Concentrate and solid waste management in reverse osmosis plants | |
| Author | Surapong Rattanakul |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-12-19 |
| Subject(s) | Water--Purification--Reverse osmosis process Reverse osmosis Refuse and refuse disposal |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Concentrate is a major disadvantage of reverse osmosis technology, and it needs appropriate disposal approaches. This study has shown that conventional disposal of concentrate were still used in many countries, but achieving of zero liquid discharged is new trend which can reduce environmental impacts. Although, Thailand used conventional methods of concentrate disposal, the other best practices is reuse of concentrate which covered around 22% of surveyed plants, sending to wastewater treatment plants and direct discharge into seawater for ultrapure water production, wastewater reclamation and seawater desalination, respectively. In terms of energy consumption in reverse osmosis plants Thailand cases seemed to be higher than international benchmark, and they are 2.28 to 3.11 kWh/m³, 0.8 to 1.3 kWh/m³ and 5.4 to 6 kWh/m³ for ultrapure water production, wastewater reclamation and seawater desalination, respectively. Moreover, the study reported that noise pollution was not a concerned issue in reverse osmosis plants in Thailand cases. On the other hand, this study also carried out with environmental issue of reverse osmosis plants, and the result showed that most key environmental issue is due to brine discharge. Moreover, environmental impact assessment guideline of proposed reverse osmosis plants was adopted for Thailand cases which included at least three steps, and they are defining sources of impacts, assessment of impacts and suggestion of mitigation methods. Apart from concentrate management, solid waste from reverse osmosis plants especially, used membrane modules were investigated. The results showed components in RO membrane modules consisted of reusable materials which is around 80% by weight, and mostly are plastic. Adopting of recycling business of used membrane in Thailand is best possible approach to deal with solid waste from RO plants. |
| Year | 2012 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Visvanathan, C.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh;Preeda Pakpian; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2012 |