Brackish-, sea- and wastewater desalination

As a consequence of continuous growth in population, in standards of life and in industrial development, stress on water supplies is steadily increasing in the Mediterranean and other areas with water scarcity. Therefore, a need to use raw waters of lower quality has developed. In some of the countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East region, the governments have issued new large-scale programs to recover and reuse treated municipal waste waters, rehabilitate salinated and contaminated wells and desalinate brackish and other difficult raw waters from marginal sources. This paper presents trends for the above type of treatments and discusses alternatives and problems seen in implementing some of the possibilities. Benefits and problems encountered in “real-life” application of modern membrane technologies are presented in the example of three case histories on industrial size and pilot plants for reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) treatment. Feed waters included are industrial, municipal and agricultural effluents as well as highly contaminated surface and well waters. For some of the cases, economic figures are also presented. Based on the experiences given in the case histories, conclusions for the selection of feed waters and for future technical concepts are drawn.

Evaluation of operational and economical data from literature and case histories involving FILMTEC membrane elements show that the treatment of marginal waters is feasible and economical. Various options exist with regard to feed water and pretreatment systems. Integrated membrane systems have generally shown advantages where they are being used and appear to be a promising trend for the future. 6. Disclaimer No freedom for any patent owned by Dow Deutschland GmbH & Co. OHG or FilmTec Corporation or others is to be inferred. Because use conditions and applicable laws may differ from one location to another and may change with time, the customer is responsible for determining whether products and the information in this document are appropriate for customer’s use and for ensuring that customer’s workplace and disposal practices are in compliance with applicable laws and other governmental enactments. Dow Deutschland GmbH & Co. OHG or FilmTec Corporation assume no obligation or liability for the information in this document. No warranties are given; all implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose are expressly excluded.