• 한국가스학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.212-212
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• 2005

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.48-54
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• 1998

Korea becomes one of the countries which suffer from water shortage. It is expected that its water shortage in the early 2000's will be more than 10% of the annual demand. The shortage problem is more serious in the coastal areas where many industry complex locate. To solve the shortage problem, seawater desalination gets more attention as an alternative water supply source since Korea is surrounded by sea on its three sides. For potential application of seawater desalination in Korea, an economic analysis was conducted using cost data for the plants in the Middle Ease areas, The United states and others. The study is to provide a basis for the government to establish a strategy for promoting seawater desalination in Korea. It is discussed that the Reverse Osmosis (RO) process gets cheaper over times than the thermal processes of Multi-stage Flash Distillation (MSF) and Multi Effect Distillation (ME), especially in case where the capacity is less than about 50,000 ton/day. The unit cost of RO seawater is analyzed about US$1.35/ton in 1990 price. Since the Desalination plant can be operated regardless of weather conditions, industries in Korea's coastal areas which suffer from frequent droughts and water shortages are recommended to look into this option with more attention.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.442-448
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• 2021

Seawater desalination is a technology through which salt and other constituents are removed from seawater to produce fresh water. While a significant amount of fresh water is produced, the desalination process is limited by the generation of concentrated brine with a higher salinity than seawater; this imposes environmental and economic problems. In this study, characteristics of seawater from three different locations in South Korea were analyzed to evaluate the feasibility of crystallization to seawater desalination. Organic and inorganic substances participating in crystal formation during concentration were identified. Then, prediction and economic feasibility analysis were conducted on the actual water flux and obtainable salt resources (i.e. Na2SO4) using membrane distillation and energy-saving crystallizer based on multi-stage flash (MSF-Cr). The seawater showed a rather low salinity (29.9~34.4 g/L) and different composition ratios depending on the location. At high concentrations, it was possible to observe the participation of dissolved organic matter and various ionic substances in crystalization. When crystallized, materials capable of forming various crystals are expected. However, it seems that different salt concentrations should be considered for each location. When the model developed using the Aspen Plus modular was applied in Korean seawater conditions, relatively high economic feasibility was confirmed in the MSF-Cr. The results of this study will help solve the environmental and economic problems of concentrated brine from seawater desalination.