Life cycle assessment of MSF, MED and RO desalination technologies

Gemma Raluy, Luis Serra and Javier Uche

Energy, 2006, vol. 31, issue 13, 2361-2372

Abstract: In this work, a comparison of the commonly deployed commercial desalination technologies worldwide—multistage flash (MSF), multieffect evaporation and reverse osmosis (RO)—is assessed by applying life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA, a powerful, and internationally accepted tool used to examine environmental cradle-to-grave consequences of making and using products and services, identifies and quantifies energy and material usage and waste discharges. The International Standard Organization (ISO) 14000 impact factors, which are internationally accepted standard indicators for environmental impact assessment, have been evaluated, and different evaluation methods (Centre for Environmental Studies (CML) 2 baseline 2000, Eco-Points 97 and Eco-Indicator 99) have been applied to different scenarios. The assessment includes the entire life cycle of each desalination process, encompassing extraction and processing raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and distribution, plant operation and final reject disposal.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment; Desalination; Reverse osmosis; Multistage flash; Multieffect evaporation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:31:y:2006:i:13:p:2361-2372

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2006.02.005

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