Desalination Engineering: Operation and Maintenance

This Water Environment Federation and WateReuse Association publication describes state-of-the art operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting methods for reverse osmosis brackish and seawater desalination plants for municipal water supplies. All plant components are discussed in detail, from intake and pretreatment to discharge management. Best practices for maintaining plant equipment are also provided. Real-world examples illustrating the latest technologies and their practical implementation are included throughout this authoritative resource.

Desalination Engineering covers:

• Source water open and subsurface intakes
• Source water pretreatment -- chemical conditioning, dissolved air flotation clarifiers, and granular media, membrane, and cartridge filters
• Reverse osmosis system operation
• Reverse osmosis system troubleshooting
• Post-treatment -- lime and carbon dioxide, calcite conditioning, remineralization, and disinfection
• Desalination plant discharge management
• Equipment maintenance -- pumps, air blowers, motors, bearings, valves, mechanical seals, mechanical drives, chemical feed systems, automatic samplers

Nikolay Voutchkov, PE, BCEE, is with Water Globe Consulting, LLC where he provides independent technical advisory services in the desalination field to public utilities and private consulting companies and investors in the U.S.A. and abroad. With more than 30 years of professional experience, 14 as a Board Certified Environmental Engineer, Mr. Voutchkov has completed a wide range of engineering, planning, and applied research projects in the field of desalination, conventional water supply, wastewater treatment, and reuse. Between 1998 and 2009, he was a Chief Technology Officer for Poseidon Resources, a private company specializing in the development of large water infrastructure/desalination projects. Mr. Voutchkov is the author of Desalination Engineering: Planning and Design.