What are the biggest costs in reverse osmosis desalination?
Financial cost (to build the plant) and energy are the two biggest cost parts for desalinated water. They represent around 40 % each of the per m3 price. So low-cost plants and effective energy use are the best ways to lower the water price for the consumers. Cost has gone down dramatically the last ten years but to reduce cost of desalination even further, development is needed on these areas: • Scale formation. Bacteria forms inside the piping and membranes and that affects the efficiency of the desalination process. • Fouling. The efficiency of membranes is impeded by the formation of microbial films across the membrane surface. • Pre-treatment systems. There are no two identical feed waters so pre-treatment systems are designed unequally for each RO plant. • Energy use and recovery. Energy is the biggest part of the cost split for producing clean water. Existing energy recovery systems have a huge potential for improvement. • Efficiency of membranes. Quality of the end product from
