Valorisation of SWRO brines in a remote island through a circular approach: Techno-economic analysis and perspectives

Nowadays, small remote islands rely heavily on desalination technologies to overcome freshwater scarcity. Unfortunately, these are accompanied by the production of brines which can affect receiving water bodies i.e., aquatic ecosystem. Yet, it is extremely appealing how such constitute an abundant source valuable raw materials (such as magnesium). In this work, a novel hybrid system introduced capture value seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) produced in minor Sicilian island Pantelleria. The “Minimal Liquid Discharge” (MLD) process consists of: (i) Nanofiltration NF (separation bivalent from monovalent ions), (ii) Mg Reactive Crystallizer MRC (selective recovery magnesium and calcium), (iii) Multi-Effect Distillation MED (freshwater production) (iv) NaCl Thermal NTC (sodium chloride recovery). economic environmental performances have been evaluated implementing integrating techno-economic models each unit simulation platform called RCE (Remote Component Environment). Results revealed important benefits comparison conventional brine disposal methods. addition, proposed MLD chain turned out be attractive alternative for high purity minerals/salts, achieving lower selling prices than current market price. • An innovative treatment was proposed. Recovery high-quality salts: Mg(OH) 2 , Ca(OH) NaCl. Optimized nanofiltration membranes allowed recover high-purity table salt (97 %). Economic feasibility demonstrated. Brine costs more competitive