Issue 4, 2023

Treatment of brackish water inland desalination brine via antiscalant removal using persulfate photolysis

Abstract

Brine disposal is a challenging issue for brackish water desalination in inland regions. This study developed an ultraviolet-driven persulfate oxidation pre-treatment (UV/PS) followed by chemical demineralization (CDM) and microfiltration to effectively treat brackish water desalination brine, specifically by degrading the antiscalant during UV/PS and precipitating scale-forming calcium from the brine during CDM. To optimize calcium removal kinetics, the effects of the persulfate dose and UV irradiation time during UV/PS were investigated and softening by NaOH and lime during CDM was evaluated. The UV/PS pre-treatment successfully eliminated the scale inhibition effect of the antiscalant, resulting in an enhanced chemical demineralization performance. A few minutes of CDM operating time was sufficient to remove more than 85% of total calcium from the brine due to the fast sedimentation of calcium precipitates. Moreover, compared to a control (no pre-treatment), the subsequent microfiltration (MF) membrane fouling potential was reduced by 80%. Overall, the application of the UV/PS-CDM-MF combined process has the potential to remove more than 90% of calcium from the brackish desalination brine, and consequently recover a significant amount of fresh water (>90%) from the brine. Results from this study point to the UV/PS-CDM process as a promising brine treatment technology to remove scale-forming precursors and improve water recovery.

Graphical abstract: Treatment of brackish water inland desalination brine via antiscalant removal using persulfate photolysis

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Dec 2022
Accepted
31 Jan 2023
First published
01 Feb 2023

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2023,9, 1137-1146

Author version available

Treatment of brackish water inland desalination brine via antiscalant removal using persulfate photolysis

S. Kum, X. Tang and H. Liu, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2023, 9, 1137 DOI: 10.1039/D2EW00924B

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