Desalination techniques for industrial wastewater reuse

Wastewater is considered a major resource of the water budget in many countries around the world. This has necessitated the expansion of the applications in the industrial sector. This paper presents a feasibility study for 10,000 m(3)/d wastewater and seawater desalination plants in the UAE. The desalination evaluation has been based on reverse osmosis membrane technology and the associated conventional and non-conventional pre-treatment units. Although wastewater generation in the UAE has increased three-fold in one decade, the reuse schemes remain limited in terms of applications. Wastewater desalination can produce water quality to suit many industrial uses, such as power generation, textile, pulp and paper, and construction industries. This paper shows an economic advantage of wastewater desalination, which is attributable to low salt content compared to seawater desalination. The study shows that the cost of desalting I m(3) of wastewater is US$ 0.47, compared to US$ 1.06 for 35% recovery seawater desalination plant.