Pacific Research Group (PRG) intends to develop a unique combination of components to create the most compact, lightest, and lowest power seawater desalination system ever made. Its low power requirement is due to the fact that the design utilizes a state-of-the-art energy recovery system and this low power feature will enable our system to operate solely from solar power panels. In addition, the PRG design will include a four-stage pre-treatment system that is robust and effective where all four stages can be cleaned in place and able to handle high turbidity source waters. From PRGs experience, water treatment systems designed to be used for applications that include humanitarian and emergency operations must be able to accommodate difficult-to-treat source waters in remote areas of developing countries, the areas most likely to have a need for this type of equipment. The evolution of low-capacity seawater reverse osmosis desalination systems has been relatively slow and incremental when compared to larger facility-sized desalination technology. Major advances in the areas of energy efficiency, pre-filtration, and material science have not completely transferred to the small system market. PRG intends to change this situation with superior design innovation honed through experience specifically for military applications.
Benefit: The anticipated results of the proposed approach of Phase 1 is a documented design for a SWRO desalination system that incorporates state-of-the-art components in a unique configuration to create the most compact, lightest, and lowest energy desalination system possible. As such, the low energy usage will allow, for the first time, a SWRO desalination system to be powered solely from solar photovoltaics. Even with these characteristics, the desalination system is designed to operate with challenging source waters that contain moderately high levels of turbidity using a series of pre-treatment filters that can be cleaned in situ without the need for replacements. The SWRO desalination system will have a wide array of commercial applications that include emergencies and US military operations. In particular, the LFP may be used by US military forces wanting to treat contaminated freshwater sources in very remote locations for their own use where only a extremely compact and lightweight unit can realistically be transported and used.
Keywords: Desalination, Desalination, Lightweight, solar powered, Compact, low energy
