Project locationClick here to enlarge imageEfficiency and lifecycle costs of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant’s energy recovery technology are critical to both winning SWRO projects and achieving maximum plant profitably through the lowest operating costs.
An Arid Peninsula
Spanish contractor Inima was awarded the new 20,000 m3/day Cabo San Lucas Desalination Plant project located in Baja California, Mexico. With no prior experience using Energy Recovery Inc.’s technology, Inima selected PX Pressure Exchanger® (PX®) devices as the energy recovery solution for the largest plant in Mexico. The plant operates with a pressure center design (common high-pressure feed header and common concentrate header) to provide operational flexibility and minimize process downtime.
The ERI device is a rotary positive displacement pump that recovers energy from the high-pressure waste stream of SWRO systems at up to 98% efficiency with no downtime or scheduled maintenance. At its core is a single moving rotor made of tough engineered ceramic that’s unaffected by chemicals, won’t corrode and requires no periodic maintenance. Over 80 OEMs are standardizing on this technology with installations around the world, including desalination plants such as Al Shuaibah III, Barcelona, Chennai, Hamma, Perth, Skikda, Torrevieja and Yuhuan.
A Dearth of Power
Prior to plant construction, the Baja region, similar to many areas around the world, faced a shortage of water as well as water quality problems. Availability of power was a core challenge in the region, and traditional desalination plants had no energy recovery devices to minimize this cost burden. Upon completion of the plant, however, the plant had to also overcome multiple failures of locally sourced PVC feed water pipe that disrupted the supply of feedwater to the plant. The client decided to consider the inclusion of energy recovery devices as part of its overall RO system to overcome the substantial energy cost investment for its new plant.
Equipment & Service
ERI’s PX-220 Pressure Exchanger was the energy recovery solution of choice for the Cabo San Lucas SWRO plant. The plant design included 20 devices, with four trains of five units each installed to aid in the production of 20,000 m3/day of fresh water. Also included was a provision for a sixth device on each rack to allow for future expansion of the plant.