REVERSE OSMOSIS CREATES DRINKING WATER
REVERSE OSMOSIS PLANT
In some regions of the world, the lack of a primary source such as water, could become a determining factor for economic and political instability whereas nearly 40% of the world’s population relies on river systems that cross two or more countries.
The increasing awareness towards the issue of water, as a precious and irreplaceable wealth, encourages some countries to make enormous investments to increase its availability of drinking water. The fact that the largest source of available water lies in the sea favours the research and investment in the realisation of efficient desalination plants.
FLOATING ON SEA WATER
In this period of impending crisis it’s up to technology to propose solutions that are reliable, feasible, with low environmental impact and with sustainable costs for the economies of the poorest areas of the globe.
The technologies used for the desalination of seawater are based on membrane processes, where the “heart” of the system is represented by Reverse Osmosis. BONO Artes has made some innovation in these technologies through the construction of plants capable of producing drinking water with reduced energy consumption.
Through the experience gained over the years, BONO Artes has provided a plant for the desalination of seawater for the “Peru LNG” project, the largest ever undertaken in Peru and all of South America for the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), developed by the US company, CB&I, leader in the realisation of industrial complexes in the energy and natural resources field.
The BONO Artes supply is an innovative system capable of obtaining both pure water, to be employed for industrial purposes and pure drinking water meeting the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) for human consumption.
The process occurs through two phases:
- The first stage consists of pre-treatment with two multilayer filters that allow the removal of suspended solids from water
- The second stage allows the production of deionized water through double step reverse osmosis.
At this point, part of the deionized water is used for feeding the boiler, while the remainder is further treated and made drinkable for human consumption at the nearby field site.
PURE DRINKING WATER
To cope with the energy necessary for the operation of the plant, BONO Artes has adopted a system that allows a turbine to recover energy from the residual pressure of the reverse osmosis concentrate in order to significantly reduce operation costs.
Another critical factor for this contract was the choice of materials since the plant was to be installed in the desert region of Peru. So, in the choice of materials, both the high salinity of seawater and the extreme conditions of operation imposed by the arid regions of South America, had to be taken into consideration.
Right now the plant is running at full speed with excellent results, both from the point of view of water quality, and cost efficiency. This success highlights the ability of BONO Artes to find solutions to deal with any type of water, even in extreme conditions, anywhere in the world.
Sourced and published by Henry Sapiecha 20th March 2009
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