Print Email Facebook Twitter Pioneering minimum liquid discharge desalination Title Pioneering minimum liquid discharge desalination: A pilot study in Lampedusa Island Author Morgante, C. (Università degli Studi di Palermo) Vassallo, F. (Università degli Studi di Palermo) Cassaro, C. (Università degli Studi di Palermo) Virruso, G. (Università degli Studi di Palermo) Diamantidou, D. (Lenntech) Van Linden, N. (Lenntech) Ktori, R. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Rodriguez Pascual, M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Micale, G. (Università degli Studi di Palermo) Xevgenos, Dimitris (TU Delft Energy and Industry) Date 2024 Abstract Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) and Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) schemes have been widely proposed in the recent scientific literature not only as a possible solution to brine disposal but also as a non-conventional sustainable source of raw materials. Nevertheless, very few works have pushed the idea towards a real demonstration activity, and this somehow limits the reliability that such schemes have with respect to the real implementation potential at the industrial scale. In this work, for the first time in the literature, an integrated treatment chain for the sustainable production of freshwater and minerals has been demonstrated at a pre-industrial scale, in the island of Lampedusa (Italy). The treatment chain included a Nanofiltration (NF) step to separate monovalent and bivalent ions, followed by a Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) unit, powered by waste heat from a Thermal Power plant, generating high-quality water (<30 μS/cm) and an ultra-concentrated brine. The latter was treated in Evaporation Ponds (EPs) to generate high purity NaCl (>99 %). On the other side, the NF retentate was treated to selectively recover magnesium and calcium hydroxides (Mg(OH)2 purity up to 98 %) in a novel Multiple Feed-Plug Flow Reactor (MF-PFR). The resulting brine fed an ElectroDialysis with Bipolar Membranes unit (EDBM), generating in-situ alkaline and acidic solutions: chemicals needed for internal usage in the plant. All units were successfully tested, reaching satisfactory performance indicators. Furthermore, the stability of each unit during the daily operational run was assessed and successfully achieved, demonstrating not only the technical feasibility of the proposed demo plant, but also the feasibility of MLD as a sustainable alternative for minerals recovery. Subject Circular economyDesalinationMLDResource recoverySeawater miningWaste heat To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5e6d9435-8b29-443d-8242-55da90f0f50a DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2024.117562 ISSN 0011-9164 Source Desalination, 581 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 C. Morgante, F. Vassallo, C. Cassaro, G. Virruso, D. Diamantidou, N. Van Linden, R. Ktori, M. Rodriguez Pascual, G. Micale, Dimitris Xevgenos, More Authors Files PDF 1-s2.0-S001191642400273X-main.pdf 6.92 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:5e6d9435-8b29-443d-8242-55da90f0f50a/datastream/OBJ/view