PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J.

Morin

PROCESS SELECTION
O.J. Morin
Misty Morn Pl., Longwood, Florida, USA

Keywords : Source Water, Brine Disposal, Energy Supply, Evaluation and Selection,
Pre-treatment

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Source Water
3. Pre-treatment
4. Energy Supply Alternatives
5. Brine Disposal Alternatives

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6. Post-treatment

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7. Process Design and Cost Criteria
8. Process Alternatives Studies
9. Process Evaluation and Selection
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10. Procurement
Glossary
Bibliography and Suggestions for further study

1. Introduction
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1.1. Background
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The selection of which desalting process to use is dependent on many factors. Key
among these are the site specific items, such as plant location, local costs, etc. Other
factors affecting the selection of process type include:
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• Feedwater quality and availability

• Pre-treatment
• Process considerations
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• Product water quality

• Post-treatment
• Concentrate disposal
• Economics
• Regulatory requirements
• Construction requirements

This section attempts to show how each of these factors affect the selection of a
desalting process.

The desalting processes discussed in this section included only those that have attained
commercial acceptance and include:

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

• Multi-stage flash (MSF)

• Multiple effect (ME)
• Vapor compression (VC)
• Reverse osmosis (RO)
• Electrodialysis (ED)

1.2. Purpose

This section outlines the methodology employed for selecting the desalting process to
use for the removal of minerals from a water supply.

2. Source Water

2.1. Introduction

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Feed water supplies can be obtained from surface water impoundments or from ground

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water aquifers. The volume of the feed water source must be such that the desalting
plant operation can remain at design capacity over the service life of the unit. Typically,
a 20-year service life is expected for desalting processes.
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2.2. Water Quality

The water quality is defined as the amount of water available for treatment. This factor
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sets the maximum size of the treatment process (capacity). For example, in most
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instances for a ground water supply the volume of the supply, and its ability to recharge
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itself, will normally result in a recommended "safe" withdrawal rate. That is, a constant
rate that does not result in depleting the supply over the service life of the plant. Surface
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water supplies are normally readily recharged and, in most cases, are not under the
restrictions of ground water supplies. Seawater will, of course have no limits as to
capacity.
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The calculation of the volume available for treatment of the surface water supply is
straightforward. The establishment of the volume of the ground water supply is more
difficult to predict, but normally can be established with some certainty by hydraulic
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modeling. Volume, however, is not the only concern when judging the availability of a
water supply. The second concern is the quality of the supply.

2.3. Water Supply

The single most important consideration when designing the demineralization process is
the water quality. The quality of the water will determine the process requirements, such
as the pressure, and recovery.

The type of process to be used for the treatment of a particular water supply will depend
upon the amount of organic and inorganic materials to be removed from the supply.
Normally, surface water (excluding seawater) contain small concentrations of inorganic
constituents but have a high organic content. Ground water supplies on the other hand,
contain high concentrations of inorganics while the organic content is low. The specific

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

amounts of the constituents to be removed set the process design requirements.

Inorganics are made up of positive ions (e.g., calcium, magnesium, etc.) and negative
ions (e.g., bicarbonates, chlorides, etc.). These are quite soluble in water and their
source is from the weathering, erosion and dissolution of the materials of the Earth's
surface. Also, from volcanic activity releases constituents such as hydrogen sulfide,
hydrogen chloride, etc. from the Earth's interior. These constituents are dissolved in the
Earth's water systems and eventually flow into the sea. Also, as the Earth's surface
relative to the ocean has shifted in elevation this has caused large quantities of seawater
to be trapped inland. This trapped water contains deposits of rock, gypsum, limestone,
and other constituents. These are eventually re-dissolved by rain and once again return
to the sea.

This continual load of dissolved solids coupled with the evaporation of the sea's surface
produce a concentration of dissolved solids in the sea of approximately 35 000 mg l-1.

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The seawaters make up about 97 per cent of the world's water, which is constantly

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recycled by evaporation and condensation to produce rain.

2.4. Process Removal Capabilities

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The product water quality from the desalting process varies with process type. The
membrane processes will also vary as the feedwater quality changes.

2.4.1. Thermal Processes

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The thermal processes (i.e., MSF, VC and ME) are quite good at removing dissolved
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minerals from water. Typically, a unit that is in good mechanical condition and is
operated properly can achieve a water quality of less than 1.0 mg l-1, when treating
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water of any quality including seawater. The removal of organics, including volatile
organics is also quite good. Although volatile organics can be expected to evaporate
with the pure water, there is little chance of them redissolving in the product water if the
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venting system is designed and operated properly. Volatile organics can be expected to
be removed along with the "sweep" steam used to ensure the removal of other non-
condensible gases.
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Pathogens and bacteria may also be killed in the high temperature plants (i.e., those
operating at temperatures of 190°F or more). However, their removal in low-
temperature plants (i.e., those operating at 160°F or less) is questionable. The
application of disinfectants in the pre-treatment or post-treatment systems, will destroy
these agents. Thus, there is little chance of these contaminants entering the potable
water system.

2.4.2. Reverse Osmosis

The reverse osmosis (RO) process is capable of removing all constituents in feedwater
with the exception of a small number of the volatile organics. The amount of minerals
removed, however, is dependent upon the membrane used. For example the NF
membrane has an approximate overall rejection rate of 70 per cent whereas, seawater

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

membranes reject minerals on the order of 99 per cent or more.

2.4.3. Electrodialysis

The electrodialysis systems only remove ionized or charged constituents from waters.
Examples of minerals dissolved in the feedwater by this process are calcium,
magnesium, etc. No other substances are removed.

2.4.4. Comparison

Table 1 gives a comparison of the removal capabilities of each process for various
constituents.

Desalination process
Thermal Membrane

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Constituent Low High Reverse Electrodialysis
temperature* temperature** osmosis

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Inorganics 3 3 3 3
Organics (TOC) 3 3 3 0
Synthetic Organics 3 3 3 0
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Volatile Organics 2 2 1 0
Bacteria 1 3 3 0
Viruses 1 3 3 0

Ratings: 3 = satisfactory; 2 = fair; 1 = poor; and 0 = unsatisfactory.

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* Low temperature = 150-190°F (65-88°C)

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** High temperature = 210-235°F (100-115°C)

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Table 1. Process separation comparison.

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2.5. Feed Water Classification

For this discussion, feed water characteristics are divided into three categories:
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• Fresh water
• Brackish water
• Seawater
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Each of these waters is composed of a different amount of mineral content described as

total dissolved solids (TDS). Fresh waters are those with a TDS of up to 1000 mg l-1.
Brackish waters have a wide range of mineral content. This range extends from the
maximum concentration of fresh water to the concentration of seawater. Seawater has
a typical (standard) TDS concentration of 35 000 mg l-1. These waters are given the
characteristics shown in Table 2:

Type Total dissolved solids

Fresh Less than 1000 mg l-1
Brackish 1000 to 35 000 mg l-1
Seawater 35 000 mg l-1 or more

Table 2. Feed water characteristics.

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

At TDS concentrations above 35 000 mg l-1, waters are generally classified as brines.
The concentrations of these water exceeds that of seawater.

2.6. Surface Water Supply

Surface water supplies take their supply from lakes, rivers, streams and the sea. The
intake system is composed of an intake pipe and an intake structure. The types of
intakes include:

(a) Open intake. The open intake is composed of an intake structure which contains the
feed water pumps and an intake chamber designed to effect good flow to the pump.
The intake structure can also contain auxiliary equipment as required to remove
debris, such as trash racks and traveling screens, if required. The water supply to the
intake structure is conveyed by a channel or similar open conveyance system.
(b) Pipe type intake. The pipe type intake structure is the same as that for the open

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intake. This type of intake differs from the open intake by the type of water

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conveyance system. In the pipe type intake a pipeline is laid from the intake
structure to the point of water intake. At this point a terminal is provided for the
initial screening of the supply. This can be constructed of concrete or a screen can
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sometimes suffice.
(c) Ranney collector. A Ranney collector is constructed on the shoreline. It is composed
of a caisson that is sunk into the underlying water table. Perforated pipes are then
placed in a radial direction extending from the caisson bottom. Thus, it resembles a
well supply system. This type of supply is particularly beneficial to the RO process
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because the water supply from such a system will not contain colloidal material.
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2.7. Ground Water

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Ground water supplies are, of course, taken from wellfields. Wellfields are composed of
a number of wells sunk into the ground water aquifer. They are sized and located such
that the withdrawal of water from the aquifer does not cause undue drawdown problems
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in the aquifer.

3. Pre-treatment
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3.1. Introduction

The amount of pre-treatment required depends upon:

• The desalting process used

• The operating temperature
• The type of source water used (ie, surface or ground water)
The extent of pre-treatment required for each process and source water type is
summarized in Table 3. In the thermal systems, the higher the operating temperature,
the more complex the pre-treatment required. Also, for RO system, surface water
supplies require considerably more pre-treatment steps than do ground water supplies.

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

3.2. Pre-treatment Goals

The raw water to each process must be treated to meet certain water quality
requirements before being emitted to the process. These requirements are necessarily
different for each process type. Table 4 lists these requirements. Of the processes listed,
the RO system requires the highest water quality. This results from the requirement that
the colloidal content be quite low. Colloids can lodge in the membrane pores causing an
irreversible performance loss.

Process Operating Source Pre-treatment requirements**

temperature type*
Multistage flash 190 S or G Polyphosphate addition
Multistage flash or 235 S or G Acid or polyelectrolyte addition,
Multiple effect degasification*** and deaeration
Multiple effect 160 S or G Polyphosphate addition

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Vapor compression Ambient S or G None
Vapor compression 190 S or G Polyphosphate addition

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Reverse osmosis Ambient G Scale inhibitor and/or acid addition cartridge filter
Reverse osmosis Ambient S Polymer addition filtration, (one or two step)
Cartridge filtration scale inhibitor and/or acid
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addition
Electrodialysis Ambient S or G Scale inhibitor and/or acid addition
* S = Surface water; G = Ground water.
** In addition, surface waters normally require chlorination.
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*** Degassification is not required when using polyelectrolyte treatment only.

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Table 3. Pre-treatment requirements.

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Goal Thermal Reverse osmosis EDR

distillation
HTb LTc CAd CTAe PAf
Suspended solids None None None None None None
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Turbidity, NTU NLg NL <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <2.0

Silt density index NL NL <0.3 <0.3 <0.3 NL
Temperature, °F NL Nl 86 86 95 110
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Oxygen (mg l-1) <.005 <.005 NL NL NL NL

Bicarbonate (mg l-1) 0.0 0.0 NL NL NL NL
Residual chlorine (mg l-1) NL NL <2.0 <1.0 0.0 0.0
-1
Iron (mg l ) NL NLh NL i
<0.7 <0.1h <0.2
Manganese (mg l-1) NL NL NL <1.3 <0.1 <0.2
Strontium (mg l-1) NL NL DTj NSk <15.0 <1.0
Barium (mg l-1) NL NL NL NS <0.1 <1.0
Silica (mg l-1) NL NL <135.0 <100.0 <150.0 NL

Table 4. Process feed water quality goalsa.

a
Before entering process. b High temperature operation. c Low temperature operation.
d
Cellulose acetate. e Cellulose triacetate. f Polyamide. g No limit. h No limit for copper
nickel construction, no metals for aluminum construction. i No limit for iron in the

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

ferrous state. j Maximum amount depends on the pre-treatment used. k Not specified.

3.3. Surface Water Supplies

Surface water supplies consist of some sort of intake chamber connected to the source
water by pipeline or channel. This type of intake can be cost effective as a method for
transferring the raw water to be treated. Pre-treatment of the raw water for this type of
supply is straight forward with the exception of RO systems.

RO systems must be nearly completely free of colloidal constituents prior to the water
entering the process. However, surface water systems contain a significant amount of
colloids. Thus, for RO systems, the colloidal content must be reduced. This can be
accomplished using filtration such as dual media or coarse and dual media filtration,
microfiltration or ultrafiltration. The dual media and/or coarse filtration systems can be
of the pressure type for small systems. For large flow rates, gravity filtration is normally

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used. At the present time, the microfiltration and ultrafiltration systems are more costly

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than the conventional systems. But as these newer filtration systems are developed they
are expected to become more cost effective.
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Figure 1 gives the diagrammatic sketch of the pre-treatment system using gravity
filtration for RO systems. This assumes that a two stage system is used.
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Figure 1. Reverse osmosis pre-treatment diagrammatic surface water system.

3.4. Ground Water Supplies

Ground water supplies offer the advantage of natural filtration of the raw water. Thus,
for the RO process, further filtration is not required for the pre-treatment of this type of
supply.

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

3.5. Artificial Ground Water Supplies

An artificial ground water supply can be constructed that acts like a well supply. This is
the Ranney collector system. Use of this type of intake offers the benefit of filtration as
with the well system.

3.6. Scale Prevention

The scaling of membrane or tubing surfaces must be controlled in order to maintain

plant performance. This is carried out by a further pre-treatment step by the addition of
chemicals that act as scale inhibitors or prevent scale formation. For example, the
addition of acid as a pre-treatment step will prevent calcium carbonate and magnesium
hydroxide scale formation. The use of polymers or polyelectrolytes products do not
prevent scale from forming, they simply provide a site for the scale to form on
preferentially to the membrane or tubing surface.

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Scale inhibition chemicals normally used for scale control are listed in Table 5.
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Process Chemical Scale control
CaCO3 MgOH CaSO4 BaSO4 SrSO4 CaF
LTMSF Polyphosphate Ya Y NAb NA NA NA
HTMSF Acid and/or polyelectrolyte Y Y NA NA NA NA
Polyphosphate ion trapc
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LTME Y Y NA NA NA NA
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HTME Acid and/or polyelectrolyte Y Y NA NA NA NA

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RO Acid and/or polymer Y Y Y Y Y Y

ED/EDR Acid and/or polymer Y Y Y Y Y Y
a
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Y = yes.
b
NA = not applicable.
c
Required for plants using aluminum tubing materials.
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Table 5. Pre-treatment chemicals.

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PLANT OPERATION – MAINTENANCE AND MANAGEMENT - Process Selection - O.J. Morin

Rommel M., Hermann M., Koschikowski J. (2000) The SODESA project: development of solar
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