CHME 445 Desalination

Homework 1 Spring 2024

Due date: Feb-20, 2024
Note: (1) Individual HW, (2) you can submit the HW after the deadline, but
you can’t have full points (no extended deadline)

1. What factors can worsen water security globally?

Ans:
- Population growth: which is directly correlated to the water usage and
demand, increase in population means more water is required for domestic
use, food production, etc.
- Untreated wastewater: 80% of global wastewater flows back into the
ecosystem without treatment [1], which might pose contamination/pollution
to fresh water resources.
- Economic Expansion: As economy grows, new production facilities are
established, which means an increasing need for industrial water to facilitate
various utilities and processes essential for production.

2. What types of water resources can be considered for water security in Qatar?
Ans:
- Groundwater resources: although it is very limited, there are some efforts to
refill groundwater reservoirs using treated water.
- Seawater desalination: The main source for water security in Qatar.

3. (1) What is salinity? (2) Why is this significant when dealing with water
desalination? Please answer technically.
Ans:
Salinity is the salts concentration in water, typically measured in ppm or mg/L. The
salinity for seawater in Qatar is around 35,000 mg/L.
It is important to know the salinity of seawater that is proportional to the osmotic
pressure via the following formula:
−3
π=0.7 × 10 C

Where,
π is the osmotic pressure of sea water.
C is the concentration of seawater in mg/L.
In the context of seawater desalination using RO technology, knowing the osmotic
pressure will enable us to determine the energy required to remove salts and
produced fresh water with certain quality.

4. (1) Name the desalination technology in the figures below, and (2) explain
each process briefly.
1 2 3

Ans:
1- Reverse osmosis (RO) technology.
2- Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO).
3- Forward osmosis (FO).

5. What is the osmotic pressure (bar) of general seawater (salinity=35,000 g/L)?

Ans:
The osmotic pressure (π) of seawater in Qatar is around 25 bar.
6. Why is it necessary to consider the size of elements before and after hydration
in the membrane-based desalination process?
Ans:
It is necessary to consider the size of the elements subjected to rejection in order to
select an efficient and viable membrane.

7. What is the difference between diffusion and osmosis?

Ans:
Diffusion is the movement of solute from high concentration (high pressure) to low
concentration solution (low pressure). While osmosis is the natural movement of
solvent (without applying external pressure) from low concentration (low pressure)
to high concentration (high pressure) solution through a semi-permeable
membrane.
8. Qatar is highly dependent on seawater desalination for Qatar’s water security.
What factors could threaten Qatar’s water security?
Ans:
Environmental factors that affect the quality of the seawater can have an impact on the water
security of Qatar (since it is highly reliant on seawater) include algae bloom and oil spills.

9. Several factors are driving the global trend toward RO-based membrane
systems by lowering RO capital costs with inexpensive construction materials.
So, Qatar adopts a hybrid method of thermo-based evaporation (MSF) system
and a membrane-based (RO) system. Why has Qatar used a hybrid system
instead of a single RO operation for water production?
Ans:
- Existence of well-established/matured thermal plants using multistage flash
(MSF) technology and the abundance of energy resources like natural gas.
- In terms of CAPEX and OPEX, membrane-based reverse osmosis (RO)
plants are cost effective and require less energy input.
- Qatar has high salinity seawater, which limits the recovery using RO to
avoid fouling.
 - RO is highly susceptible to fouling, which requires the need to adopt hybrid
system.

10. What is the difference between dead-end flow and crossflow filtration?
Ans: Dead-end flow filtration is a batch process where a certain amount of sea
water is pumped through a semipermeable membrane which is susceptible to
fouling and scaling.
On the other hand, crossflow filtration, also known as tangentially filtration, is like
a continuous process that prevents the accumulation of organic matters with high
permeate rate, opposite to that of dead-end flow.

11.Flux in membrane-based desalination systems consists of key terms of “net

driving pressure (NDP)”. (1) Please use the appropriate factor to complete the
NDP. With the NPD, (2) how can you explain reverse osmosis (RO) operation?

1 dV
J= ∙ =(NDP)∙ K w
A dt
Ans:
(1) NDP=∆P-∆π
Where,
∆P: Applied external pressure.
∆π: Osmotic pressure
(2) Reverse osmosis is the movement of solvent (usually water) from high
concentration (high pressure) to low concentration (low pressure) solution
through a semipermeable membrane by applying external pressure that is
higher than the osmotic pressure of both ends of the applied solutions.
Hence, ∆P has to be higher than ∆π for the RO to take place.
12.In a seawater RO plant, the feed pressure equals 25 bar. Assuming that the
salinity of seawater is 35,000 mg/L and the RO recovery is 75% under normal
conditions. What is the production at 25 bars?
Ans:
π=0.7 × 10 C=0.7 ×10 × 35,000=24.5 ¯¿
−3 −3

Applied pressure is 25 bar, so:

NDP=∆ P−∆ π =25−24.5=0.5 ¯¿

The net driving force (NDP) is almost zero, hence, there is barely to no production.

13.When will salt rejection increase in membrane-based desalination? Please mark

(↑ or ↓) in ().
(1) Ionic charge (↑)
(2) Degree of dissociation (↑)
(3) Molecular weight (↑)
(4) Polarity (↓)
(5) Degree of hydration (↑)
(6) Degree of molecular branching (↑)
14. (1) Please insert the appropriate numbers into the blank boxes for concentrate
concentration and permeate in the RO system according to the specified
designed RO recovery rates. (2) What can we expect If the actual RO recovery
exceeds the designed recovery? (3) Also please explain appropriately in the
reverse case as well.
(1)

(2) If the RO recovery exceeds the designed recovery, it will accelerate the
formation of fouling and scaling on the membrane surface resulting in less brine
generation and low purity in the permeate.
(3) Reverse case, high amount of brine will be generated with higher purity in the
permeate.

15.To improve the RO recovery rate, what technological/operational approach is

required? (please consider pretreatment and membrane separation sections).
Ans:
To improve the RO recovery rate, different methods in pretreatment and membrane
separation units are done:
 Pretreatment section: Removing as much large particles as possible (using
filtration techniques such as ultrafiltration) as well as using anti-scaling
agents/chemicals, which results in less possibility of scaling/fouling of membrane
surfaces.
 Membrane Separation: Using improved membranes and treating brine effectively.

16.What is concentration polarization (CP) in the membrane-based desalination

system? What are the negative effects of the CP on the performance of the RO
 system? How can we control the CP effect (consider concentration polarization
factor: Cm/Cb = exp(J/k))
Ans:
Concentration Polarization (CP) is the accumulation of salts at the surface of the
membrane.
The negative effects of CP on the RO system include:
 Lower NDF (Net Driving Force) since concentration of salt on the surface is
greater than in the bulk. Higher feed pressure is required to maintain the same
flux.
 Lower salt rejection since high concentration at the membrane surface and
increased salt transport (higher salt passage).
 Precipitation of salt on the surface of the membrane cause scaling and fouling.
 Reduced water transport (permeate rate).
We can control the CP effect by two methods:
 Decreasing the flux (J): Increasing the flux will increase the permeate flow
and therefore higher transport of ions will increase the CP.
Increasing the mass transfer coefficient (k): Done by increasing the velocity of the feed. As
velocity across membrane increases, some salt is eroded due to water flow and accumulation of
salts/ CP is reduced.

17.What is membrane fouling? How does membrane fouling affect RO membrane

operation? How can we measure the fouling potential of source feed water?
Ans:
Membrane fouling is the deposition of suspended solids on the surface of the membrane
and it typically occurs on the concentrate side.
Membrane fouling creates an additional layer that causes lower driving force and a higher
pressure drop, this also means lower flux.
We can measure the fouling potential of the water using Silt Density Index (SDI):

SD I n=
1− ()
t0
tn
n
Where t0 is the time to collect 500 ml of influent water (at t=0), t n is the time to collect 500 ml of
water at t=n mins, n is the total run time.

18. (1) What is membrane scaling? (2) What are the key elements that can occur
the scaling? (3) How can we measure the scaling potential of source feed
water?
Ans:
Membrane scaling is the result of precipitation of saturated salts on the membrane
surface.
We can measure the scaling potential of the source feedwater either by comparing the ion
product with the solubility constant or using LSI (Langelier Saturation Index). If LSI is
greater than 0, the feed water is more likely to form scaling on membrane surface.

19.What is the specific energy consumption in the RO desalination process?

Ans:
Specific energy consumption is the amount of energy required to produce unit volume of water
by desalination.

20.Recently RO membrane cost is cheaper than before. If so, why is RO membrane

development still addressed?
Ans:
There are three main issues that are still persistent in RO membranes and that are mainly
addressed: high energy requirement, low recovery rates and fouling.
References:
[1] 10 Causes of the global water crisis. (2022, October 22).
https://concernusa.org/news/global-water-crisis-causes/