Chapter 14_Seawater Desalination

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Chapter14:Seawater Desalination

Edited byDr. Mir F. Ali 1

Chapter14Seawa

terDesalination

Seawater desalination is one of the advanced applications of nuclear energy.

Global shortage of potable water is a real calamity. Here are some limitations and realities

associated with potable water that unfortunately, cannot be disregarded. According to theInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nearly three quarters of the earths surfaceare covered with water. The estimated total volume of water is 1.3 x 1018 m3. However, 97.5percent of this amount is represented by the oceans, which are highly saline and unfit forhuman consumption. Of the remaining 2.5 percent, a major portion is locked up in polarice and glaciers. On balance, less than 1 percent is available for human use. It is estimatedthat the amount of fresh water that is readily accessible to human use is about 9 x 1012 m3and another 3.5 x 1012 m3 is captured and stored by dams and reservoirs.

Global population is growing at a phenomenal rate and so is the demand for drinking

water. A recent United Nations report predicted that by 2050, the worlds populationwould reach about 9.3 billion, with most of the population growth occurring in Asia andAfrica.

Global Industry Analysts (GIA)announced in 2010 the release of a comprehensive globalreport on Water Treatment Equipment and Supplies market. The global market for Water
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Treatment Equipment and Supplies market is projected to reach $38.2 billion by the year2015, driven by growing demand for fresh potable water from an expanding globalpopulation. The chronic shortage of freshwater is expected to become intense in thecoming years, a factor that is likely to drive growth in the global water treatment market.Further, the trend towards industrialization and urbanization and intensifying

agricultural operations are contributing to the enhanced demand for fresh water, therebycontributing to increased demand for water treatment products.

It is recognized that for human life a sufficient amount of water of adequate quality isessential. Unfortunately, every year new countries around the world are suffering fromthe shortage and affected by growing water problems. According to the World HealthOrganization (WHO) at any time, up to half of humanity has one of the six main diseases diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or infestation with Ascaris, guinea worm, or

hookworm associated with poor drinking water and inadequate sanitation. About 5million people die each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a dirty homeenvironment often resulting from water shortage.

A study conducted by IAEA in 2006 showed that 2.3 billion people live in water-stressedareas, 1.7 billion of them having access to less than 1,000 m3 of potable water per year. TheUnited Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported in2002 that the freshwater shortfall worldwide was then running at some 230 billion m3/yr


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and would rise to 2000 billion m3/yr by 2025. Now that the global population has grownto 7 billion, these figures must have been increased substantially and it will continue toincrease due to population growth relative to water resources.

With predictionsthat more than 3.5 billion people will live in areas facing severe water

shortages by the year 2025, the challenge is to find an environmentally benign way toremove salt from seawater. Scientists are convinced that global climate change,desertification, and over-population are already taking their toll on fresh water supplies.In coming years, fresh water could become a rare and expensive commodity. Desalinationis considered a leading solution to the worlds shortage of water. It helps filtered anddistilled ocean water into drinking water.

Most desalination plants today use fossil fuels, and thus contribute to increased levels ofgreenhouse gases. Total world capacity is approaching 40 million m/day (14,600 GL/yr)of potable water, in some 15,000 plants. Most of these are in the Middle East and North

Africa, using distillation processes. The largest plant produces 454,000 m/day (166GL/yr). Two thirds of the world capacity is processing seawater, and one-third usesbrackish artesian water. However, the process demands a huge amount of energy andspecialized equipment, which is very expensive.

Large-scale commerciallyavailable desalination processes can generally be classified intotwo categories: (a) Distillation processes that require mainly heat plus some electricity forancillary equipment, and (b) Membrane processes that require only electricity to providepumping power. The energy for these plants is generally supplied in the form of eithersteam or electricity using fossil fuels. The intensive use of fossil fuels raises environmentalconcerns, and many countries are therefore considering the introduction of a nuclear

power program or expansion of their existing nuclear power program.

At the April 2010 Global Water Summit in Paris, the prospect of desalination plants beingco-located with nuclear power plants was supported by leading international waterexperts.

The World Nuclear Associationreported that the feasibility of integrated nucleardesalination plants has been proven with over 150 reactor-years of experience, chiefly inKazakhstan, India and Japan. Large-scale deployment of nuclear desalination on acommercial basis will depend primarily on economic factors. Indicative costs are US$ 70-

90 cents per cubic metre, much the same as fossil-fuelled plants in the same areas.

One obvious strategy is to use power reactors, which run, at full capacity, but with all theelectricity applied to meeting grid load when that is high and part of it to drive pumps forReverse Osmosis (RO) desalination when the grid demand is low. RO is driven by electricpumps, which pressurize water and force it through a membrane against its osmoticpressure:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf71.htmlhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf71.htmlhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf71.htmlhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalination


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1. The BN-350 fast reactor at Aktau, in Kazakhstan, successfully supplied up to 135

MWe of electric power while producing 80,000 m/day of potable water over some

27 years, about 60% of its power being used for heat and desalination. The plantwas designed as 1000 MWt but never operated at more than 750 MWt, but itestablished the feasibility and reliability of such cogeneration plants. In fact,oil/gas boilers were used in conjunction with it, and total desalination capacitythrough ten Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) units was 120,000 m/day;

2. In Japan, some ten desalination facilities linked to pressurized water reactorsoperating for electricity production yield some 14,000 m/day of potable water, andover 100 reactor-years of experience have accrued. MSF was initially employed, butMED and RO have been found more efficient there. The water is used for thereactors own cooling systems;

3.

India has been engaged in desalination research since the 1970s. In 2002, ademonstration plant coupled to twin 170 MWe nuclear power reactors (PHWR)was set up at the Madras Atomic Power Station, Kalpakkam, in southeast India.This hybrid Nuclear Desalination Demonstration Project (NDDP) comprises areverse osmosis (RO) unit with 1800 m3/day capacity and a multi-stage flash,Multi-Stage Flash (MSF), a thermal process plant unit of 4500 m/day costingabout 25 percent more, plus a recently added barge-mounted RO unit. This is thelargest nuclear desalination plant based on hybrid MSF-RO technology using low-


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pressure steam and seawater from a nuclear power station. They incur a 4 MWeloss in power from the plant. In 2009, a 10,200 m3/day MVC plant was set up atKudankulam to supply fresh water for the new plant. It has four stages in each offour streams. An RO plant there supplies the plants township. A low temperature(LTE) nuclear desalination plant uses waste heat from the nuclear research reactor

at Trombay has operated since about 2004 to supply make-up water in the reactor;4. Pakistan in 2010 commissioned a 4800 m3/day MED desalination plant, coupled to

the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP, a 125 MWe PHWR) near Karachi. Ithas been operating a 454 m3/day RO plant for its own use; and

5. China Guangdong Nuclear Power has commissioned a 10,080 m3/day desalinationplant at its new Hongyanhe project at Dalian in the northeast.

Large-scale deployment of nuclear desalination on a commercial basis will dependprimarily on economic factors. The IAEA is fostering research and collaboration on theissue.

A broad spectrum of nuclear reactors is available today. In principle, all nuclear powerreactors are capable of providing energy for desalination processes. Due to their typicallylow working temperatures, dedicated heating reactors can be combined with distillationprocesses. Furthermore, as nuclear reactors show their highest efficiency in base loadoperation and desalination is a base load process, nuclear desalination seems to have


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inherent advantages over other energy options. Here is the contribution of small nuclearreactors to seawater desalination:

1. SMART: South Korea has developed a small nuclear reactor design forcogeneration of electricity and potable water. The 330 MWt SMART reactors (anintegral PWR) have a long design life and needs refueling only every 3 years. The

main concept has the SMART reactor coupled to four MED units, each withthermal-vapour compressor (MED-TVC) and producing total 40,000 m3/day, with90 MWe;

2. CAREM: Argentina has designed an integral 100 MWt PWR suitable forcogeneration or desalination alone;

3. NHR-200: Chinas INET has developed this, based on a 5 MW pilot plant;4. Floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) from Russia, with two KLT-40S reactors

derived from Russian icebreakers, or other designs for desalination. If primarily fordesalination, the twin KLT-40 set-up is known as APVS-80. ATETs-80 is a twin-reactor cogeneration unit using KLT-40 and may be floating or land-based,

producing 85 MWe plus 120,000 m

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/day of potable water;5. The small ABV-6 reactor is 38 MW thermal, and a pair mounted on a 97-metrebarge is known as Volnolom floating NPP, producing 12 MWe plus 40,000 m3/dayof potable water by reverse osmosis; and

6. A larger concept has two VBER-300 reactors in the central pontoon of a 170 m longbarge, with ancillary equipment on two side pontoons, the whole vessel being49,000 dwt. The plant is designed to be overhauled every 20 years and have aservice life of 60 years. Another design, PAES-150, has a single VBER-300 unit on a25,000 dwt catamaran barge.

Here are new desalination projects/initiatives in progress:

1. Algeria has undertaken a study on nuclear power generation and desalinationusing RO and MED. The country is also considering a 150,000 m3/day MSFdesalination plant for its second-largest town, Oran (though nuclear power is not aprime contender for this). It is also building a 500,000 m3/d plant at Magtaa tostart in 2012, and commissioned a 120,000 m3/d plant at Fouka near Algiers in 2011;

2. China is looking at the feasibility of a nuclear seawater desalination plant in theYantai area of Shandong Peninsula, producing 80-160,000 m3/day by MED process,using a 200 MWt NHR-200 reactor. Another project is for a 330,000 m3/day plantnear Daya Bay;

3. Egypt has undertaken a feasibility study for a cogeneration plant for electricity andpotable water at El-Dabaa, on the Mediterranean coast. In 2010 plans were beingformed for four 1000 MWe-class reactors to be built there and coming on line2019-25, with significant desalination capacity;

4. In India, further plants delivering 45,000 m3 per day are envisaged, using both MSFand RO desalination technology, and building on the extensive experienceoutlined above. The 100,000 m3/d Nemmeli desalination plant is due forcompletion in December 2011, and a 200,000 m3/d plant is planned for Pattipulamnearby, both serving Chennai;


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5. Indonesia: South Korea investigated the feasibility of building a SMART nuclearreactor with cogeneration unit employing MSF desalination technology forMadura Island, and later studies have been on larger-scale PWR cogeneration inBatan;

6. Jordan has a water deficit of about 1.4 million m3 per day and is actively lookingat nuclear power to address this, as well as supplying electricity;

7. Kuwait has been considering cogeneration schemes up to a 1000 MWe reactorcoupled to a 140,000 m3/day desalination plant;

8. Libya: in mid-2007 a memorandum of understanding was signed with Francerelated to building a mid-sized nuclear plant for seawater desalination. Areva TAwould supply this. Libya is also considering adapting the Tajoura research reactorfor a nuclear desalination demonstration plant with a hybrid MED-RO system;

9.

Morocco has completed a pre-project study with China, at Tan-Tan on the Atlanticcoast, using a 10 MWt heating reactor which produces 8000 m3/day of potablewater by distillation (MED). The government has plans for building an initialnuclear power plant in 2016-17 at Sidi Boulbra, and Atomstroyexport is assistingwith feasibility studies for this;

10.Qatar has been considering nuclear power and desalination for its needs which areexpected to reach 1.3 million m3 per day in 2010;


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11. Tunisia is looking at the feasibility of a cogeneration (electricity-desalination)plant in the southeast of the country, treating slightly saline groundwater; and

12. In the UK, a 150,000 m3/day RO plant is proposed for the lower Thames estuary,utilizing brackish water.

Most or all these initiatives have requested technical assistance from IAEA under itstechnical cooperation project on nuclear power and desalination. A coordinated IAEAresearch project initiated in 1998 reviewed reactor designs intended for coupling withdesalination systems as well as advanced desalination technologies. This programme,involving more than 20 countries, is expected to enable further cost reductions of nucleardesalination.

IAEA has recognizedthat interest in using nuclear energy for producing potable waterhas been growing worldwide in the past decade. This has been motivated by widevarieties of reasons, inter alia, from economic competitiveness of nuclear energy to

energy supply diversification, from conservation of limited fossil fuel resources toenvironmental protection, and by nuclear technology in industrial development. IAEAfeasibility studies, which have been carried out with participation of interested MemberStates since 1989, have shown that nuclear desalination of seawater is technically andeconomically viable in many water shortage regions. In view of its perspectives, severalMember States have, or are planning to launch, demonstration programmes on nucleardesalination.

The report suggests that desalination is an intensive energy process. Selection of mostappropriate desalination process depends on various factors, among which is theevaluation of:

1. Available water resources (in terms of quantity and quality);2. Available energy resources (including cost of energy: residual steam, waste heat,

electricity, etc );3. Optimum co-generation scheme (with technical and economic considerations);4. Overall cost of distribution (including cost for water transport and co-location);5. Plant capacity and expected availability;6. Sitting of the plant (including co-location option with nuclear power plant);7. Technology assessment (including selection of materials for construction,

equipment, plant life time, etc);8. Safety of coupling and of water product; and9.

Environmental impact assessment of the nuclear desalination plant.

Steps to launch a nuclear desalination project are more complicated than launching atypical desalination project. Yet, in both cases, the above steps should be considered indetails, as they are prime elements of the technical and economic feasibility report.In summary,commercial seawaterdesalination processes that are proven and reliable forlarge-scale freshwater production are multi-stage flash (MSF) and multi-effect distillation(MED) for evaporative desalination and reverse osmosis (RO) for membrane desalination.
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Vapour compression (VC) plants based on thermal and mechanical vapour compressionare also employed for small and medium capacity ranges. These processes have theirinherent advantages and disadvantages. For desalination plants rated at more than 4000m3/d per unit, MSF is still more prevalent than any other process. However, the ROprocess is increasing its market share every year, and there is likely to be increased use of

MED and VC, including hybrid systems.

In the final analysis, those countries suffering from scarcity of water are, generally, notthe holders of nuclear technology, do not generally have nuclear power plants, and do nothave a nuclear power infrastructure. The utilization of nuclear energy in those countrieswill require infrastructure building and institutional arrangements for such things asfinancing, liability, safeguards, safety, and security and at the same time will requireaddressing the acquisition of fresh fuel and the management of spent fuel.

This chapter was published on Inuitech Intuitech Technologies for Sustainability on

February 6, 2012:http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/

Resources:

1. Water Online:http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002

2. World Nuclear Association Nuclear Desalination:http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalination

3. IAEA Advanced Applications of Water Cooled Nuclear Power Plants:http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdf4. IAEA Introduction of Nuclear Desalination:http://www-

pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdf
http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TRS400_scr.pdfhttp://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_1584_web.pdfhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.world-nuclear.org/info/default.aspx?id=554&terms=water%20desalinationhttp://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Global-Water-Treatment-Equipment-And-Supplies-0002http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/http://intuitech.biz/chapter14-nuclear-energy-applications-seawater-desalination-edited-dr-mir-f-ali/

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Chapter 14_Seawater Desalination