Abstract Innovations in advanced materials in recent years have produced great improvements in the permeance of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for desalination. This work presents a simplified techno-economic analysis for a representative advanced spacer and a high-permeance RO membrane under typical feed and operating conditions. The results agree with common trends for specific energy consumption (SEC). For high-permeance membranes, advanced spacers are more effective than conventional spacers in improving flux in the region close to the inlet, due to a fast decrease in Reynolds number along the channel. The total cost for seawater RO (SWRO) and brackish water RO (BWRO) could be reduced by 7.5% and 32%, respectively by increasing the membrane permeance to 10 L/m2.h.bar regardless of the spacer type used. However, as feed velocity has negligible effects on total cost for high-permeance membrane systems, further cost reductions with larger membrane permeances are limited due to significant concentration polarisation and lower mass transfer. Nevertheless, when operating SWRO at constant recovery, those levels of cost reduction can be achieved with an advanced spacer at half of that membrane permeance value. This highlights that more cost-effectiveness can be gained by improving the spacer efficacy than by increasing membrane permeance.

中文翻译：

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将先进的间隔器与高渗透性 RO 膜结合以进行脱盐的技术经济案例

摘要 近年来，先进材料的创新大大提高了用于海水淡化的反渗透 (RO) 膜的渗透性。这项工作对典型的进料和操作条件下具有代表性的先进隔板和高渗透 RO 膜进行了简化的技术经济分析。结果与特定能源消耗 (SEC) 的共同趋势一致。对于高渗透膜，由于雷诺数沿通道快速下降，先进的隔板在提高靠近入口区域的通量方面比传统隔板更有效。通过将膜渗透率提高到 10 L/m2.h.bar，无论使用何种隔离器类型，海水反渗透 (SWRO) 和苦咸水反渗透 (BWRO) 的总成本可分别降低 7.5% 和 32%。然而，由于进料速度对高渗透膜系统总成本的影响可以忽略不计，由于显着的浓差极化和较低的传质，更大的膜渗透率进一步降低成本是有限的。然而，当以恒定回收率运行 SWRO 时，使用先进的间隔器可以实现这些水平的成本降低，其膜渗透率值只有一半。这突出表明，与提高膜渗透性相比，提高间隔物功效可以获得更高的成本效益。这些成本降低水平可以通过使用膜渗透值一半的先进隔板来实现。这突出表明，与提高膜渗透性相比，提高间隔物功效可以获得更高的成本效益。这些成本降低水平可以通过使用膜渗透值一半的先进隔板来实现。这突出表明，与提高膜渗透性相比，提高间隔物功效可以获得更高的成本效益。