1.

DESALINATION A SOLUTION
1.1. INTRODUCTION

Now, it has been clearly understood that availability of potable water is a serious threat to the mankind; and the impact of this threat will only loom in the very future due to dwindling freshwater resources worldwide. In this scenario, desalination seems to be the most effective solution. And, the demand for cost effective desalination technologies is only rising each day.

Desalination (desalting) is the process of removing dissolved salts from water, thus producing fresh water from seawater or brackish water. Desalting technologies can be used for many applications. The most prevalent use is to produce potable water from saline water for domestic or municipal purposes.

The evolution of desalination started centuries back. Aristotle was the first to mention this, in 320 BC. Romes Pliny the Elder described seawater distillation with condensation on fleece in 70 AD, Greeces Alexander of Aphrodisias described seawater distillation with condensation on sponges 130 years later, French explorer Jean De Lery reported the successful distillation of seawater during a voyage to Brazil in 1565, and James Cook desalinated seawater during his circumnavigation of the world.

Global attention to desalination revived during the mid-1900s. Distillation and evaporation evolved as the most widely used technique. World War II told the world the very notion behind desalination, when military establishments operating in arid areas needed a way to supply their troops with potable water. The 1960s witnessed commercial desalination units producing up to 8,000 cubic meters per day (m3/d) being installed in various parts of the world. Most of these were thermal distillation processes. Post-war years, witnessed increased interest in osmotic processes to desalinate water. By the 1970s, reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis (ED), began to be used more extensively. By the 1980s, desalination technology became a fully commercial enterprise and by the 1990s, the use of desalination technologies for municipal water supplies was commonplace.

Increased pressure on freshwater resources means, rampant rise in industrial-scale desalination in the present century. The total installed capacity of desalination plants around the world as of June 30, 2012 was 74.8 million m3/d. This is in comparison to 47.6 million m3/d in 2007 and a meager 1,000 m3/d in 1963 [1].

Figure 1: Global installed capacities of desalination (IDA Year Book 2010-2011)

1.2. EXISTING DESALINATION TECHNOLOGIES

INTRODUCTION
The evolution of desalination saw advancements in itself with the development of new ever competent techniques. Multiple Effect Distillation (MED), Multiple Flash Evaporation (MFS), Reverse Osmosis (RO), Electro Dialysis (ED) were developed, to name a few.

Currently, reverse osmosis (RO), accounts for nearly 60% of installed capacity, followed by the thermal processes multi-stage flash (MSF) at 26%, multi-effect distillation (MED) at 8.2% and electro-dialysis (ED) at 3.4% [1].

REVERSE OSMOSIS PROCESS DESCRIPTION

Osmosis is the transfer of a solvent (here water) through a selectively permeable membrane under the influence of a concentration gradient. The system consists of two compartments, one containing pure water and the other contains saline water. Under normal conditions, fresh water flows from the pure water compartment to the saline water compartment until equilibrium is attained. The equilibrium pressure is called osmotic pressure. If a pressure in excess of this is applied in the saline water compartment, fresh water from the saline compartment flows to the freshwater compartment, and this process is termed as Reverse Osmosis. The quantity of pure water that passes through the membrane during reverse osmosis is a function of the difference between the applied pressure and the osmotic pressure of the saline solution.

Figure 2: Principle of reverse osmosis [3]

In practice, the saline feed water is pumped into a closed vessel where it is pressurized against the membrane. As water passes through the membrane, the remaining feed water increases in salt concentration. This water is discharged from the vessel in a controlled manner in order to prevent accumulation of salts in the system. The amount of water discharged to waste in the brine stream varies from approximately 20% to 70% of the feed

flow, depending on the salt content of the feed water, the pressure and type of membrane. Product water with a salinity of less than 500 mg/L TDS can usually be obtained using a single stage RO operation. Pretreatment of the feed water is an essential step in the RO process in order to prevent scaling of the membranes and microbial growth. Pretreatment involves filtration and the addition of anti-scalants and or dispersants to inhibit precipitation and the growth of micro-organisms. A high pressure pump within the RO system supplies the pressure needed to allow the water to pass through the membrane, while rejecting the salts. This pressure ranges from approximately 54 to 80 bar for seawater RO systems.

DESALINATION USING HUMIDIFICATION DEHUMIDIFICATION CYCLE PROCESS

The Humidification Dehumidification Desalination (HDD) process can be best understood from natures hydrological cycle. Water from the ocean evaporates through natural convection to form clouds. This then condenses to reach Earths surface as rain. This is the very notion behind HDD, but with a difference.

In HDD, either seawater or air is heated initially. The two are then allowed to come in direct contact inside a humidification tower. The air humidifies in the process. It is then dehumidified in a condenser which also acts as a heat source to heat feed saltwater. Freshwater is obtained from the condenser in the process.

CLASSIFICATION OF HDD SYSTEMS.

HDD are classified on the basis of cycle configuration, flow mechanism and