Criteria interdependency in Multi-criteria Decisionmaking on sustainability: Desalination for resource recovery case study

There is a rising concern on the sustainability of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) desalination. In this study, Multi-criteria Decision-making (MCDM) is applied to compare the sustainability performance of various ZLD scenarios, which is part of a Strong Sustainability (SS) assessment of desalination. ZLD desalination systems are considered to be...

Economic and cost-effectiveness analysis of integrated desalination and brine treatment systems

The brine generated from desalination is a threat to the environment, and its disposal has been a great challenge. A new concept Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) can minimize the environmental impact of brine. However, the high costs for construction and running of a ZLD plant limits its growth in desalination market. Therefore, a new strategy...

Assessing the environmental performance of a novel coal mine brine treatment technique: A case in Poland

Although the energy transition results in decreased use of coal for power production, hard coal extraction will continue due to its importance in steel production and coal mine wastewater will continue generating after mines closure. The coal mining sector produces wastewater which results in environmental burdens and often contains valuable...

Sodium chloride recovery from brines for reuse purposes in zero liquid discharge

In the application of the Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) strategy, not a single drop of water leaves the waste water treatment plant (WWTP). In the recovery strategy of an actual full-scale ZLD WWTP, the focus lies on high quality water, which is fully recovered from reverse osmosis brine (RO-brine). A residual solid stream is generated and...

Towards Zero Liquid Discharge in drinking water production

Nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are used to produce clean water, but also produce a concentrate stream which contains most of the contaminants. Discharging concentrate streams to the environment is hindered by regulations, which are becoming more strict, and by the desire of recovering every single valuable atom. Therefore...

Nanofiltration with zero liquid discharge in drinking water treatment

The topic of this thesis is a concept of zero liquid discharge for nanofiltration technology in drinking water treatment. Nanofiltration, defined as a process between Ultrafiltration (UF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO), is a rapidly emerging technology. The origin of NF membranes can be traced back to the late 1950s when it was developed to treat sea...