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Modern Use of Water Produced by Purification of Municipal Wastewater: A Case Study

Author

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  • Giorgia Tomassi

    (Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6/a, 35131 Padova, Italy)

  • Pietro Romano

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and of Economics, Campus of Roio, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Gabriele Di Giacomo

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and of Economics, Campus of Roio, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

Abstract

All the urban areas of developed countries have hydric distribution grids and sewage systems for collecting municipal wastewater to treatment plants. In this way, the municipal wastewater is purified from human excreta and other minor contaminants while producing excess sludges and purified water. In arid and semi-arid areas of the world, the purified water can be used, before discharging, to enhance the energy efficiency of seawater desalination and solve the problems of marine pollution created by desalination plants. Over the past half-century, seawater desalination has gradually met demand in urbanized, oil-rich, arid areas. At the same time, technological evolution has made it possible to significantly increase the energy efficiency of the plants and reduce the unit cost of the produced water. However, for some years, these trends have flattened out. The purified water passes through the hybridized desalination plant and produces renewable osmotic energy before the final discharge in the sea to restart the descent behaviour. Current technological development of reverse osmosis (RO), pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) and very efficient energy recovery devices (ERDs) allows this. Furthermore, it is reasonable to predict that, in the short-medium term, a new generation of membranes specifically designed for improving the performance of the pressure retarded osmosis will be available. In such circumstances, the presently estimated 13-20% decrease of the specific energy consumption will improve up to more than 30%. With the hybrid plant, the salinity of the final discharged brine is like that of seawater, while the adverse effect of GHG emission will be significantly mitigated.

Suggested Citation

  • Giorgia Tomassi & Pietro Romano & Gabriele Di Giacomo, 2021. "Modern Use of Water Produced by Purification of Municipal Wastewater: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:22:p:7610-:d:678969
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kim, Jungbin & Park, Kiho & Yang, Dae Ryook & Hong, Seungkwan, 2019. "A comprehensive review of energy consumption of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
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    5. Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Al-Othman, Amani & Abdelwahab, Noun & Alami, Abdul Hai & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2021. "Recent developments in pressure retarded osmosis for desalination and power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Gabriele Di Giacomo, 2021. "Material and Energy Recovery from the Final Disposal of Organic Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-2, December.
    2. Shuihua Zheng & Chaojie Yang & Chaoshou Yan & Min Chai & Zenan Sun, 2022. "Study on Fiber Clogging Mechanism in Sewage Pump Based on CFD–DEM Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, February.

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