Long Beach Water Department (LBWD) has embarked on a three-phase research and
demonstration program to develop and implement a new, lower pressure, dual pass, seawater
desalination process, using membrane technology, to supplement their current imported and local
water supplies. Water conservation and water recycling efforts along with seawater desalination
will provide Long Beach with a diversified water supply portfolio. Located in coastal Southern
California, Long Beach has access to Pacific Ocean seawater and saline groundwater of seawater
quality as potential new water sources. The three-phase seawater desalination program of the
Two-pass Nanofiltration Membrane Desalination Process includes Pilot Testing (Phase 1),
Prototype Seawater Desalination Testing Facility Design, Construction and Operation (Phase 2)
and Demonstration Plant Design, Construction and Operation (Phase 3). The Phase 1 pilot-scale
testing, which commenced in 2001, consisted of 4-inch (102-mm) diameter nanofiltration (NF)
membranes in a proprietary two-pass (two-stage) configuration at a capacity of 9,000-USgallons
per day (gpd) [34 m3/day]. During this pilot testing, the method demonstrated that it can achieve
treated water quality equivalent to single-pass seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination
process at lower operating pressures. Due to the success of the pilot-scale testing and promise of
this desalination process for the full-scale, LBWD has applied for a patent on this innovative
method and is proceeding to the next phase of the program. LBWD has two research partners for
the program, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power (LADWP). Phase 2 consists of testing full-scale 8-inch (203-mm) diameter NF
membrane elements in a 150,000-gpd (568 m3/day) prototype plant and having a side-by-side
comparison with a 150,000-gpd (568 m3/day) conventional seawater reverse osmosis (RO)
membrane desalination plant. If Phase 2 Prototype Plant testing proves successful, LBWD will
proceed to a full-scale demonstration plant, with a capacity of up to 10-million USgallons per day
(37,850 m3/day). This paper summarizes the Phase 1 pilot-testing, details the current Prototype
Seawater Desalination Testing Facility phase, and briefly describes the future Demonstration Plant
phase (Phase 3).
Includes 9 references, tables.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 900 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 23 |
| Published : | 03/01/2005 |
