Design of SWRO Desalination Plant for Nuclear Research Center

Abstract

Libya has an infinite water resource available in
the coastal towns and cities being located on Mediterranean
Sea with 1950km coast. Therefore, the need for desalinated
water for Nuclear Research Center NRC located in Tajura
is currently about 1200 m
3
/day. To cover the center present
and future water needs for research and development
activities, two thermal sea water desalination plants have
been assembled in the site. One of the plants uses Multi
Stage Flash technology and the other one uses Multi Effect
Desalination technology with capacity of 1200m
/day each
one. Detailed design for 1200m
3
/day seawater reverse
osmosis SWRO unit is carried out using ROSA S oftware to
make the technical comparison with other MSF and MED
units. The unit labeled an S W30XLE-440i by the results of
the Software is selected since it required the lower feed
pressure of 55.5bar and highest salt recovery of 45% with
total dissolved solid of 190ppm. From the technical point of
view, the study showed that SWRO required lower sea
water inlet flow rate than MSF and MED. The units
efficiency are 43%, 10.5% and 25% for SWRO, MSF, and
MED, respectively. Further the Product quality TDS
190ppm for RO unit is suitable for drinking water, while
those of MSF and MED 50ppm. Energy consumption as
heating steam is not required for the S WRO unit; however,
a steam flow rate 7.3m 3/hr is required by MSF and MED
units. These make SWRO unit friendlier to the environment
and most proper technically under these situations.