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Water Recycling, Desalination, and Distribution

People are being forced to choose between using the water in their reservoirs for drinking or electricity. 
Nuclear is for electricity, water is for drinking. 

Chapter Six, Index:                                                  Proposed nuclear sea water desalination complex (India)
Part One:     Multistage Flash Distillation desalination of sea water
Part Two:     Reverse Osmosis desalination of sea water
Part Three:   NDS - Nisan Desalination Services International
Part Four:     News Items

Desalination Blog:  http://simon-nisan.com/  Dr. Simon Nisan on Nuclear Desalination.  Dr. Simon NISAN is the Chargé d’Affaire, Nuclear Desalination and Chief Engineer at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) CEA English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination       http://www.water-technology.net/               

Chapter Six, Part One:

Desalination of Sea Water

Many available reactors could be used to provide the steam:  NuScale,  Hyperion TRIGA, Toshiba's 4S, PBMR TRISO Pebble bed, Adams Atomic Engine TRISO reactor.  Holland's NEREUS 

Fresh from the Sea By Mark Fischetti - From Scientific American, September, 2007
Notice the water is run through the boiler and sterilized before being allowed to vaporize and condense.

Shoaiba Desalination Plant, Saudi Arabia

The finished desalination plant currently ranks as the largest in the world and uses multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation.

The overall development at the Shoaiba site also includes an oil-fired power station, together with a port and a tanker terminal for boiler oil.
 

 http://www.water-technology.net/projects/shuaiba/ 

Nuclear Heat Multistage Flash Distillation

Shevchenko BN350 nuclear fast reactor and desalination plant situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea. The plant generates 135 MW_electric and also provides steam for an associated desalination plant. View of the interior of the reactor hall.  Notice the same funnel-shape condensate catchers as in the Scientific American sketch above?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_reactor  

Chapter Six, Part Two:

Electric Pump Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Tampa, Florida, already has a reverse osmosis desalination plant that supplies 25% of its water.  California has about 20 desalination plants in the planning stage.  There are over 1,500 oil-burning desalination plants in the mideast all burning oil.

Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination:  http://www.tampabaywater.org/watersupply/tbdesal.aspx    (Article below is from the Tampa Bay Water web site.)

Reverse Osmosis is used to remove their fresh water from the salt water.

Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination uses a process called reverse osmosis (RO) to produce drinking water from seawater. RO has been successfully used in nearly 200 water and wastewater treatment plants throughout Florida and produces some of the highest quality drinking water in the world.

Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station already withdraws and discharges up to 1.4 billion gallons a day of seawater from Tampa Bay, using it as cooling water for the power plant. The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination plant “catches” approximately 44 million gallons (mgd) of that warm seawater a day, separates it into drinking water and concentrated seawater.

The unused concentrated seawater is returned to TECO's cooling water where it is diluted with up to 1.4 billion gallons of water before it is discharged to the bay.

Desalination Process

There are basically three main treatment elements in the desalination process: pretreatment, reverse osmosis, and post-treatment.

Pretreatment

Pretreatment must be rigorous to remove sediment, organic matter and other microscopic particles to ensure efficient reverse osmosis operations.

Seawater entering the plant is first treated with chemicals to allow eventual settling of particles. It then goes through traveling screens that filter out shells and other larger debris. The screened water then goes through settling chambers. Similar to a traditional surface water treatment process, particles in the conditioned water clump together and settle out.

The next step in pretreatment is sand filtration, where smaller particles are filtered from the water. Next, diatomaceous earth filters eliminate microscopic materials before the water passes through cartridge filters, the last barrier before the RO process.

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis is what distinguishes a desalination plant from a traditional surface water treatment plant. During RO, high pressure forces the pretreated water through semi-permeable membranes, separating saltwater from freshwater and leaving salt and other minerals behind in a salty solution.

The size of each RO membrane pore is about .001 microns, which is about 1/100,000th the diameter of a human hair.

Post-treatment

The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant produces up to 25 million gallons per day of desalinated drinking water. Before that water is delivered to Tampa Bay Water, chemicals are added to stabilize the water. The water is then pumped to the regional facilities site, where the desalinated seawater is blended with treated drinking water from other supply sources before being delivered to Tampa Bay Water’s member governments.

Concentrate Return

At full capacity, the RO process will leave about 19 mgd of twice-as-salty seawater behind which will be returned to Big Bend’s cooling water stream and blended with approximately 1.4 billion gallons of cooling water, which will dilute it 70-to-1. At this point, its salinity will be only 1.0 to 1.5 percent higher, on average, than water from Tampa Bay. Environmental scientists say this slight increase falls within Tampa Bay’s normal, seasonal fluctuations in salinity.

This cooling water mixture then moves through a discharge canal, blending with more seawater, diluting the discharge even further. By the time the discharged water reaches Tampa Bay, its salinity is nearly the same as the bay’s. And, the large volume of water that naturally flows in and out of Tampa Bay near Big Bend will dilute it even further, preventing any long-term build-up of salinity in the bay.

Monitoring during the plant’s first year of operations showed no measurable changes in salinity, even when the plant was operating at maximum capacity.

Here is a small Australian reverse osmosis system partially powered by a windmill being offered by a startup:  http://www.windesal.com/how_it_works.html 

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Chapter Six, Part Three:

NDS - Nisan Desalination Services International
 

Desalination Blog:  http://simon-nisan.com/  Dr. Simon Nisan on Nuclear Desalination.  Dr. Simon NISAN is the Chargé d’Affaire, Nuclear Desalination and Chief Engineer at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)  CEA English

Nisan Desalination Services Int.

Expertise and innovative R&D for the production of low cost electricity and water

NDS is a group of world’s well known desalination experts, providing integrated services for the deployment of desalination systems at the lowest costs.

Why NDS ?

In almost all countries, wishing to deploy integrated desalination systems, the decision makers need to access immediately some basic facts and figures regarding main characteristics of the proposed systems, cost estimates, environmental impacts, etc.

By definition, since there are no on-going programs, the decisions have to be delayed until collaboration agreements have been signed with suppliers, engineers have been trained and numerous political discussions have taken place. Obviously this not only takes a lot of time but also involves considerable expenditure.

NDS is created to eliminate this very frequent problem. NDS is a startup whose main objective is to provide all essential services to organizations or countries, wishing to study or deploy integrated desalination systems.

Scope of Activities

A very unusual feature of NDS will be to train engineers / scientists in their own laboratories to realize the specific studies or tasks required. This would not only save considerable amount of time and money in negotiations and political haggling but it would also create the skilled manpower in the client countries with minimal costs, since travel and other expenses would disappear.

As the name indicates, NDS would be able to provide :

• Complete feasibility studies of integrated nuclear desalination systems for a given site

• Training of young engineers / scientists in their country of origin

• Comparative economic evaluations of nuclear and fossil energy based integrated desalination systems

• Planning and requirements for the implementation of nuclear energy programs

• development of computer codes for the economic evaluation of nuclear and fossil energy based systems

• Development of specific computer codes and simulators concerning desalination systems, etc.

• Safety studies of proposed nuclear desalination systems

• Liaison services between suppliers and clients

• Preparation of reports in English or French or Arabic or in any combination thereof

Experience from some international (or bi-lateral) projects and studies

• Site specific feasibility studies for Tunisia; the TUNDESAL project (technical coordination of a mixed team of enginerres from CEA, STEG (Tunisian utility), SONEDE (Tunisian water company). The final report led STEG to opt for the nuclear option.

• The EURODESAL generic study: included industrial companies such as ANSALDO (Italy); AREVA NP(France); CANDESAL(canada); EMPRESSARIOS AGRUPADOS (Spain); IRRADIARE (Portugal) and R&D organisations: University of ROME and CEA (France).

• Coordination and research for the Indo-french collaboration agreement in the field of nuclear desalination.

• Elaboration of the technical programme for the LIBNDP1 project (French-Libyan Collaboration programme) aimed at using the Tajoura reactor as a nuclear desalination demonstration plant.

• Contributions to several IAEA TECDOCS; preparation of TECDOCS 1524 (Status of Nuclear Desalination in IAEA Member States) and 1561 (Economics of Nuclear Desalination: New Developments and Case Studies).

 

Chapter Six, Part Four:

News Items

Florida Desalination Project Advances.
The Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal (12/10, Cobham) reported that "the Coquina Coast Cooperators are just about ready to forge ahead with plans for an alternative regional water supply," after "Palm Coast (FL) City Council members discussed approving a $950,000 contract between the city and New York-based Malcolm Pirnie for preliminary design work on the Coquina Coast seawater desalination project." Under the plans, "the environmental consulting firm will determine by February 2010 whether the plant, which would remove minerals from seawater for human consumption, will be ship- or land-based."
 

Effectiveness Of No-Flush Urinals Questioned.
In an article about "effectiveness of no-flush urinals," McClatchy (11/17, Greve, Wong) reported that "concerns over water shortages and environmental impact spawned a garage industry for urinals that don't use water." These "devices, which rely on special oil-filled drain traps, have become the rage in eco-conscious communities nationwide, especially in water-worried California and the arid Southwest." Currently, they are "fastest-growing segment of the US urinal market, accounting for 250,000 of its 12 million units," thanks to endorsements from groups such as "the influential US Green Building Council promotes no-flush urinals," and the US Army Corps of Engineers or individuals like "Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore...a board member" of a "leading no-flush urinal maker." Yet, "an inconvenient truth hovers over the no-flush urinal industry. It's that many buyers and one-time fans say that the urinals are icky, tricky and costly to maintain." Meanwhile, "the Environmental Protection Agency, charged with developing water-savings recommendations for consumer products, is delaying action on no-water urinals," citing "concerns about...'their long-term cost effectiveness.'"

 

Tests to determine feasibility of pipes linking ocean, desalinization plant in California.
The San Luis Obispo (CA) Tribune (11/3, Tanner) reported, "The Army Corps of Engineers will oversee follow-up tests to determine if pipes that would link a proposed desalination plant to the ocean could be put under a Cambria beach (CA)." The Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) "wanted to do tests on the beach at the mouth of San Simeon Creek, not far from a potential desalination plant site," however, "the California Coastal Commission turned down the district's proposal in December, arguing that the district did not show that there was no other alternative to using the environmentally sensitive area." The CCSD "then commissioned tests near the mouth of Santa Rosa Creek. ... Those tests used sound and radar to detect three ancient streambeds under the beach west of the park and the current creek mouth." Filled in over time, the ancient "streambeds offer channels ranging from 50 feet to 140 feet from the surface before hitting bedrock." However, further testing is "needed to determine if the district can use one of the channels to draw in water from the ocean and another to discharge brine from the desalination plant." In order "to minimize the effects on ocean life, pipes would not open directly on the ocean; subterranean wells would be used."
 

Researchers: Rising water demand from energy sector may impact water supplies.
Noting "the amount of water needed to refine oil, produce biofuels, or cool power plants," the Christian Science Monitor (11/3, Spotts) reported that, "according to the University of Texas researchers, as the United States tries to end" its "addiction to oil, the country likely will be trading foreign oil for domestic water." They said that "rising water demand from the energy sector could have a significant effect on regional water supplies," and advised policymakers to "plan accordingly." The researchers "made their calculations for a range of fuels -- from traditional petroleum-based options such as diesel fuel and gasoline, to biofuels and electric vehicles. The numbers include water used for mining, farming, or drilling. Then they calculated the water consumption in gallons for each mile traveled using these other fuels." According to the study, which appeared in the Nov. 1 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, "not surprisingly, while gasoline consumes water at 0.15 gallons per mile, biofuels like ethanol slurp an average of 28 gallons per mile. Biodiesel from soybeans comes in at 8 gallons per mile." Notably, "The most watertight combo" is "electric vehicles recharged through renewable sources of electricity."

 

California reservoir to provide more water for U.S. states.
The Los Angeles Times (10/22, Perry) reports, "On a rocky patch of desert, federal and [California] officials Tuesday began construction on a $172.2-million reservoir that will store water from the Colorado River." The project "will mean more water for coastal Southern California, southern Nevada, and central Arizona -- where water agencies have agreed to split the cost.

But it will mean less water for Mexico, where farmers and cities are suffering from drought and a leaky infrastructure that has trouble delivering water to its customers." The Times notes, "For decades, the United States has allowed Mexico to receive more water from the Colorado River than it was assured under a 1944 treaty." But while the region is "suffering a historic drought, the U.S. Interior Department took the lead in devising a project to capture excess water from the All-American Canal rather than allowing it to flow south of the border."

The reservoir, which is "scheduled to be completed in August 2010, is the second Imperial Valley project that will mean more water for the United States but less for Mexico. At a cost of nearly $250 million, a 23-mile stretch of the All-American Canal is being lined with concrete to prevent seepage."

California forum issues recommendations concerning water supplies.
The North County (CA) Times (10/23, Fikes) reports, "Officials said Wednesday that Southern Californians are running out of water and insuring adequate future supplies will depend on solving environmental concerns on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta," by "making greater use of purified sewage water, building more desalination plants, and improving conservation efforts."

UTEP receives research funding for desalination project.
The El Paso (TX) Times (10/24, Meritz) reports that "water desalination research is posed to take a giant step forward in El Paso now that the state, the University of Texas System, and other partners have chosen to fund a desalination research center at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)," Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Thursday. He announced that a $2 million investment by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund would be used "to create through UTEP the Center for Inland Desalination Systems, which will be designed to explore more efficient methods of treating water and ways to recycle mineral byproduct extracted from water to make it potable." The original $2 million investment will be matched by UTEP and the university system.

According to KVIA-TV Texas (10/23), "Perry said the new project would not only create new jobs, but be a place for students to develop and implement the latest technology in water recycling." Perry also pointed out that "the growth of Fort Bliss is a major reason the university received the funding." He said, "When they get here, they're going need water to carry them through in their projects or for their homes and their families." KTSM-TV Texas (10/23) also covered the story.

Engineers Approve Reduced Water Releases From Lake Lanier.
The AP (11/15) reported, "The US Army Corps of Engineers says it will hold more water in Lake Lanier this winter," explaining that "sending less water down the Chattahoochee River through Atlanta was determined to have no long-term significant environmental or human impacts."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (11/14, Shelton) added, "Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch last month asked the corps to reduce the required minimum amount of water flowing down the Chattahoochee at Atlanta by 13 percent to keep as much water in Lanier as possible. But Lanier still could reach a record low level next month. On Friday, the lake was more than 18 feet below full pool, lower than it has ever been this time of year since it was built in the 1950s."

The Gainesville (GA) Times (11/15, Gilbert) noted, "Corps spokesman Patrick Robbins said the reduced flow from Buford Dam will remain in effect during the cooler months but will be re-evaluated at the end of April. Once the weather warms up, he said, greater flow may be needed in the Chattahoochee in order to maintain water quality."

End Of Chapter Six - Water Recycling, Desalination, and Distribution