Assessment of desalination plants is essential to evaluate potable water production, energy consumption, and economic feasibility. A design model with a boundary layer effect, water transport effect, spacer effect, and Donnan potential was used for ED desalination. Similarly, a design model is also investigated for RO desalination with and without a pressure energy recovery device. Specific product water cost is evaluated based on annual expenses consisting of energy cost, fixed cost, labor cost, membrane replacement cost, maintenance cost, chemical cost, and insurance cost. Normalized sensitivity analysis is also conducted to identify the most influential parameters impacting the cost model. It is found that ED is economically feasible when salinity is less than 7 and 9 ppt compared to RO with and without PX, respectively. The product water cost is 0.384, 0.46, and 0.494 $/m³ for ED, RO with PX, and RO without PX, respectively, at a salinity of 5 ppt (e.g., groundwater salinity). The product water cost increases to be 1.532, 0.559, and 0.857 $/m³ for ED, RO with PX, and RO without PX, respectively, at a feed salinity of 35 ppt (e.g., seawater salinity). Also, highly saline water can be desalinated with ED at the cost of <5 $/m³ for a salinity <100 ppt.

对海水淡化厂进行评估对于评估饮用水的生产，能耗和经济可行性至关重要。采用具有边界层效应，水传输效应，间隔效应和唐南势的设计模型进行ED淡化。类似地，还研究了带有和不带有压力能量回收装置的RO脱盐设计模型。特定产品水的成本是根据年度支出评估的，这些年度支出包括能源成本，固定成本，人工成本，膜更换成本，维护成本，化学品成本和保险成本。还进行了标准化敏感性分析，以找出影响成本模型的最有影响力的参数。发现当盐度分别低于有和没有PX的RO时，ED在盐度小于7和9 ppt时在经济上是可行的。³为ED，RO与PX，和RO不PX，分别在5个百分点（例如，地下水盐度）的盐度。在进料盐度（例如海水盐度）为35 ppt的情况下，ED，带PX的RO和不带PX的RO的产品水成本分别增加到1.532、0.559和0.857 $ / m ³。同样，高盐度的水可以用ED脱盐，盐分<100 ppt的成本<5 $ / m ³。