Innovative Treatment Technologies for Natural Waters and Wastewaters

Childress, Amy E.

关键词: water treatment;    wastewater reclamation;    desalination;    membrane processes;    forward osmosis;    membrane bioreactor;    osmotic membrane bioreactor;    solar energy;    membrane distillation;    solar pond;    distributed temperature sensing;    double diffusive convection;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1018225
RP-ID  :  ER64143
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1018225

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

The research described in this report focused on the development of novel membrane contactor processes (in particular, forward osmosis (FO), pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), and membrane distillation (MD)) in low energy desalination and wastewater treatment applications and in renewable energy generation. FO and MD are recently gaining national and international attention as viable, economic alternatives for removal of both established and emerging contaminants from natural and process waters; PRO is gaining worldwide attention as a viable source of renewable energy. The interrelationship of energy and water are at the core of this study. Energy and water are inextricably bound; energy usage and production must be considered when evaluating any water treatment process for practical application. Both FO and MD offer the potential for substantial energy and resource savings over conventional treatment processes and PRO offers the potential for renewable energy or energy offsets in desalination. Combination of these novel technologies with each other, with existing technologies (e.g., reverse osmosis (RO)), and with existing renewable energy sources (e.g., salinity gradient solar ponds) may enable much less expensive water production and also potable water production in remote or distributed locations. Two inter-related projects were carried out in this investigation. One focused on membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment and PRO for renewable energy generation; the other focused on MD driven by a salinity gradient solar pond.