Title: Seawater desalination technologies

Authors: Rajat Bharadwaj, Deepika Singh, Alpana Mahapatra

Addresses: D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. ' D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. ' D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India

Abstract: The distribution of the total water available in various places on the earth is delineated in this paper. This paper discusses various desalination technologies like membrane technology and thermal technology. Membrane technology includes Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration, Electrodialysis and Electrodialysis Reversal, whereas thermal technology includes Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) Distillation, Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) Vapour Compression Distillation (VCD). The advantages and disadvantages of all these processes are tabulated. The distribution of various desalination plants worldwide, with their capacities, is given in this paper. The various characteristics, like quality of raw water used, the quality of product water, the capital costs per installed gallon per day and the cost of water produced by using these methods, are also tabulated in this paper. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has installed a large number of desalination plants of various capacities at different places in India using both thermal and membrane technologies.

Keywords: seawater desalination; reverse osmosis; RO; India; multi-stage flash distillation; MSF; multi-effect distillation; MED; vapour compression distillation; VCD; Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; BARC; membrane technology; thermal technology; nanofiltration; electrodialysis; electrodialysis reversal; nuclear desalination.

DOI: 10.1504/IJND.2008.020222

International Journal of Nuclear Desalination, 2008 Vol.3 No.2, pp.151 - 159

Published online: 09 Sep 2008 *

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