Techno-economic analysis of ion concentration polarization desalination for high salinity desalination applications

Siwon Choi; Bumjoo Kim; Kishor G Nayar; Junghyo Yoon; Sumaya Al-Hammadi; John H Lienhard V; Jongyoon Han; Bader Al-Anzi

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.023

Techno-economic analysis of ion concentration polarization desalination for high salinity desalination applications

Water Res. 2019 May 15:155:162-174. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.023. Epub 2019 Feb 25.

Authors

Siwon Choi¹, Bumjoo Kim², Kishor G Nayar³, Junghyo Yoon², Sumaya Al-Hammadi⁴, John H Lienhard V³, Jongyoon Han⁵, Bader Al-Anzi⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
² Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁴ Environmental Technology Department and Management, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, Jamal Abdul Nasser St, Kuwait.
⁵ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA; Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. Electronic address: jyhan@mit.edu.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA; Environmental Technology Department and Management, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, Jamal Abdul Nasser St, Kuwait. Electronic address: alanzi@mit.edu.

PMID: 30849730
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2019.02.023

Abstract

A techno-economic analysis is used to evaluate the economic feasibility of ion concentration polarization (ICP) desalination for seawater desalination and brine management. An empirical optimization model based on a limited set of experimental data, which was obtained from a lab-scale ICP desalination prototype, was established to calculate the required energy and membrane area for a given set of operating parameters. By calculating operating and capital expenses in various feed and product cases, the optimal levelized cost of water is determined over a range of feed salinities, mostly above seawater salinity (35 g/kg). Through these analyses, we study the economic feasibility of three applications: 1) partial desalination of brine discharge by ICP (feed varied from 35 to 75 g/kg) to common seawater RO feed level (35 g/kg) in a hybrid ICP-RO system; 2) the concentration of seawater desalination brine for salt production, and 3) partial desalination of oilfield wastewater. The economic feasibility of ICP desalination processes has been evaluated and the rough cost of treatment has been generated for several relevant applications. The approach taken in this work could be employed for other new and existing desalination processes, where a priori process modeling and optimization is scientifically and/or numerically challenging.

Keywords: Brine management; Economic analysis; Electromembrane desalination; High salinity desalination; Ion concentration polarization.

MeSH terms

Osmosis
Salinity*
Seawater
Wastewater
Water Purification*

Substances

Waste Water