Prospects of baromembrane desalination of brackish waters of the south of Ukraine

Prospects of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination of Azov seawater and brackish water of the Berda River have been studied. It was shown that the efficiency of seawater desalination enhances with the increase of the ratio of retentate to permeate fluxes, operating pressure and temperature of feed water. It was concluded that the complex treatment of brackish water at inland conditions via a combination of RO with other chemical methods is the most cost effective and environmentally appropriate way. The technological scheme for desalination of brackish water of sulphite type and for prevention of brine discharge has been developed. It permits production of both potable water and valuable mineral fertilizers as concentrated solution of K2 SO4 with KCl additives.

The main regularities of the RO desalination of Azov seawater and brackish waters of the Berda River have been studied. It was shown that efficiency of seawater desalination enhances with the increasing of the ratio of retentate to permeate fluxes, operating pressure and temperature of feed water. It was found out that only complex treatment of brackish water is a promising way for a cost effective and environmentally safe desalination process. A technological scheme for complex treatment of brackish water of sulphite type has been developed. It provides production of potable water and appropriate treatment of retentate for obtaining valuable mineral fertilizer as concentrated solution of K2SO4 salt with KCl salt additives. It was concluded that membrane desalination of seawater and brackish waters could be currently used for supplying the population of the south of Ukraine with potable water.