Question

Discuss the relation between osmotic pressure and operational costs. (state references if any)

Answer 1

Reverse osmosis (RO) is proved to be the most reliable, cost effective, and energy efficient in producing fresh water compared to other desalination technologies. It is the fastest-growing desalination technology with a greater number of installations around the world.

Increasing the price of purchasing electricity from 0.537INR/kWh to 0.87/kWh
increases the water production cost by 11.9 cents/kWh (12%). This shows that the price
of electricity has a significant effect on the water production cost.

Increasing the interest rate from 0% to 5% will only increase the water production cost by 0.7 cents/kWh. This is because, for an RO system, the cost of pretreatment and operation and maintenance represent the highest fraction of the water production cost due to the
cost of chemicals, electricity, and membrane replacement.

Changing water salinity from 35,000 to 45,000 ppm will increase the price by 5.3%.

Changing the water temperature from 33°c to 20°c
increases the water production cost by
only 2.5%

Pumping water from the purification station increases the water production cost by 22.16 times and decreases the water quality by 236.7%.