Optimal Design of Reverse Osmosis Based Desalination Process with Seasonal Variation of Feed Temperature

The design of reverse osmosis (RO) networks is investigated here using a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) approach based on a superstructure. A flexible superstructure that contains all possible alternatives of a potential RO network was developed and was used in the synthesis of RO networks. The networks were designed by using DuPont’s B10 Hollow Fiber module. For fixed freshwater demand and quality, the total annualized cost of the RO networks (capital and operating costs) is minimized in order to find the optimal operation and configuration of RO systems for three different feed concentrations and with seasonal variation of seawater temperature. It is found that seasonal variation in seawater temperature has a significant effect on the design and operation of RO systems. Also the results demonstrate that the variation in the number of modules required for the operation of RO process in high and low temperature seasons offers the possibility of flexible scheduling of cleaning and maintenance of membrane modules.