2.500
Desalination and Water Purification
Introduces the fundamental science and technology of desalinating water to overcome water scarcity and ensure sustainable water supplies. Covers basic water chemistry, flash evaporation, reverse osmosis and membrane engineering, electrodialysis, nanofiltration, solar desalination, energy efficiency of desalination systems, fouling and scaling, environmental impacts, and economics of desalination systems. Open to upper-class undergraduates.
Spring 2009
Topics
- Introduction to water supply
- Characteristics of seawater. Concentration and molality
- Gibbs energy. Work of separation
- Chemical activity. Work of separation
- Separation at finite recovery. Osmosis
- Reverse osmosis. Solution-diffusion model
- Solution-diffusion model. Crossflow separators
- Concentration polarization. RO System engineering
- Introduce term project. Electrodialysis
- Visit to Koch Membrane Systems
- Visit GE Ionics
- Electrodialysis
- Electrodialysis (cont.). Ion exchange
- Introduction to thermal desalination
- Scale formation. Distillation. Least heat of distillation
- GOR. Combined power generation and distillation
- Single effect distillation. Multi-effect distillation
- Single-stage flash distillation. Multi-stage flash evaporation
- Vapor compression distillation. Relative desalination costs. Freeze distillation
- Discussion of term project. Details about Haiti
- Wastewater treatment in the developing world
- Solar energy. Solar collectors. Solar stills
- Solar desalination systems; CSP water/power cogeneration
- Particulate removal. Flocculation. Summary
- Final project presentations
Readings
- This course has no single textbook, but instead draws on a wide range of publications and texts. Lectures and assigned readings by session are presented below, followed by a list of books kept on reserve for background reading.
- Reynolds, T. D., and P. A. Richards. “Water Quality.” In Unit Operations and Processes in Environmental Engineering . Boston, MA: PWS Publishing, 1995, pp. 78-91. ISBN: 9780534948849.
- SES #: 6 · TOPICS: Reverse osmosis. Solution-diffusion model · READINGS: Fritzmann, C., et al. “State-of-the-Art Reverse Osmosis Desalination.” Desalination 216 (October 2007): 1-76.
- SES #: 7 · TOPICS: Solution-diffusion model. Crossflow separators · READINGS: Paul, D. R. “Reformulation of the Solution-Diffusion Theory of Reverse Osmosis.” Journal of Membrane Science 241 (October 2004): 371-386.
- Sauvet-Guichon, Bruno. “Ashkelon Desalination Plant — A Successful Challenge.” Desalination 203 (February 2007): 75-81.
- Strathmann, Heiner. “The Ion-Exchange Equilibrium and the Donnan Potential,” and “The Electrochemical Equilibrium.” Sections 3.1.2 and 3.1.3, chapter 2 in Ion-Exchange Membrane Separation Processes . Boston, MA: Elsevier, 2004. ISBN: 9780444502360.
- Probstein, Ronald F. “The Electrolytic Cell,” “Electrodialysis,” and “Ion Exchange.” Sections 6.1-6.3 in Physicochemical Hydrodynamics . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience, 2003. ISBN: 9780471458302.
- SES #: 16 · TOPICS: GOR. Combined power generation and distillation · READINGS: El-Sayed, Y. M., and R. S. Silver. “Fundamentals of Distillation.” Chapter 2 in Spielger, K. S., and A. D. K. Laird. Principles of Desalination . 2nd ed., Part A. New York, NY: Academic Press, 1980. ISBN: 9780126567014.
- Hammer, Mark J., and Mark J. Hammer, Jr. “Water Processing.” Chapter 7 in Water and Wastewater Technology . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. ISBN: 9780131745421.
- Harleman, D. R. F., and S. Murcott. “An Innovative Approach to Urban Wastewater Treatment in the Developing World.” Water21: Magazine of the International Water Association (June 2001): 1-13.
- Ujang, Z., and M. Henze. “Sustainable Sanitation for Developing Countries.” Chapter 1 in Municipal Wastewater Management in Developing Countries: Principles and Engineering . London, England: IWA Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9781843390305.
- Tarr, J. A., et al. “Water and Wastes: A Retrospective Assessment of Wastewater Technology in the United States, 1800-1932.” Technology and Culture 25 (April 1984): 226-263.
- Tarr, J. A. “Origins of the Piped Society.” Appendix, in del Porto, David, and Carol Steinfeld. The Composting Toilet System Book . Concord, MA: Center for Ecological Pollution Prevention, 2000, pp. 209-233. ISBN: 9780966678307.
- Fath, Hassan E. S., et al. “PV and Thermally Driven Small-Scale, Stand-Alone Solar Desalination Systems with Very Low Maintenance Needs.” Desalination 225 (2008): 58-69.
- Ettouney, H., and L. Rizzuti. “Solar Desalination: A Challenge for Sustainable Fresh Water in the 21st Century.” Chapter 1 in Solar Desalination for the 21st Century: A Review of Modern Technologies and Researched on Desalination Coupled to Renewable Energies . Edited by Lucio Rizzuti, Hisham M. Ettouney, and Andrea Cipollina. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2007. ISBN: 9781402055065.
- Wilf, Mark. The Guide Book to Membrane Desalination Technology . D’Aquila, Italy: Balaban Desalination Publications, 2007. ISBN: 9780866890656.
- Sandler, S. I. Chemical, Biochemical, and Engineering Thermodynamics . Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006. ISBN: 9780471661740.
- Twort, A. C., D. D. Ratnayaka, and M. J. Brandt. Water Supply . 5th ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001. ISBN: 9780340720189.
- Baker, R. W. Membrane Technology and Applications . New York, NY: Wiley, 2004. ISBN: 9780470854457.
- Hammer, M. J., and M. J. Hammer, Jr. Water and Wastewater Technology . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007. ISBN: 9780131745421.
- Reynolds, T. D., and P. A. Richards. Unit Operations and Processes in Environmental Engineering . Boston, MA: PWS Publishing, 1995. ISBN: 9780534948849.
- Glasstone, S. Thermodynamics for Chemists . New York, NY: D. Van Nostrand, 1947.
- Strathmann, H. Ion-Exchange Membrane Separation Processes . Boston, MA: Elsevier, 2004. ISBN: 9780444502360.
- Spielger, K. S., and Y. M. El-Sayed. A Desalination Primer . D’Aquila, Italy: Balaban Desalination Publications, 1994. ISBN: 9780866890342.
- El-Dessouky, H. T., and H. M. Ettouney. Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination . New York, NY: Elsevier, 2002. ISBN: 9780444508102.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: 1.020 , 2.006 , 10.302 , (2.051 and 2.06), or permission of instructor G (Spring) Not offered regularly; consult department 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2009
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.