Residential desalinated water supply cost reduction

Take Beijing (capital city of China) for example, it is said that by 2019 desalinated water will take a considerable share of Beijing water supply, check news from People's Daily Online: http://bj.people.com.cn/n/2014/0423/c82840-21055241.html. The current cost of desalinated water from one of the main suppliers is around 8 RMB per ton (roughly $1.28 USD per ton). Is there a big room to reduce the cost sharply including proper treatment of the brine?

Background: the current residential water price is 4 RMB per ton (roughly $0.64 USD per ton).

6 Answers

1. Desalination and cost economics a complex issue. I still feel govt should focus on educating people for rain water harvesting and water conservation.

2. May be relying on the clean technology will again increase the cost but we have to think beyond the money and give environment the preference. that's my stand

3. Phase one of China water-diversion project completed. any views on the project from the members?

4. yes, that's a crucial issue Ying.

5. membrane process is most common for desalination. smaller domestic Brackish water RO units are quite common & reasonably priced but same is not the case with desalination RO Rather than smaller house hold units a community scale desal RO unit can be considered. Further to economise such units,they may not be really operated w.r.t. rejection r membrane process is most common for desalination. smaller domestic Brackish water RO units are quite common & reasonably priced but same is not the case with desalination RO Rather than smaller house hold units a community scale desal RO unit can be considered. Further to economise such units,they may not be really operated w.r.t. rejection rate or membrane life normal considerations & may be used for extended life with may be increased salt passage since treated water quality is not very stringent as most industrial applications Further dilution of feed sea water with some other source of water may be thought to reduce cost. the dilution source may not be very pure but should not be very saline as sea water feed like rain water harvesting done traditionally in India some kind of natural solar evaporation pond can be considered where vapours may be lead to near by receiving tank where the vapours may get condensed as desalinated water. However the system needs to be developed in coastal villages where land availability would be easy regards Charu A Awalkar M.S., India

   1 Comment

   1. Thanks mr charu

6. Indeed the cost should be reduced other wise the end users are the one who has to pay more. I been reading a lot about this topic there days, which says the pump design, membrane design play a vital role in reducing the cost. Experts also says Advances in pre-treatment combined with advances in membrane technology will result in lower cost systems in the future that will be even more reliable than they are today.