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Techno-economic assessment of minimal liquid discharge (MLD) treatment systems for saline wastewater (brine) management and treatment

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 146; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.psep.2020.12.007

1876-4800

Argyris Panagopoulos,

Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies

The management and treatment of brine (saline wastewater) are of great importance, as its discharge to the environment poses a significant threat. A new strategy called minimal liquid discharge (MLD) appears to be a promising and more cost-effective option than zero liquid discharge (ZLD) as it uses only membrane-based technologies, leading to up to 95 % freshwater recovery. This research study introduces and presents for the first time a techno-economic assessment of five MLD treatment schemes that can be implemented in the brine treatment. The technologies included are reverse osmosis (RO), high-pressure RO, forward osmosis (FO), osmotically assisted RO (OARO), and membrane distillation (MD). Results showed that the MLD schemes costs ranged from US$0.79/m3 to US$1.36/m3, while the freshwater recovery ranged from 78 % to 89 %. In schemes 2 and 5, the implementation of MD substantially increased the energy consumption (>20 kW h/m3), however, these schemes were more economical (<US$1/m3) than the other 3 schemes. If the produced freshwater is sold, then the profit from the MLD treatment can reach up to US$2.21/m3. Furthermore, the costs of MLD schemes are at the same level as the subsurface water supplies, so MLD schemes can be valuable in countries relying on subsurface water sources.