Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
The Malta
Experience
Introduction
Summary
To be continued on page 2.
To be continued on page 7.
3-1995
acom
Desalination of
Seawater by
Reverse Osmosis
AVESTA SHEFFIELD
CORROSION MANAGEMENT
AND APPLICATION
ENGINEERING
Introduction
Malta, an archipelago of three
islands situated 50 miles south of
Sicily in the middle of the clear blue
Mediterranean Sea, is blessed with
an abundance of sunshine. These
idyllic conditions are, however,
marred by the sparse annual rainfall
of only 250 to 450 mm. The Islands,
whose dense population now
numbers about 350,000, have until
recently been perpetually plagued
with problems of obtaining fresh
water. Over the years, special efforts
have been required to cope with this
adverse situation.
Figure 1.
History of RO desalination in Malta. Except for Marsa all plants desalt seawater.
Plant Description
The Malta SWRO systems utilize
boreholes as the raw water intake
system. Acid (H2SO4l and micron
filtration pre-treat the seawater, prior
to its arrival to the high pressure
pumping system and membranes.
The product is post-treated by
decarbonation, lime addition and
chlorination. Figure 2 is a simplified
flow diagram for a typical plant.
RO Plant Features
Reliability through simplicity and
automation, low energy requirements
and a stable supply of seawater
provided from wells, have been the
salient design features of all five
facilities.
Figure 2.
Typical Process Flow for a Seawater Plant.
Corrosion
Piping Materials
As extensions or newer plants were
built, enhancements were added to
the facilities, several of which were
also retro-fitted to existing plants.
One of the most notable of these
changes was the material used for
the high pressure manifolds and
permeator connections. The Ghar
Lapsi and Tigne plants originally
utilized 316L SSTL (UNS S31603)
which experienced severe pitting and
crevice corrosion in the high chloride
environments encountered in seawater desalination. A service life of
3
Operations
On-line Factors
Polymetrics is obliged by its Operation and Maintenance contract with
the Client, The Water Services
Corporation (WSC), to maintain
minimum levels of production and to
maintain minimum plant on-line levels.
Failure to meet these obligations
would result in large penalties. These
obligations have already been met.
Table 1 outlines the on-line performance for all the plants for the
last three years.
SDI
Cirkewwa R.O. Plant
General
The ambient environment in a SWRO
plant is relatively corrosive. On the
Lapsi plant structural steel works and
other non plastic or non stainless steel
components deteriorated very rapidly, resulting in a shoddy appearance
and a need for regular maintenance.
This led to an increased use of nonmetallic components, the use of SSTL
for fasteners and the hot dip galvanizing of all structural steel work.
Particular examples of these
changes include the exclusive use
of plastic valves for low pressure
applications (as opposed to lined
steel valves) and the use of GRP
cartridge filter vessels.
Membranes
All of the Malta Plants make exclusive
use of DuPont "Permasep" B10
permeators. Initially at the Ghar Lapsi
several problems were experienced
particularly with regard to Salt
Passage. This was attributed to
a) particular permeators which were
defective and replaced under
warranty and b) rapid loss of Pt-B4).
The latter problem took some time to
resolve and after considerable effort
by both Polymetrics and Permasep a
solution was found. This consisted in
lowering the pH. It is interesting to
note that the pH required to maintain
a stable or controllable Salt Passage
4
Conclusion
Malta is a fine example of successful
RO desalination, where over 60% of
the islands' water needs are being
met by this technology. This success
can be attributed to two main factors:
the simplicity of the process, particularly the use of boreholes as a seawater intake system;
and the use of a qualified and
experienced operations and
maintenance contractor from the
private sector.
The government of Malta, by using
Reverse Osmosis and the Mediterranean Sea as a source (reservoir), can
now be assured of an adequate and
reliable supply of fresh water. As of
the time of this writing the available
fresh water supply actually exceeds
demand.
Table 1.
On-line numbers for the last 3 years.
Down Time
Caused by
Polymetrics
Down Time
Requested by
WSC*
Down Time
due to Lack of
Power
Overall
On-line
Time
Polymetrics
On-line
Time**
1992
Lapsi
Tigne
Cirkewwa
Pembroke
1.87%
2.31%
2.01%
3.94%
0.28%
0.49%
2.68%
0.85%
1.73%
4.21%
1.22%
0.68%
96.11%
95.79%
94.09%
94.54%
98.09%
97.58%
97.91%
96.00%
1993
Lapsi
Tigne
Cirkewwa
Pembroke
1.46%
1.23%
1.39%
1.60%
0.56%
1.44%
2.26%
1.35%
1.98%
3.32%
2.17%
0.91%
96.65%
97.23%
95.15%
96.78%
98.50%
98.71%
98.55%
98.36%
1994
Lapsi
Tigne
Cirkewwa
Pembroke
1.25%
0.92%
1.03%
1.04%
1.63%
2.16%
2.39%
6.86%
2.99%
0.29%
2.21%
0.37%
94.12%
96.63%
94.37%
91.74%
98.69%
99.06%
98.92%
98.88%
References
Andrews W.T. and R.A. Bergman: The Malta
Seawater RO Facilities, First Congress on
Desalination and Water Re-use, Florence Italy,
May 1983.
Andrews W.T: The Malta Seawater RO
FacilitiesUpdate on the first two years of
Operations, Second Congress on Desalination
and Water Re-use, Bermuda, Nov 1985
Winning the War for Water, DuPont Magazine
Vol 82 No 6, Nov/Dec 1988
Schembri R.: Reverse Osmosis Water Costs in
Malta, Workshop On Production Cost of
Water, May 1988
Plant Capacity
Total Direct & Indirect Costs
Annual Fixed Charge Rate
Annaul Costs
Operating & Maintenance
Fixed Charge
Electric Energy @ $0.10/kWh
Chemicals
Membrane Replacement
Total Annual Cost
Total Water Cost
$/m3
$/1000 US Gal
15.000m3/day (4MGD)
$14,458,000
0.1272
$979,000
1,838,000
3,164,000
40,000
In Fixed Charge
$6,021,000
$1.13
$4.28