clean energy queensland government
Western Australia Water Corporation is on track to produce drinking water form 45GL / a desalination plant located in Kwinana, 25km south of Perth. The plant is being built by proAlliance – a 50/50 joint venture between West Australian construction company Multiplex and French water treatment company Degremont. Degremont operate the 140,000 m3 / d plant for 25 years in a public-private partnership with the Western Australia government-owned Water Corporation. The construction cost is $ 387 million.
To reduce the environmental impact of electricity for the desalination plant project will be produced from a wind farm located 30 km east of Cervantes in WA Midwest. The 80MW wind farm has been designed by the Queensland government-owned generating company Stanwell Power Corporation and private company WA Griffin Energy. The wind farm will be operated by the U.S. government-owned public service delivery Western power.
Upon completion of the Perth desalination plant will ease the pressure on integrated management of water supply WA. 45GL represents the single largest source of water supply in the IWSS. To maintain the water supply for the growing population of Perth's Water Corporation is undertaking a strategy of "security through diversity" and so is making progress in engineering over a desalination plant and the development of the Yarragadee aquifer south of Perth.
The Water Corporation has had to accelerate the installation of desalination due to decreased rainfall in the catchment areas of Perth.
The technology used for the desalination plant is reverse osmosis. Osmosis is a phenomenon naturally occurs when water diffuses through a semipermeable membrane to equalize the salt concentration in a solution. The transfer of water is from the dilute to the concentrated solution. By applying energy in the form of water-pressure water can do to move to the inverse of a concentrated solution to dilute the solution – hence the long-term reverse osmosis.
A semipermeable membrane acts as a molecular sieve that allows water particles to pass through of dissolved salts, while stopping, viruses and bacteria. To reduce the area required to house the membrane, the membrane is wound into a spiral. Water is pumped under pressure the spiral and migrates toward the center.
In recent years, improvements in membrane manufacturing and energy recovery devices has reduced capital and operating costs. The plant will produce drinking water to Perth under $ 0.95/kl on the fence. The electricity consumption is expected to be less than 4.5Wh/kl.
An important part of reducing the consumption of energy is the energy recovery system that uses a pressure recovery device ceramics. A device called a Pressure Exchanger (PX), a U.S. brand energy recovery firm, uses a cylindrical rotor with longitudinal ducts parallel to its axis of rotation. The rotor rotates within the sleeve between two end covers with port openings for both streams. Pressure energy is transferred directly from the concentrate High pressure flow rejection of low-pressure / flow of seawater. A liquid piston moves back and forth within each through the creation a barrier that inhibits mixing between the streams. The low side of the rotor fills with seawater while the high pressure side of discharged water sea. This rotational action is similar to that of an old-fashioned gun bullets high pressure machine, which is filled with seawater new cartridges, while rotating around a central axis.
When completed the plant will employ 16 people and provide valuable expertise in the operation large-scale reverse osmosis plant. A comprehensive program of environmental monitoring is a condition of license to operate to ensure that the marine environment near of the input and output of salty sea water, will not be harmed.
