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http://dx.doi.org/10.14579/MEMBRANE_JOURNAL.2015.25.4.301

Seawater Desalination Pretreatments and Future Challenges  

Jang, Hoseok (Department of Environmental Engineering, Inha University)
Kwon, Deaeun (Department of Environmental Engineering, Inha University)
Kim, Jeonghwan (Department of Environmental Engineering, Inha University)
Publication Information
Membrane Journal / v.25, no.4, 2015 , pp. 301-309 More about this Journal
Abstract
Importance of pretreatment for seawater desalination is growing rapidly. Proper selection of pretreatment is critical for the successful, long-term operation in the seawater desalination plant such as seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO). The purposes of seawater pretreatment are to remove particulate, colloidal materials, organic, inorganic materials, microorganisms and their by-products present in the seawater, and thus to improve the performance of seawater desalination systems. However, pretreatment is most challenging for designing and operating seawater desalination plants because of fluctuations of water qualities, site specifications and wide ranges of target materials present in the seawater to be treated. In addition, it is also becoming evident increasingly that microscopic algae are a major cause of operational problems, for example, membrane fouling which is long-standing problem in SWRO process. Pretreatment strategies prior to the operation of seawater desalination technologies should be even more complicated by algae blooms and release of their harmful by-products in marine environment. This paper reviews the roles of various pretreatment methods in seawater desalination process. Benefits and drawbacks are described, which should be taken into account in future studies on selecting pretreatment for seawater desalination process.
Keywords
Pretreatment; Seawater Reverse Osmosis; Membrane Fouling; Low-pressure driven membranes; Algae Blooms;
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