Feasibility and Cost Optimization study of Osmotic Assisted Reverse Osmosis Process for Brine Management

Due to the excessive demand to desalinate seawater to satisfy the domestic need in Qatar, it was needed to develop safe and cost effective desalination processes with the consideration of stringent regulation for water quality production and wastewater/brine discharge quality. The direct disposal of brines to the environment raised potential negative impact to the aquatic system and therefore the best practice is to minimize the volume of brine production and reuse it for beneficiary application. Several brine-dewatering techniques include both evaporative and non-evaporative approaches, which are capable to dewater high salinity brines with 50-350 g/L of total dissolved solids (TDS). The commonly adopted technology for dewatering brine is mechanical vapor compression that is known for its significant energy consumption up to 25 kWh/m3 of produced water for 50% of water recovery1. Non-evaporative membrane base technologies are a promising approach to dewater brines with minimum energy usage. Osmotically assisted reverse osmosis (OARO) is an advance membrane based technology for energy efficient and high recovery desalination of saline brine. OARO differ from reverse osmosis (RO) by adding saline sweep on permeate side to reduce osmotic pressure difference across the membrane to generate more water flux. The ongoing research work are based on mathematical/numerical approach that focuses on finding the optimum OARO configuration, inlet hydraulic pressure to avoid membrane burst and cost analysis. However, most of these studies are conducted by considering ideal conditions. In this study, an algorithm for simulating OARO process based on MATLAB and Aspen Plus to model membrane calculation and to design process configuration is considered to the effect of concentration polarization (CP) and reverse solute flux (RSF). The objective is to study the effect of inlet feed concentration and flowrate, sweep concentration and flowrate, inlet hydraulic pressure, number of stages, membrane size and characteristics and module configuration flow. In addition, technical economic analysis to evaluate the economic feasibility of OARO process. The stopping criteria of this model is the quality of water permeating at the feasible operating conditions and the cost. This model demonstrated high potential simulating OARO process to be used as a palate form for the user to predict the behavior of the process by varying operating conditions to desired outcomes.

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Membrane Distillation Crystallization Hybrid Process for Zero Liquid Discharge in QAFCO Plant

10.29117/quarfe.2021.0010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mona Gulied ◽

Sifani Zavahir ◽

Tasneem Elmakki ◽

Hazim Qiblawey ◽

Bassim Hameed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Research Work ◽

Membrane Distillation ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Hybrid Process ◽

Optimum Operating ◽

Low Grade ◽

Water Recovery ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Liquid Discharge

Qatar fertilizer company (QAFCO) is one of the world’s largest single site producer of ammonia and urea with production capacity of 12,900 metric tons per day. Currently, QAFCO faces major challenges in terms of water streams management that is generated from many processes such as wastewater from Harbor-Bosch process and brine solution from multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination process. To protect the environment; QAFCO has been making an effort to minimize the disposal of all types of water disposed into the sea. Here, this project proposes to develop a viable and economically effective process that can reach zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) of all processed water or wastewater from QAFCO facilities. The best method for ZLD is membrane distillation crystallization (MDC) hybrid process that concentrates and minimizes the volume of wastewater/brine streams to form solid through crystallizer. Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermally driven membrane process. It applies low-grade energy to create a thermal gradient across a microporous hydrophobic to vaporize water in the feed stream and condense the permeated vapor in the cold side. This research work aims to evaluate the performance of MDC for ZLD using commercial/fabricated electrospun nanofiber membrane (ENM) PVDF –base membranes at different type water streams. A general observation, higher water vapor flux and water recovery were exhibited at higher feed conductivity at 70°C. Moreover, the fabricated hydrophobic PVDF ENMs results confirmed the formation of nanofiber at the membrane surface using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the water contact angle values of PVDF ENMs were greater than 100° and have stable mechanical and chemical properties. The ongoing research work will conduct a comparison between the optimum PVDF ENMs and the commercial MD membranes in terms of water recovery, salt rejection%, fouling/scaling, amount of collected solid and energy consumption at optimum operating conditions in MDC. In addition, it will perform a techno- economic feasibility assessment of the MDC hybrid process.

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Removal of Monoethanolamine from Wastewater by Composite Reverse Osmosis Membrane

Jurnal Teknologi ◽

10.11113/jt.v68.3031 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 68 (5) ◽

Author(s):

Azry Borhan ◽

Muhammad Muhibbudin Mat Johari

Keyword(s):

Reverse Osmosis ◽

Operating Parameter ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Optimum Operating ◽

Transmembrane Pressure ◽

Processing Plant ◽

Permeate Flux ◽

Feed Concentration ◽

Desorption Process ◽

Ro Membrane

Monoethanolamine (MEA) has been vastly used for the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) in natural gas processing plant. However, during the absorption-desorption process and maintenance activities, a small amount of amine get carries over and discharged into the effluent wastewater stream. Due to its high Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and require large volume of water for dilution, therefore treatment of MEA contaminated wastewater is a major concern in most amine sweetening plants. In this research, MEA wastewater generated from PETRONAS Fertilizer Kedah Sdn. Bhd (PFK) was treated via AFC99 tubular thin film composite polyamide Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane. The effect of operating parameter (transmembrane pressure (TMP), feed concentration and pH) towards permeate flux and MEA rejection were studied to obtain the optimum operating conditions. Experimental results showed that AFC99 membrane is able to reject MEA up to 98% when operated at TMP of 20 bars, feed concentration of 300 ppm and pH of 4. This work shows that the RO membrane was feasible and desirable to be used for removal of MEA contaminants from wastewater. Besides, the treated water fulfills the watering standards.

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Reverse Osmosis Technology for Wastewater Reuse

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1991.0251 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 24 (9) ◽

pp. 215-227 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

B. J. Mariñas

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Reverse Osmosis ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Quality Parameters ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Water Quality Parameters ◽

Feed Water ◽

Hydraulic Pressure ◽

Predominant Component ◽

Percent Removal

Reverse osmosis technology has a great potential in the field of wastewater reclamation. A reverse osmosis plant includes the following processes: (1) feed water microfiltration and chemical conditioning, (2) membrane treatment, (3) permeate aeration, neutralization and disinfection, and (4) concentrate (liquid residue) treatment and disposal. The performance of reverse osmosis membranes depends on operating conditions and water quality parameters. Permeate productivity and contaminant removals increase with applied hydraulic pressure. Water quality parameters such as concentration, composition and pH also affect contaminant removal efficiencies. For example, the treatment of a simulated wastewater containing 10 mg/L of nitrate with a commercial polyamide-type reverse osmosis membrane resulted in membrane permeates containing approximately 0.05 mg/L of nitrate (or 99.5 percent removal) when sodium chloride was the major dissolved solid present in the feed water, and 1 mg/L (or 90 percent removal) when sodium sulfate was the predominant component. The removals of weak electrolyte contaminants are affected by feed water pH. For example, the removal of boron by a cellulose acetate-type membrane was reported to be greater than 99 percent at a pH of approximately 11, and less than 30 percent at a pH of 7. The practice of pre-treatment processes such as microfiltration and chemical conditioning can minimize performance deterioration resulting from membrane fouling by inorganic precipitates, organic macromolecules and microorganisms (biofouling).

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Investigation of a Duct Burner Design Using CFD in Comparison With Full-Scale Experiments

2003 International Joint Power Generation Conference ◽

10.1115/ijpgc2003-40080 ◽

2003 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael A. Lorra ◽

Carol A. Schnepper ◽

Stephen Somers

Keyword(s):

Experimental Testing ◽

Full Range ◽

Research Work ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Cfd Modeling ◽

Exhaust Gas ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Water Steam ◽

Duct Burner ◽

Turbine Exhaust

Most new duct burners are supplied to heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) manufacturers for use in cogeneration systems. Key components of a simple cycle cogeneration plant include a turbine, generator, turbine exhaust gas duct, duct burner (optional), HRSG and downstream flue gas cleaning equipment. New developments in gas turbine technology are changing the boundary conditions for supplemental firing. In response, John Zink has an ongoing research project for the development of new duct burners achieving ultra low NOx emissions maintaining a good flame quality. The scope of this research work includes computational fluid dynamic modeling (CFD) and experimental testing of current design duct burner to obtain baseline data comparable with CFD results, and various experimental configurations through a full range of expected operating conditions. Experimental testing is performed in a test furnace at John Zink Company, Tulsa. Turbine exhaust gas (TEG) is simulated using John Zink Duct burners, which are supplied with air from a combustion air fan. Different O2 levels can be achieved by a combined water/steam injection. The temperature level of the TEG to the test burner can be adjusted with an air-cooled heat exchanger. Temperature and concentration measurements can be made at the test burner location and in the stack. Flame length, as well as NOx and CO emissions were measured for each data point. CFD modeling focused on the performance effects of turbine exhaust gas flow mal-distribution and the investigation on how reliable CFD models are, regarding flame stability calculations and NOx production. The results of this comprehensive testing and results from the CFD calculations will be compared and presented.

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Performance of low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM) for separating mono- and divalent ions

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1998.0711 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 38 (4-5) ◽

pp. 521-528 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Zaini Ujang ◽

G. K. Anderson

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metals ◽

Reverse Osmosis ◽

Metal Removal ◽

Feed Solution ◽

Low Pressure ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Operating Pressure ◽

Reverse Osmosis Membrane ◽

Permeate Flux ◽

Feed Concentration

This paper describes an investigation on the rejection of the divalent anions from ZnSO4 using LPROMs, and to establish the effect of operating pressure, feed concentration and temperature on metal removal, then to compare with the monovalent anions, ZnCl2. A bench-scale spiral wound configuration of sulphonated polysulphone low pressure reverse osmosis membrane (LPROM) was used to remove heavy metals at various operating conditions, i.e. operating conditions, solute concentrations and temperature. The results show that the higher the operating pressure the greater will be the permeate flux for heavy metals from both mono- and divalent anions. At low operating pressure however, metals from the divalent anions give a higher permeate flux than did the monovalent anions. Permeate flux in both mono- and divalent anions is shown to be subsequently increased by a decrease of the concentration of feed solution. Regarding metal removal, metals from divalent anions were rejected more effectively than monovalent anions at all levels of feed concentration.

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Economic analysis for urbanization impact on food and processing companies use case of Ukraine

Bioeconomics and agrarian business ◽

10.31548/bioeconomy2020.04.013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

Author(s):

V. A. Nazarenko ◽

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Research Work ◽

Economic Feasibility ◽

Added Value ◽

Multidimensional Data ◽

Land Resources ◽

Wide Range ◽

Future Economic Development

The paper is devoted to studying the economic and social connections between the urbanization process and agricultural land use in Ukraine. It is worth noting that both urbanization and agriculture require new lands for their future development. The important part of this connection is ecology and effective use of the available resources, as well as land use in the context of urbanization. After all, the process of urbanization can have a significant negative impact on the state of land resources. The research work determines which economic factors of urbanization are the most relevant to the land use in city suburbs and agricultural regions. The article introduces the notion of economic feasibility of land use by purpose and studies cases of food and processing companies. Food and processing industries were chosen as the main research subjects since they are the most promising fields for the future economic development of each individual region and country as a whole. These industries are centered around both import and export, besides producing added value products. Cities without a doubt are the main consumers of food products and at the same time, they drain labor resources from the countryside. In this research work, we studied the global situation in Ukraine, how 21-century urbanization has affected the agricultural sector in the country. This sector has experienced rapid growth in past decades, as opposed to industrial and manufacturing sectors, and increased the national wide level of land use. While the national wide level of urbanization might not be the highest in modern history (20th to 21st century), it continues to have a wide impact on the national economy. The scope of this impact falls outside of this research work as it consists of multidimensional data and a wide range of interdependencies, including policies and regulations. Research models require a large amount of data and cases, that’s why we focused on the food and processing sector in this paper. They proved to be a good test ground to study the urbanization impact patterns as well as make economical modeling more convenient. In this context, the peculiarities of land use models were studied, as food and processing industries use land resources, can be located both inside the city, suburban area, or in remote farmland region. It is evident that cities and businesses form large supply and demand of natural resources, labor, and financial investments.

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Exploratory research for developing advanced pumping and compressor equipment adapted to abnormal operating conditions of oil and gas production

Istrazivanja i projektovanja za privredu ◽

10.5937/jaes0-26356 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 467-474

Author(s):

Sazonov Appolonievich ◽

Mokhov Albertovich ◽

Mulenko Valentinovich ◽

Tumanyan Arturovich ◽

Frankov Alexandrovich ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Oil And Gas ◽

Research Work ◽

Gas Production ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽

Exploratory Research ◽

Oil And Gas Production ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Abnormal Operating Conditions ◽

Compressor Equipment

The observed instability of the oil and gas market makes it necessary to intensify the exploratory scientific research for the development of advanced and inexpensive pumping and compressor equipment intended for oil and gas production and treatment. The ongoing research work is being undertaken with a view to modernize well-known technical solutions and develop new scientific principles for gas compression with the use of labyrinth compressors. From the published materials, it became known that when designing labyrinth pumps, the screw auger on the pump rotor can be replaced with a set of vane wheels. This design approach should be transferred from the field of pumping technology to the field of compressor technology as well. At the initial stage of such research microlevel models of new turbocompressors have been developed to test their performance. Further, was made the transition from the low-cost physical experiments with micro-level models to a deeper study of the working process for the basic model of the compressor with the screw rotor. 3D-model development was carried out with the use of the SolidWorks 3D CAD-system. In order to undertake a calculation study, the FloEFD software package of computational fluid dynamics developed by Mentor Graphics Corporation has been used. The results of the research findings can be used for the development of energy-efficient technologies for the compression and pumping of various gases. The development of cheaper and more economical pump-compressor units will allow for the solution of urgent hydrocarbon exploration and production problems in abnormal operating conditions. Based on similar compressor units, there is a possibility to develop other sectors of science and technology as well.

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A Case Study: Analysis of Patents of Coronaviruses and Covid-19 for Technology Assesment and Future Research

Current Pharmaceutical Design ◽

10.2174/1381612826666200720233947 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pankaj Musyuni ◽

Geeta Aggarwal ◽

Manju Nagpal ◽

Ramesh K. Goyal

Keyword(s):

Disease Management ◽

Research And Development ◽

Technological Development ◽

Research Work ◽

Large Family ◽

Future Research ◽

Biological Drugs ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Patent Literature ◽

Patent Documents

Background: Protecting intellectual property rights are important and particularly pertinent for inventions which are an outcome of rigorous research and development. While the grant of patents is subject to establishing novelty and inventive step, it further indicates the technological development and helpful for researchers working in the same technical domain. The aim of the present research work is to map the existing work through analysis of patent literature, in the field of Coronaviruses (CoV), particularly COVID-19 (2019-nCoV). CoV is a large family of viruses known to cause illness in human and animals, particularly known for causing respiratory infections as evidenced in earlier times such as in MERS i.e. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; SRS i.e. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. A recently identified novel-coronavirus has known as COVID-19 which has currently caused pandemic situation across the globe. Objective: To expand analysis of patents related to CoV and 2019-nCoV. Evaluation has been conducted by patenting trends of particular strains of identified CoV diseases by present legal status, main concerned countries via earliest priority years and its assignee types and inventors of identified relevant patents. We analyzed the global patent documents to check the scope of claims along with focuses and trends of the published patent documents for the entire CoV family including 2019- nCoV through the present landscape. Methods: To extract the results, Derwent Innovation database is used by a combination of different key-strings. Approximately 3800 patents were obtained and further scrutinized and analyzed. The present write-up also discusses the recent progress of patent applications in a period of the year 2010 to 2020 (present) along with the recent developments in India for the treatment options for CoV and 2019-nCoV. Results: Present analysis showed that key areas of the inventions have been focused on vaccines and diagnostic kits apart from the composition for treatment of CoV. We also observed that no specific vaccine treatments is available for treatment of 2019-nCov, however, developing novel chemical or biological drugs and kits for early diagnosis, prevention and disease management is the primarily governing topic among the patented inventions. The present study also indicates potential research opportunities for the future, particularly to combat 2019-nCoV. Conclusion: The present paper analyzes the existing patents in the field of Coronaviruses and 2019-nCoV and suggests a way forward for the effective contribution in this upcoming research area. From the trend analysis, it was observed an increase in filing of the overall trend of patent families for a period of 2010 to the current year. This multifaceted analysis of identified patent literature provides an understanding of the focuses on present ongoing research and grey area in terms of the trends of technological innovations in disease management in patients with CoV and 2019-nCoV. Further, the findings and outcome of the present study offer insights for the proposed research and innovation opportunities and provide actionable information in order to facilitate policymakers, academia, research driven institutes and also investors to make better decisions regarding programmed steps for research and development for the diagnosis, treatment and taking preventive measures for CoV and 2019-nCoV. The present article also emphasizes on the need for future development and the role of academia and collaboration with industry for speedy research with a rationale.

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Batch Reverse Osmosis Desalination Modeling under a Time-Dependent Pressure Profile

Membranes ◽

10.3390/membranes11030173 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 173

Author(s):

Abdeljalil Chougradi ◽

François Zaviska ◽

Ahmed Abed ◽

Jérôme Harmand ◽

Jamal-Eddine Jellal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Reverse Osmosis ◽

Specific Energy ◽

Energy Demand ◽

Specific Energy Consumption ◽

Pressure Profile ◽

Recovery Ratio ◽

Feed Concentration ◽

Energetic Performance ◽

Feed Volume

As world demand for clean water increases, reverse osmosis (RO) desalination has emerged as an attractive solution. Continuous RO is the most used desalination technology today. However, a new generation of configurations, working in unsteady-state feed concentration and pressure, have gained more attention recently, including the batch RO process. Our work presents a mathematical modeling for batch RO that offers the possibility of monitoring all variables of the process, including specific energy consumption, as a function of time and the recovery ratio. Validation is achieved by comparison with data from the experimental set-up and an existing model in the literature. Energetic comparison with continuous RO processes confirms that batch RO can be more energy efficient than can continuous RO, especially at a higher recovery ratio. It used, at recovery, 31% less energy for seawater and 19% less energy for brackish water. Modeling also proves that the batch RO process does not have to function under constant flux to deliver good energetic performance. In fact, under a linear pressure profile, batch RO can still deliver better energetic performance than can a continuous configuration. The parameters analysis shows that salinity, pump and energy recovery devices efficiencies are directly linked to the energy demand. While increasing feed volume has a limited effect after a certain volume due to dilution, it also shows, interestingly, a recovery ratio interval in which feed volume does not affect specific energy consumption.

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A New Method to Determine the Impact of Individual Field Quantities on Cycle-to-Cycle Variations in a Spark-Ignited Gas Engine

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14144136 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (14) ◽

pp. 4136

Author(s):

Clemens Gößnitzer ◽

Shawn Givler

Keyword(s):

Kinetic Energy ◽

Flow Field ◽

Turbulent Kinetic Energy ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Engine Operation ◽

Gas Engine ◽

Cycle Simulation ◽

Simulation Results ◽

The Impact

Cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) in spark-ignited (SI) engines impose performance limitations and in the extreme limit can lead to very strong, potentially damaging cycles. Thus, CCV force sub-optimal engine operating conditions. A deeper understanding of CCV is key to enabling control strategies, improving engine design and reducing the negative impact of CCV on engine operation. This paper presents a new simulation strategy which allows investigation of the impact of individual physical quantities (e.g., flow field or turbulence quantities) on CCV separately. As a first step, multi-cycle unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (uRANS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of a spark-ignited natural gas engine are performed. For each cycle, simulation results just prior to each spark timing are taken. Next, simulation results from different cycles are combined: one quantity, e.g., the flow field, is extracted from a snapshot of one given cycle, and all other quantities are taken from a snapshot from a different cycle. Such a combination yields a new snapshot. With the combined snapshot, the simulation is continued until the end of combustion. The results obtained with combined snapshots show that the velocity field seems to have the highest impact on CCV. Turbulence intensity, quantified by the turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, has a similar value for all snapshots. Thus, their impact on CCV is small compared to the flow field. This novel methodology is very flexible and allows investigation of the sources of CCV which have been difficult to investigate in the past.

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