution. This post-treatment might
The high-pressure consist of the removing gases such as hydrogen sulfide
pump supplies the and adjusting the PH.
pressure needed to
enable the water to Two developments have helped to reduce the operating
pass through the costs of RO plants during the past decade: the develop-
membrane and have ment of membranes that can operate efficiently with
the salts rejected. This
pressure ranges from
17 to 27 bar (250 to
400 psi) for brackish
water and from 54 to
80 bar (800 to 1180
psi) for sea water.
Internal View of RO Plant
The membrane assembly consists of a pressure vessel
and a membrane that permits the feed water to be pres-
surized against the membrane. The membrane must be
able to withstand the drop of the entire pressure across
it. The semi-permeable membranes are fragile and vary
in their ability to pass fresh water and reject the passage
of salts. No membrane is perfect in its ability to reject
salts, so a small amount of salts passes through the
membrane and appears in the product water.
41
lower pressures and the use of energy recovery devices. Theoretically, freezing has some advantages over distilla-
The low-pressure membranes are being widely used to tion, the predominant desalting process at the time the
desalt brackish water. The energy recovery devices are freezing process was developed. These advantages include
connected to the concentrate stream as it leaves the a lower theoretical energy requirement, minimal potential
pressure vessel. The water in the concentrate stream for corrosion, and little scaling or precipitation. The
loses only about 1 to 4 bar (15 to 60 psi) relative to the disadvantage is that it involves handling ice and water
applied pressure from the high-pressure pump. These mixtures that are mechanically complex to move and
energy recovery devices are mechanical and generally process.
consist of turbines or pumps of some type that can
convert a pressure drop to rotating energy. A small number of plants have been built over the past 40
years, but the process has not been a commercial success
Other Processes in the production of fresh water for municipal purposes,
The most recent significant example of a freezing desalt-
A number of other processes have been used to desalt ing plant was an experimental solar-powered unit con-
saline waters. These processes have not achieved the structed in Saudi Arabia in the late 1980s. The experi-
level of commercial success that distillation, electrodialy- mental work has been concluded, and the plant disas-
sis, and RO have, but they may prove valuable under sembled. At this stage, freezing desalting technology
special circumstances or with further development. The probably has a better application in the treatment of
most significant of these processes are freezing, mem- industrial wastes rather than the production of municipal
brane distillation, and solar humidification. drinking water.
Extensive work was done in the 1950s and 1960s to Membrane distillation was introduced commercially on a
develop freezing desalination. During the process of small scale in the 1980s. As the name implies, the pro-
freezing, dissolved salts are naturally excluded during cess combines both the use of distillation and mem-
the formation of ice crystals. Sea water can be desali- branes. In the process, saline water is warmed to enhance
nated by cooling the water to form crystals under con- vapor production, and this vapor is exposed to a mem-
trolled conditions. Before the entire mass of water has brane that can pass vapor but not water. After the vapor
been frozen, the mixture is usually washed and rinsed to passes through the membrane, it is condensed on a
remove the salts in the remaining water or adhering to cooler surface to produce fresh water. In the liquid form,
the ice crystals. The ice is then melted to produce fresh the fresh water cannot pass back through the membrane,
water. so it is trapped and collected as the output of the plant.
42
Thus far, the process has been used only in a few areas Variations of this type of solar still have been made in an
Compared to the more commercially successful pro- effort to increase efficiency, but they all share the follow-
cesses, membrane distillation requires more space and ing difficulties, which restrict the use of this technique
may use considerable pumping energy per unit of pro- for large-scale production:
duction. Being essentially a distillation process, it is
subject to some of the same performance limitations as l Large solar collection area requirements
are experienced with that process.
l High capital cost
The main advantages of membrane distillation lie in its
simplicity and the need for only small temperature l Vulnerability to weather-related damage
differentials to operate. Membrane distillation probably
has its best application in desalting saline water where A general rule of thumb for solar stills is that a solar
inexpensive low-grade thermal energy is available, such collection area of about one square meter is needed to
as from industries or solar collectors. produce 4 liters of water per day (10 square foot/ 1
gallon). Thus, for a 4000-cum/d facility, a land area of
Solar Humidification about 100 hectares would be needed (250 acres/mgd).
43
An application for these types of solar humidification
units has been for desalting saline water on a small scale
for a family or small village where solar energy is abun-
dant but electricity is not.
44
Other Aspects of Desalting
Cogeneration
In some situations, it is possible to use energy so that
more than one use can be obtained from it as the energy
moves from a high level to an ambient level. This occurs
with cogeneration where a single energy source can
perform several different functions.
The electricity is produced with high-pressure steam to The main advantage of a cogeneration system is that it
run turbines which in turn power electric generators. In can significantly reduce the consumption of fuel when
a typical case, boilers produce high-pressure steam at compared to the fuel needed if two separate plants were
about 540°C (1 ,OOOOF). As this steam expands in the required. Since energy is a major operating cost in any
turbine, its temperature and energy level is reduced. desalination process, this can be an important economic-
Distillation plants need steam whose temperature is benefit. One of the disadvantages is that the units are
about 120°C (248°F) or below, and this can be obtained permanently connected together and, for the desalination
by extracting the lower temperature steam at the low plant to operate efficiently, the steam turbine must be
pressure end of the turbine after much of its energy has operating. This can create a problem with water produc-
been used to generate electricity. This steam is then run tion when the turbine or generator is down for repairs.
through the distillation plant’s brine heater, where it is
condensed in the tubes, thereby increasing the tempera- This type of power and water production installation is
ture of the incoming sea water. The condensate from the commonly referred as a dual-purpose plant. Since many
steam is then returned to the boiler to be reheated for of the oil-producing countries of the Middle East and
use in the turbine. North Africa were engaged in building up their total
45
infrastructure, these types of installations fit in well with may involve dilution, injection of the concentrate into a
the overall development program in these countries. saline aquifer, evaporation, or transport by pipeline to a
suitable disposal point. All of these methods could add to
Other types of cogeneration facilities benefitting desalina- the cost of the process.
tion can derive lower-cost steam from industrial pro-
cesses or from burning solid wastes in an incinerator. The means of properly disposing of the concentrate flow
should be one of the items investigated first in any study
Concentrate Disposal of the feasibility of a desalination facility. The cost of
disposal could be significant and could adversely affect
the economics of desalination.
The common element in all of these desalination pro-
cesses is the production of a concentrate stream (also
called a brine, reject, or waste stream). This stream
contains the salts removed from the saline feed to pro-
duce the fresh water product as well as some of the
chemicals that may have been added during the process.
This stream varies in volume depending on the process,
but will almost always be a significant quantity of water.
46
that the capital and operating costs for desalination have
tended to decrease over the years, although the increase
in energy prices during the 1970s affected production
Another method of reducing the overall costs of desalting costs. At the same time desalting costs have been de-
can be the use of hybrid systems. Such hybrid systems creasing, the costs of obtaining and treating water from
are not applicable to most desalination installations, but conventional sources has tended to increase because of
can prove to be an economic benefit in some cases. A the increased levels of treatment being required in vari-
hybrid system is a treatment configuration made up of ous countries to meet more stringent water quality
two or more desalination processes. An example is using standards. This rise in cost for conventionally treated
both distillation and RO processes to desalt sea water at water also is the result of an increased demand for water,
one facility to use and to combine the different character- leading to the need to develop more expensive conven-
istics of each process productively. tional supplies since the readily obtainable water sources
have already been used.
An example of such a hybrid system would be where
steam is used in a dual-purpose plant (electricity and Many factors enter into the capital and operating costs
desalination). The steam is used in a distillation plant to for desalination: capacity and type of plants, plant
desalt sea water. The product water from the distillation location, feed water, labor, energy, financing, concentrate
unit has a low level of total dissolved solids, perhaps 20 disposal, and plant reliability. In general, the cost of
mg/l. Alongside the distillation plant could be a sea desalted sea water is about 3 to 5 times the cost of
water RO plant that would be run only in off-peak power desalting brackish water from the same size plant.
periods so as to stabilize the load on the generator and During the past decade in a number of areas in the USA,
therefore use lower cost electricity. The RO plant will the economic cost of desalting brackish water has be-
produce water with a higher level of total dissolved solids come less than the alternative of transferring large
in the range of 500 mg/l. The water from the two pro- amounts of conventionally treated water by long-distance
cesses can be combined to produce a water that has a pipeline.
reasonable level of total dissolved solids while helping to
level the electrical load on the generators. In 1990, the total production costs, including capital
recovery, for brackish water systems with a capacities of
Economics 4000 to 40000 cum/d (1 to 10 mgd) in the USA typically
ranges from $0.25 to $0.60 per cum ($1.00 to $2.40 per
Desalination facilities exist in about 120 countries 1000 gallons). The probable costs for sea water desalting
around the world, so specifying exact costs for desalting for plants in the capacity of 4000 to 20000 cum/d (1 to 5
is not appropriate. What can be said with certainty is mgd) in the USA is estimated at $1 to $4 per cum ($4 to
47
$16 per 1000 gallons). These estimates give some idea of application at hand. Local circumstances may play a
the range of costs involved, but site- and country-specific significant role in determining the most appropriate
factors will affect the actual costs. process for an area.
In any country or region, the economics of using desali- The “best” desalination system should be more than
nation is not just the number of dollars, pesos, or dinars economically reasonable in the study stage. It should
per cubic meter, but the cost of desalted water versus the work when it is installed and continue to work and
other alternatives. In many water-short areas, the cost of deliver suitable amounts of fresh water at the expected
alternative sources of water is already very high and quantity, quality, and cost for the life of a project.
often above the cost of desalting.
Summary
Desalination technology has been extensively developed
over the past 40 years to the point where it is reliably
used to produce fresh water from saline sources. This
has effectively made the use of saline waters for water
resource development possible. The costs for desalination
can be significant because of its intensive use of energy.
However, in many arid areas of the world, the cost to
desalinate saline water is less than other alternatives
that may exist or be considered for the future. Desali-
nated water is used as a main source of municipal
supply in many areas of the Caribbean, North Africa, and
the Middle East. The use of desalination technologies,
especially for softening mildly brackish water, is rapidly
increasing in the southeastern USA.
48
Acknowledgements
The purpose of this publication is to provide an up-to-
date replacement for the booklet entitled, The A-B-C of
Desalting, which was published by the U.S. Department
of the Interior’s Office of water Research and Technology
in about 1977. The text for this new booklet is based, in
part, on a previous paper by the A. K. Buros entitled, An
Introduction to Desalination (UN, 1987). The diagrams on
pages 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37,43 and 44 are adapted from The
USAID Desalination Manual and are used courtesy of the
U.S. Agency for International Development.
Bibliography
Buros et al. The USAID Desalination Manual. Produced by
CH2M HILL International for the U.S. Agency for Intema-
tional Development. 1980.
49