Membrane and Desalination Technologies - TCE Moodle Website

Membrane Technology: Past, Present and Future 23
Table 1.7
Large-scale RO seawater desalination plants in the last 10 years (adapted from ref. (87))
Plant name/location Capacity MLD (MGD) In operation since
Tianjin (Dagang), China 98 (26) 2006
Kwinana (Perth), Australia 125 (33) 2006
Hamma, Algeria 200 (53) 2006
Cartagena, Mauricia, Spain 64 (17) 2004
Tuas, Singapore 136 (36) 2005
Ashkelon, Israel 394 (104) 2004
Fujairah, UAE 170 (45) 2003
Tampa Bay, USA 95 (25) 2003
Alikante, Spain 53 (14) 2003
Carboneras, Almeria, Spain 121 (32) 2003
Point Lisas, Trinidad 114 (30) 2002
Las Palmas, Telde 38 (10) 2002
Larnaca, Cyprus 53 (14) 2001
Al Jubail III, Saudi Arabia 91 (24) 2000
Muricia, Spain 64 (17) 1999
The Bay of Palma, Palma de Mallorca 64 (17) 1998
Dhekelia, Cyprus 42 (11) 1997
Marbella, Mallaga, 57 (15) 1997
Okinawa, Japan 42 (11) 1996
1,000 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS) salinity, and produces up to 6 MGD (23 MLD) of
desalinized water by blending 4 MGD (15 MLD) of RO permeate with 2 MGD (7.5 MLD) of
ground water (88) (http://www.sawpa.org/arlington/).
The application to municipal wastewater treatment requires extensive pretreatment prior to
the RO process. A typical process for municipal wastewater consists of primary, secondary
and tertiary treatments. This process produces an effluent with low turbidity that can be
disinfected for discharge. However, the effluent still contains dissolved solids such as
colloids, organic matter and bacterial activity. As a result, the water is not generally suitable
for reuse. RO membranes are able to produce water with a quality much higher than tertiary
effluent, but early attempts to treat this water with RO membranes were hindered by rapid
fouling caused by the dissolved solids. Frequent membrane cleaning was thus required and it
not only shortened membrane life, but also greatly increased operating costs. Therefore, a
series of pretreatments are performed before the effluent enters the RO units. Until recently
these pretreatment steps were chemical and physical. An example of such a system is the RO
plant known as “Water Factory 21” in Orange County, California. The influent was received
from the Sanitation District and passed through the treatment stages of lime clarification,
recarbonation, chlorination and media filtration before it was directed to the RO system (89)
(Fig. 1.12).