(198b) Simulation and Sensitivities of Membrane Networks for Desalination

Membranes are commonly used for the desalination and purification of either ground water or sea water. Based on the concentration of salt and the flow rate of the feed water networks of membranes should be constructed in order to reduce salt levels and to meet the required level of clean water production. However, the exact configuration and operating conditions required to meet these criteria will initially be unknown. For this reason a semi-rigorous model is built and implemented to simulate and predict the performance of the membranes. In this way it is possible to determine the numbers of membrane modules required and the inlet pressure required to achieve the desired separation.

A number of case studies are analysed to determine if alternative configurations or modified system parameters can enhance the system performance. In particular we test to see if different configurations of membrane module and energy recovery devices can be used while still meeting the constraints placed on water purity (salt rejection) and water recovery. This is important because optimizing membrane network configurations makes the process more energy efficient.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-Water), 2014.