Development of a solar powered - zero liquid discharge Integrated Desalination MembrAne system to address the needs for water of the Mediterranean region – IDEA

One of the grand challenges to sustain the modern society is to develop low-energy solutions for low-cost water production, preferably based on renewable source of energy. The IDEA project aims to address the aforementioned challenge and will focus on the process intensification of the desalination process by further developing and introducing in the desalination process highly innovative membranes augmented by the innovative process design to develop (a) aNanofiltration membrane (NF) unit replacing the traditional reverse osmosis (RO) units and (b) a membrane distillation/membrane crystallization (MD/MCr) unit. One lab-scale proof of concept unit will be constructed and optimized to demonstrate the merit of the aforementioned process intensification.
Several NF and MD/MCr and NF membranes will be further developed to attain exceptional high water flux, high selectivities and low fouling tendency will be used utilizing recently developed nanotechnology methodology. All the membranes will be characterized and evaluated by innovative combinations of in-situ and ex-situ techniques. The thorough evaluation and nanostructure optimization will be combined also with the the development and validation of nano fluidic models for water mobility in nano confined environment in order to provide deep insight, predict and optimize the performance of the IDEA membranes. Inand biomimetic approach. One of the NF and MD membranes under evaluation will be up-scaled and utilized in the integrated NF/MD/MCr system. The specific objective of the IDEA project is the effective utilization of novel nanostructure membranes combined with innovative process design to reduce the energy consumption below 1 kWh/m3, to increase the overall water recovery factor, to reduce/eliminate liquid discharge and to produce valuable crystalline products (e.g. NaCl, MgSO4·7H2O). The use of renewable energy resources (i.e. solar) is also recognized as a tool to further minimize both the energy consumption and the greenhouse gas emissions in the membrane-based desalination system to be demonstrated.
One of the main objectives of IDEA is to reduce the carbon footprint and increase the economic and social well-being at regional level (the Mediterranean) while, developing methodologies to manage risks associated with water supply and sanitation and/or cross-boundary water management issues. Thus, IDEA aims to develop, install in Northern Africa and demonstrate the next-generation renewable powered integrated membrane systems lab scale, demonstrating and disseminating the novel technologies to reduce the high energy demands of the established Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology. The main target is to reduce the current cost of 2 euro per cubic meter for solar powered desalination by 40% in order to meet the drinking and irrigation water demands in Northern Africa and Middle East, and strengthen competitiveness of the European water sector.