Current Status and Future Trend of Seawater Desalination on Membrane Technology and Biotechnology as Sustainable Green Desalination in the 21st Century

doi:10.21127/yaoyigc20210016

Abstract

Abstract: President Kennedy’s dream of obtaining fresh water from seawater seemed has been realized as a great scientific achievement. As Norihito Tambo predicted, seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWRO) has become a major technology in Middle Eastern countries. SWRO requires less energy compared with the distillation method. Even Middle Eastern countries, where the distillation method is still a major technology, have started to adopt the RO method in new desalination plants in accordance with government policy and following the trend of developing larger (half mega-ton per day and larger) so-called Mega-SWRO plants. With these trends in the global market, the requirements of sustainable SWRO desalination as green desalination for the 21^st century are as follows: (1) conservation of energy resources: renewable energy, (2) innovation of desalination technologies: new advanced membrane and membrane systems, (3) reduction of marine pollution: green desalination. The government-supported Mega-ton water system project has been conducted to solve issues related to (2) and (3). The combination of a low pressure SWRO membrane and a low-pressure, two-stage, and high-recovery SWRO system, also referred to as a SWRO-PRO hybrid system, it has enabled 20% energy reduction and 30% energy saving in total. Likewise, low environmental impact as green desalination has established a reliable operation using less chemical and chemical cleaning. In terms of low-cost renewable energy, in particular, solar energy is now available to solve issues related to renewable energy. By combining these sophisticated technologies, desalinated water has become affordable at $ 0.50/m³ or less (as low as $ 0.28/m³). SWCC has announced their future plans for SWRO. The main topic is directed to brine mining to obtain precious materials from the brine of SWRO. This plan will be connected to water and green hydrogen for a sustainable future.

Key words: seawater reverse osmosis, low pressure seawater reverse osmosis membrane, biofouling monitoring technology, renewable solar energy, green desalination

Masaru Kurihara and Hiromu Takeuchi. Current Status and Future Trend of Seawater Desalination on Membrane Technology and Biotechnology as Sustainable Green Desalination in the 21^st Century[J]. General Chemistry, 2022, 8(1-2): 210016-210016.

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Current Status and Future Trend of Seawater Desalination on Membrane Technology and Biotechnology as Sustainable Green Desalination in the 21^st Century

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