Techno-economic analysis of ion concentration polarization desalination for high salinity desalination applications

Abstract

A techno-economic analysis is used to evaluate the economic feasibility of ion concentration polarization (ICP) desalination for seawater desalination and brine management. An empirical optimization model based on a limited set of experimental data, which was obtained from a lab-scale ICP desalination prototype, was established to calculate the required energy and membrane area for a given set of operating parameters. By calculating operating and capital expenses in various feed and product cases, the optimal levelized cost of water is determined over a range of feed salinities, mostly above seawater salinity (35 g/kg). Through these analyses, we study the economic feasibility of three applications: 1) partial desalination of brine discharge by ICP (feed varied from 35 to 75 g/kg) to common seawater RO feed level (35 g/kg) in a hybrid ICP-RO system; 2) the concentration of seawater desalination brine for salt production, and 3) partial desalination of oilfield wastewater. The economic feasibility of ICP desalination processes has been evaluated and the rough cost of treatment has been generated for several relevant applications. The approach taken in this work could be employed for other new and existing desalination processes, where a priori process modeling and optimization is scientifically and/or numerically challenging. Keywords: Electromembrane desalination; High salinity desalination; Brine management; Economic analysis; Ion concentration polarization