Seawater desalination in Mexican Pacific coast by a new technology: use and perspectives

abstract

Mexico is a country with problems of water supply in its northern and central territories, as they are semiarid and due to the increase of nonsustainable water use pattern. The major population and productivity activities are located in these areas of the country. Membrane technologies to achieve the elimination of the dissolved ions from seawater or brackish water are some of the most suitable processes to diversify water supply options because of the long coastline that Mexico has: 9,330 km (7,338 km in the Pacific Ocean). Even reverse osmosis using polymeric membranes is the most used technology; ceramic membranes have some advantages as they are chemically and mechanically more resistant and they have a longer life time and less environmental impact once they are discarded; but as their pore size is larger, they are in the range of nanofiltration (NF). The main objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of a new desalination technology using modified ceramic NF membranes with seawater from Mexican Pacific coast. The study was done for one year and the results demonstrated that these modified NF ceramic membranes have a potential scope to be used as a partial desalination of seawater or as the main process to reduce specific ions.

Keywords:

• Desalination
• Membranes technology
• Ceramic membranes
• Mexico water problem
• Seawater

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank Mexican National Council of Science and Technology—CONACyT, Mexican Water Agency–CONAGUA—(Project CONACyT-CONAGUA 2008-85136) and also Public Education Secretary—SEP—(Project PROMEP PTC-111-2008) for supporting this work.

Notes

Presented at the International Conference on Desalination for the Environment, Clean Water and Energy, European Desalination Society, 23–26 April 2012, Barcelona, Spain