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Issues Matrix
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Coastal Facility
Desal Matrix: Coastal: Desalting Process
Environmental & Public Health Risks/Regulations
Engineering
Energy & Greenhouse Gas Issue
Economics, Finance & Social Issues
(environmental imacts, permitting, mitigation)
(technology and performance)
(power needs and carbon footprint)
(benefits and costs, rates, PUC issues, TBL)
Membrane Processes
Desal project implementation typically requires multiple permits from federal, state and local agencies.
In the US, almost all seawater desalination applications utilize RO or NF membrane technology.
Energy requirements depend on feed water quality, membrane permeability and recovery.
The largest components of annual costs for seawater RO desalination are annualized capital costs and energy costs.
Thermal Processes
Thermal processes are more likely to introduce heavy metals and other corrosion byproducts into concentrate stream, and ulitmately, the ocean.
In the US, thermal desalination is virtually unused in the municipal treatment market.
Thermal processes may be advantageous when there is a readily available sourec of low-cost energy and/or "waste heat".
Capital and operating costs are significantly higher than those associated with the best-available RO technology.
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