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Long Beach Water Department (LBWD) has embarked on a three-phase research anddemonstration program to develop and implement a new, lower cost, seawater desalinationprocess, using membrane technology, to supplement their current imported and local watersupplies. Water conservation and water recycling efforts alone at Long Beach are not expectedto offset the increasing demands for new potable water supplies and potential reductions andrestrictions to the present imported water supplies. Located in coastal Southern California, LongBeach has access to Pacific Ocean seawater and saline groundwater of seawater quality aspotential new water sources. The three-phase seawater desalination program of the Two-stageNanofiltration Membrane Desalination Process includes Pilot Testing (Phase 1), PrototypeSeawater Desalination Testing Facility Design, Construction and Operation (Phase 2) andDemonstration Plant Design, Construction and Operation (Phase 3). The Phase 1 pilot-scaletesting, which began in 2001, consisted of 4-inch (102-mm) diameter nanofiltration (NF)membranes in a proprietary two-stage (two-pass) configuration at a capacity of 9,000-USgallonsper day (gpd) [34 m3/day]. During this pilot testing, the method demonstrated that it can achievetreated water quality equivalent to single-pass seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalinationprocess at lower operating pressures and energy cost. Due to the success of the pilot-scaletesting and promise of this desalination process for the full-scale, LBWD has applied for a patenton this innovative method and is proceeding to the next phase of the program. LBWD has tworesearch partners for the program, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the LosAngeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Phase 2 consists of testing full-scale 8-inch(203-mm) diameter NF membrane elements in a 150,000-gpd (568 m3/day) prototype plant andhaving a side-by-side comparison with a 150,000-gpd (568 m3/day) conventional seawaterreverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalination plant. If Phase 2 Prototype Plant testing provessuccessful, LBWD will proceed to a full-scale demonstration plant, with a capacity of up to 10-million USgallons per day (37,850 m3/day). This paper summarizes the Phase 1 pilot-testing,details the current Prototype Seawater Desalination Testing Facility phase, and briefly describesthe future Demonstration Plant phase (Phase 3). Includes 9 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/15/2004 Number of Pages: 22File Size: 1 file , 4.9 MB