International

Desalination

Association

“Desalination: The Vision of Today and the Future”

Corrado Sommariva

Managing Director generation ILF Middle east

Sustainability and Innovation in Desalination

4 March 2009

“Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs” (Bruntland 1987)

Viewed in terms of meeting current environmental regulations, desalination plants have a relatively low impact and….

there are no significant problems in meeting regulations in particular for the seawater abstraction and brine discharge.

Indicator aspects within the various sustainability criteria

ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT

Marine system

Land

Air

Noise

(ISO 14040 etc.)

ENERGY

Resource

Conservation

Technical

Efficiency

RESOURCES

CONSUMPTION

Material of construction

Consumable

Renewable resources

Life cycle of system or

Product

ECONOMIC

IMPACT

Total prod. Costs

Econ. Development

- Desal. Industry

- Water availability

POLICY AND

MUNICIPAL IMPACT

NEED for water

Integration of W res.

Integr. Of energy systems

Sulf sustainability

Cross border cooperation

water pricing

SOCIAL IMPACT

NEED for water

Standard of living

jobs

Indicator aspects within the various industry sustainability criteria

Energy and carbon footprint

Seawater discharge

Energy and carbon footprint

Huge difference in power requirements between different desalination technologies

20

4.5

10

4

20

1.5

10

1

1.5

3

1

0

4.5

0

3.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

MSF

cogeneration

MED TVC

cogeneration

MED

cogeneration

SWRO SWRO

Thermal energy converted in

equivalent electric energy

Electric power

Kw

h/m

3o

f d

isti

lla

te p

rod

uce

d

In parts of the world that are heavily

reliant on coal the grid emission

factor is somewhere near.

0.8 TCO2/MWH.

20

10

19.6

11.2

17

3.2 3.62.8

10

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

MSF

cogeneration

MED TVC

cogeneration

MED

cogeneration

SWRO membrane

distillation

kg

CO

2/m

3o

f d

isti

llate

pro

du

ced

CO2

in kind CO2

emission

CO2 reduction

Water

12 lit/day/tree

8 kg /yr

8 kg /yr

1.25 watt/tree

Desalination or

WW project

Specific power consumption per unit of product water

= 2.5 kwh/m3

How efficiency and sustainability are interrelated ?

Ecosystem = VFlow rate discharge

Pollutant concentration ω

Vdt

dVm

Pollutant influent Pollutant removal Accumulation

Alteration /

deterioration

m

Studies have been carried out showing that potable water with TDS lower than 500 mg/l could be obtained with less than 2.5 kwh/m3

Minimum bottom threshold for power requirements for SWRO is 1.2-1.5 kwh/m3

20

4.5

01.5

00.50

5

10

15

20

25

MSF cogeneration MBR MBR

Thermal energy converted in

equivalent electric energy

Electric power

Kw

h/m

3o

f d

isti

lla

te p

rod

uce

d

Steam from the Power

Plant 100%

Seawater Drain 74%

Condensate back to the

power plant 17%

Brine blow down 5%

Distillate 2.6%

Radiation, Vent losses,

others 1.4%

57%

37%

53%

* Water Desalination Report

Forecast desalination capacity by region – future projects (2006-2010)*

Forecast desalination capacity by region – future projects (2006-2010)*

7 million ton/day

desalination

814100 GJ/day

Of thermal energy required

651000 GJ/day of thermal

energy dissipated in the gulf

40% thermal8-8.5 GOR

Is this really sustainable ?

What can be done in this respect ?

Optimise up-grade up-rate !!!!

At a given discharge enthalpy and

production plant efficiency sharply

decrease the heat dissipated to the sea

At high efficiency the difference

between the heat dissipation with

increasing plant size decrease

Introductory Growth

Maturity Decline

Cost of Sales: 20%

Margin: 35%+ 12 - 20%

24 - 35%

8 - 12%

12 - 24%

< 8%

10 - 18%Time

MED MSF

Upgrading

•NF

•Distillate ext

Sustainability and Innovation in Desalination : Thermal desalination

Unit size increase : economy of scale

Material selection : Longer life of the assets

Reliability and availability factors

Thermodynamic design

MED desalination thermo-compressor design

MED-MSF extraction

Increased operating temperature

Matching

Sustainability and Innovation in Desalination : Thermal desalination

Introductory Growth Maturity Decline

Cost of Sales: 20%

Margin: 35%+

12 - 20%

24 - 35%

8 - 12%

12 - 24%

< 8%

10 - 18%

Time

MBR

ADVANCED UF

SWRO

Sustainability and Innovation in Desalination : SWRO desalination

Energy recovery : lower energy input Membrane development :

Large size membranes

Lower pressure membranes

Costing

Reliability and availability factors Process configuration (pressure centre etc) Ultra filtration Matching

Sustainability and Innovation in Desalination : SWRO desalination

Conclusions

•Energy footprint is one of major sustainability

challenge for desalination technology

•The future of water demands creative solutions.

It requires effective innovations and integration of

energy resources to generate power and to

economically create and store desalinated water

This is essential to a country’s sustainable

development and to the security of its communities.