Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process
The reverse osmosis (RO) process is one of the most popular membrane technologies for the generation of freshwater from seawater and brackish water resources. An industrial scale RO desalination consumes a considerable amount of energy due to the exergy destruction in several units of the process. T...
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Membranes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/12/1/11 |
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| author | Alanood A. Alsarayreh Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi Alejandro Ruiz-García Raj Patel Iqbal M. Mujtaba |
| author_facet | Alanood A. Alsarayreh Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi Alejandro Ruiz-García Raj Patel Iqbal M. Mujtaba |
| author_sort | Alanood A. Alsarayreh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The reverse osmosis (RO) process is one of the most popular membrane technologies for the generation of freshwater from seawater and brackish water resources. An industrial scale RO desalination consumes a considerable amount of energy due to the exergy destruction in several units of the process. To mitigate these limitations, several colleagues focused on delivering feasible options to resolve these issues. Most importantly, the intention was to specify the most units responsible for dissipating energy. However, in the literature, no research has been done on the analysis of exergy losses and thermodynamic limitations of the RO system of the Arab Potash Company (APC). Specifically, the RO system of the APC is designed as a medium-sized, multistage, multi pass spiral wound brackish water RO desalination plant with a capacity of 1200 m<sup>3</sup>/day. Therefore, this paper intends to fill this gap and critically investigate the distribution of exergy destruction by incorporating both physical and chemical exergies of several units and compartments of the RO system. To carry out this study, a sub-model of exergy analysis was collected from the open literature and embedded into the original RO model developed by the authors of this study. The simulation results explored the most sections that cause the highest energy destruction. Specifically, it is confirmed that the major exergy destruction happens in the product stream with 95.8% of the total exergy input. However, the lowest exergy destruction happens in the mixing location of permeate of the first pass of RO desalination system with 62.28% of the total exergy input. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:59:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a7028256923145048940c6c7bc6afb9c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:59:53Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Membranes |
| spelling | doaj.art-a7028256923145048940c6c7bc6afb9c2023-11-23T14:37:53ZengMDPI AGMembranes2077-03752021-12-011211110.3390/membranes12010011Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination ProcessAlanood A. Alsarayreh0Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi1Alejandro Ruiz-García2Raj Patel3Iqbal M. Mujtaba4Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mutah University, Al Karak 00962, JordanDepartment of Computer Techniques, Technical Institute of Baquba, Middle Technical University, Baquba 00964, IraqDepartment of Electronic Engineering and Automation, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SpainDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UKDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UKThe reverse osmosis (RO) process is one of the most popular membrane technologies for the generation of freshwater from seawater and brackish water resources. An industrial scale RO desalination consumes a considerable amount of energy due to the exergy destruction in several units of the process. To mitigate these limitations, several colleagues focused on delivering feasible options to resolve these issues. Most importantly, the intention was to specify the most units responsible for dissipating energy. However, in the literature, no research has been done on the analysis of exergy losses and thermodynamic limitations of the RO system of the Arab Potash Company (APC). Specifically, the RO system of the APC is designed as a medium-sized, multistage, multi pass spiral wound brackish water RO desalination plant with a capacity of 1200 m<sup>3</sup>/day. Therefore, this paper intends to fill this gap and critically investigate the distribution of exergy destruction by incorporating both physical and chemical exergies of several units and compartments of the RO system. To carry out this study, a sub-model of exergy analysis was collected from the open literature and embedded into the original RO model developed by the authors of this study. The simulation results explored the most sections that cause the highest energy destruction. Specifically, it is confirmed that the major exergy destruction happens in the product stream with 95.8% of the total exergy input. However, the lowest exergy destruction happens in the mixing location of permeate of the first pass of RO desalination system with 62.28% of the total exergy input.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/12/1/11desalinationbrackish waterreverse osmosisexergy analysisexergy distribution |
| spellingShingle | Alanood A. Alsarayreh Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi Alejandro Ruiz-García Raj Patel Iqbal M. Mujtaba Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process Membranes desalination brackish water reverse osmosis exergy analysis exergy distribution |
| title | Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process |
| title_full | Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process |
| title_fullStr | Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process |
| title_short | Thermodynamic Limitations and Exergy Analysis of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process |
| title_sort | thermodynamic limitations and exergy analysis of brackish water reverse osmosis desalination process |
| topic | desalination brackish water reverse osmosis exergy analysis exergy distribution |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/12/1/11 |
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