Hybrid systems in seawater desalination—practical design aspects, present status and development perspectives

Ever since seawater desalination has been applied on an industrial scale, and particular in the countries of the Arabian Gulf, the application of desalination processes in dual-purpose facilities—water and power—as a hybrid configuration has been discussed in many feasibility investigations and also planning concepts. It is above all the combination of reverse osmosis with thermal processes that has found increasing interest with the aim of ensuring, as economically as possible, uniform water supplies under the specific, greatly varying load conditions in the Gulf countries. Such design concepts for hybrid configurations encompass straightforward structures with a low degree of coupling between membrane and thermal desalination processes, but range up to very complex configurations with strong interconnections on both the water side and thermally, as well as with several desalination processes connected in series or in parallel. Classical hybrid concepts in which the permeate from an RO desalination component is mixed with distillate from thermal desalination have already been implemented in Saudi Arabian dual-purpose plants, like Jeddah and Yanbu-Medina. Although hybrid systems of greater complexity have been addressed in many design studies and publications, up to now none has been brought to fruition. Coming into consideration asthe design basis for determining the capacity shares of the various desalination processes operated in a hybrid configuration are: arrangement of thermal cycle of the power plant component; water/power ratio of the dual-purpose seawater desalination and power plant; provision of undiminished water production of the desalination plant as electricity generation varies; provision of a specified drinking water quality with regard to composition and salt content; combination of all these aspects. Also gaining in importance are concerns of environmental pollution and sustainable development when selecting seawater desalination and power plant configurations, as well as their optimization when considering desalination and electricity generation as a whole. In the practical design of hybrid membrane and thermal systems, aspects come to light, though, that restrict linking of the two systems and joint utilization of facilities, as conceived in studies and conceptual design investigations. This applies both for common utilization of intakes and the use of heated up cooling water from thermal processes as a feed stream for the RO part of the desalination process. Additionally, requirements of drinking water composition, particularly chloride content, TDS and compliance with a specific residual content of boron, influence specifically the design of the membrane process part and its share in the total desalination capacity. Such practical aspects have greatly influenced the design and configuration of the Fujairah hybrid plant for which, from a total desalination capacity of 100 MIGD (454,600 m³/d), the share of 37.5 MIGD (170,500 m³/d) makes its seawater RO plant the biggest currently being constructed anywhere in the world. From the findings of the engineering of this plant and the idea that, by increasing interconnection between the two processes on the water side, it is possible to advance a hybrid configuration of this type with regard to cost optimization in the membrane installation, but also by joint utilization of the intake equipment, perspectives result for applied research efforts over the near and long terms, for example: long-term behavior of membranes at elevated temperatures; tendency for biofouling in membrane process with common utilization of cooling water and brine; influences of such interconnections on the overall availability of the facility. But also for the operation and maintenance organization of such large facilities, consequences can be foreseen for the future development of hybrid plants, particularly for operation management and organisation of the interplay of the different power plant and desalination systems, monitoring of SWRO membrane replacement and cleaning, as well as controlling water quality.     

Building a research network to better understand climate governance in the Great Lakes

Climate-driven disturbances threaten the sustainability of coastal communities in the Great Lakes Basin. Because such disturbances are unpredictable, their magnitude, number and intensity are changing, and they occur at varying temporal and spatial scales. Consequently, communities struggle to respond in effective ways. The expected intensification of climate-driven disturbances will require that community capacity and governance structures match the spatial and temporal scales of these disturbances, as the most sustainable social and economic systems will be those that can respond at similar frequencies to key natural system drivers. The Climate Governance Variability in the Great Lakes Research Coordination Network (CGVG-RCN) was recently established to address questions about the relationship between climate-driven disturbances and community response. The objective of this short communication is to introduce the ideas behind the CGVG-RCN, outline its goals, and facilitate engagements and collaboration with social and natural scientists interested in social-ecological systems in the Great Lakes Basin.     

Self-emulsifiable soybean oil phosphate ester polyols for low-VOC corrosion resistant coatings

A series of soybean oil phosphate ester polyols (SOPEP) was prepared by reaction of fully epoxidized soybean oil with phosphoric acid and simultanoeous hydrolysis in the presence of a polar solvent. The polyols were characterized by determination of acid value, oxirane number, hydroxyl value, molecular weight (GPC), and FTIR spectra. These polyols with varying amounts of acid phosphate groups could be self-emulsified to form aqueous dispersions after neutralization with organic base. These aqueous dispersion showed varying degrees of stability and their appearance ranged from opaque dispersions to translucent to clear solutions. Waterborne coating compositions were prepared using these aqueous dispersions as principal components and their thermally cured film properties were studied. it was found that by careful selection and formulation, SOPEPs can be successfully used for low-VOC waterborne coating formulations. SOPEPs with 3.5% phosphate ester content showed visibly superior corrosion resistance properties.     

长江经济带水-能源-粮食系统耦合时空动态特征研究

水、能源和粮食为可持续发展的基础性资源,如何从时空角度全面评价长江经济带水-能源-粮食系统的耦合协调发展是促进区域资源可持续发展的重要前提。以水、能源、粮食以及共生单元水能、水粮和能粮系统为单元,构建水-能源-粮食系统耦合协调评价指标体系,采用熵值法对各系统指标赋权,运用耦合协调度模型和空间自相关分析对2010—2019年长江经济带的水-能源-粮食系统协调发展和时空动态特征进行定量研究。结果表明：2010—2019年长江经济带水-能源-粮食系统综合评价指数整体呈缓慢增长趋势,其中水系统对水-能源-粮食系统综合评价指数贡献最大,年均贡献占比为21.57%;能源系统贡献最小,占比为11.95%; 2010—2019年长江经济带水-能源-粮食系统耦合协调水平呈先升后降趋势,其中四川省上升幅度为5.05%,重庆市下降幅度为2.83%,且存在显著的空间异质性,上游地区明显高于中下游地区。其中能源资源是水-能源-粮食系统耦合协调发展的短板;长江经济带水-能源-粮食系统耦合协调度表现出显著空间关联性,高-高集聚区集中在长江上游地区,下游地区主要以低-低集聚区为主。长江经济带内各省市应因地制宜地完善资源管理机制,推动长江经济带资源可持续发展。     

降低全低变工艺阻力的措施

将变换流程改为全低变工艺后,吨氨蒸汽消耗明显下降,但触媒床层阻力迅速上升.通过采取增设焦炭过滤器、更换触媒、改进蒸汽分布器等一系列措施,不仅保证了正常的生产指标,而且还使变换炉的阻力有了明显下降,取得了满意的效果.     

纳米碳酸钙的表面活化改性研究

本文主要介绍通过加入特定的表面改性剂,制得了表面改性的活性碳酸钙.并对活化过程中的一系列影响因素,如活化温度、活化时间、碳酸钙悬浊液浓度、表面改性剂用量进行了研究.     

新一代喷涂聚脲路面标线涂料

简述了国内路标漆的发展概况,介绍了聚天冬氨酸酯聚脲路标漆的原理、配方及应用性能。针对目前国内各种路标漆的优缺点,将聚天冬氨酸酯聚脲路标漆与它们进行比较,发现聚天冬氨酸酯聚脲路标漆具有快干、耐磨、反光效果好、施工速度快、重涂性好等优点,特别适用于路面标线涂料的应用。     

单组分聚氨酯乳液制备及其结构与性能研究

采用预聚合法,以聚酯二元醇(PEA)、甲苯二异氰酸酯(TDI)、二羟甲基丙酸(DMPA)为基本原料合成了分子链上带有亲水基团(-COOH)的聚氯酯预聚体。以特殊的水化方式制得聚酯型水性聚氨酯乳液。讨论了温度、-NCO-与-OH的物质的量之比(R)、亲水基团含量、合成工艺分别对材料力学性能、耐水性、玻璃化转变温度(Tg)等的影响。研究发现,采用前中和工艺、在高速搅拦下将预聚物加入到水中的水化方式,当R值为1．2,羧基含量为1．6％时,合成的聚酯型水性聚氨酯乳液具有较好的贮存稳定性,且涂膜的耐水性和力学性能良好。     

基于多判据的散乱点云特征点提取算法

为了有效获取散乱点云中的尖锐特征点和边界特征点,提出一种利用多判据融合的特征点提取算法。首先利用一种改进的k-d tree构建点云拓扑,搜索样点的K局部邻域;然后利用法向夹角判定准则、核密度判定准则、场力和判定准则分别求取各个样点局部邻域的三个特征参数,最后通过加权计算特征参数得到每个样点的特征值与全局判定阈值,特征值比阈值大的点即为特征点。实验证明,该算法能有效的获取散乱点云中边沿特征点与尖锐特征点。     

完全隐藏策略的基于属性可搜索加密方案

目前的基于属性可搜索加密方案（ATT-PEKS）,虽然解决了关键词密文只能被唯一用户搜索的限制,实现了加密数据的多用户共享,但是却没有隐藏访问策略,访问策略一旦被不好奇且不可信赖的服务器攻击者获取到,可能会造成机密信息的泄露。所以,为了解决此问题,提出了完全隐藏策略的基于属性可搜索加密方案,并给出了具体的算法构造,使得方案不仅具有多用户数据共享的优势,还实现了访问策略的完全隐藏。并对此方案进行了安全性以及性能分析,证明了方案具有在属性集合模型下的抗攻击性安全,还能保证索引和关键词明文的机密性。在性能方面使用较少的运算量就可实现隐藏访问策略和加密数据共享两大功能。