Brackish water desalination for greenhouse agriculture: Comparing the costs of RO, CCRO, EDR, and monovalent-selective EDR

Greenhouses are a rapidly growing agricultural sector that uses desalination systems. However, the desalination requirements of the greenhouse industry and an economic evaluation of desalination technologies for greenhouses have not been reported previously. Several greenhouse operators in North Ame...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Desalination 2020-02, Vol.475, p.114188, Article 114188
Main Authors: Nayar, Kishor G., Lienhard V, John H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Cost
Desalination
Electrodialysis
Groundwater
Reverse osmosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Greenhouses are a rapidly growing agricultural sector that uses desalination systems. However, the desalination requirements of the greenhouse industry and an economic evaluation of desalination technologies for greenhouses have not been reported previously. Several greenhouse operators in North America using desalination systems were interviewed to identify key design specifications. A detailed cost comparison was conducted for key technologies: reverse osmosis (RO), closed circuit RO (CCRO), electrodialysis reversal (EDR) and monovalent selective EDR (MS-EDR). Capital, energy and membrane replacement costs, savings in feedwater costs from operating at higher recovery, and potential savings in fertilizer from using MS-EDR, were calculated. For 10-hectare greenhouses, alternatives can be considered. MS-EDR is economically competitive if it can retain at least 20% of the calcium and magnesium needed for growing and if membranes last 7 years. CCRO is competitive if the sum of feedwater and brine disposal costs are >$0.24/m3. If this cost was $0.32/m3, additional investment over RO for CCRO, EDR and MS-EDR, could pay itself back in 2.4, 3.4 and 2.1 years. In Ventura county where municipal water costs $1.05/m3, RO, CCRO, EDR and MS-EDR had payback periods of 7.1, 8.4, 7.8 and 8.2 months. •Desalination system specifications for greenhouses were obtained through interviews.•Costs and energy for RO, CCRO, EDR and monovalent selective EDR (MS-EDR) compared•For 10 ha•MS-EDR economically competitive if >20% of required Ca2+ and Mg2+ can be saved•CCRO economically competitive if feedwater and brine disposal costs are >0.24 $/m3
ISSN:0011-9164
1873-4464
DOI:10.1016/j.desal.2019.114188