Boron Removal from Desalinated Seawater for Irrigation with an On-Farm Reverse Osmosis System in Southeastern Spain

Seawater desalination can provide water for irrigation in coastal regions where freshwater resources are scarce. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most common technique to obtain desalinated seawater (DSW) worldwide. However, using DSW for irrigation may pose an agronomic risk as RO permeates have a boron...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agronomy (Basel) 2022-03, Vol.12 (3), p.611
Main Authors: Imbernón-Mulero, Alberto, Gallego-Elvira, Belén, Martínez-Alvarez, Victoriano, Martin-Gorriz, Bernardo, Molina-del-Toro, Rubén, Jodar-Conesa, Francisco J., Maestre-Valero, José F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
agricultural sustainability
Boron
boron phytotoxicity
Coastal waters
Coastal zone
Crops
Desalination
economic analysis
Efficiency
Farms
Freshwater resources
Impact analysis
Irrigation
Irrigation water
Membranes
non-conventional water resources
pH effects
Physiology
Phytotoxicity
Production costs
Reverse osmosis
Seawater
Water shortages
Water supply
Water temperature
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:Seawater desalination can provide water for irrigation in coastal regions where freshwater resources are scarce. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most common technique to obtain desalinated seawater (DSW) worldwide. However, using DSW for irrigation may pose an agronomic risk as RO permeates have a boron concentration above the phytotoxicity thresholds of some sensitive crops, such as woody crops (0.5 to 1.0 mg/L). In this study, an on-farm RO system designed to reduce the boron concentration of DSW was evaluated from a technical and economic perspective. The impact of variations in the operating parameters feed water temperature, pressure, and pH, on the boron reduction process was assessed. The results showed that boron rejections close to 99% can be obtained by increasing the feed water pH to 11 with an operating pressure of 10 bar. Looking at the affordability of the system, a total production cost of 1.076 EUR/m3 was estimated for the 1.1 m3/h on-farm system used in the trial. However, this cost is expected to decrease to 0.307 EUR/m3 for a commercial RO plant (42 m3/h), highlighting the importance of the scale factor. Our results provide novel guidance on the feasibility of implementing on-farm boron removal RO systems, when DSW is provided by coastal plants with boron concentrations above the crop tolerance.
ISSN:2073-4395
2073-4395
DOI:10.3390/agronomy12030611