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Life Cycle And Economic Analysis Comparing Microbial Desalination Cell And Reverse Osmosis Technologies

Faze, Natasha Ranjit
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1704-1602
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428934798

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
With a growing global population and a higher demand for potable water, society relies on Reverse Osmosis (RO) for large-scale desalination. Reverse Osmosis is currently the most economic and commonly used method to desalinate saline or brackish water to produce potable drinking water. This research investigated the alternative use of Microbial Desalination Cells (MDCs), and compared MDC technology to RO by performing life cycle and economic analyses. The additional advantage of an MDC, as compared with an RO desalination plant, is the production of a small amount of electricity as a by-product of the microorganisms' anaerobic respiration in the MDC device. The goal of this project was to determine if this production of electricity was enough to make MDC technology a more sustainable and economically favorable long term desalination option. A currently operating reverse osmosis plant was analyzed along with a laboratory scale MDC. Given that the RO facility under investigation is much larger than the bench scale MDC, both analyses were normalized on a per cubic meter basis, for implementation in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Results indicate that although the MDC is not currently the more sustainable option, design improvements can be made to the MDC that will make this technology much more promising in the future.
Ann Christy (Advisor)
Bhavik Bakshi (Committee Member)
Matthew Roberts (Committee Member)
101 p.
Agriculture; Alternative Energy; Environmental Management; Environmental Science; Sustainability; Water Resource Management
Microbial Desalination Cell; MDC; Reverse Osmosis; RO; life cycle analysis; LCA; CBA; Cost Benefit Analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Faze, N. R. (2015). Life Cycle And Economic Analysis Comparing Microbial Desalination Cell And Reverse Osmosis Technologies [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428934798

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Faze, Natasha. Life Cycle And Economic Analysis Comparing Microbial Desalination Cell And Reverse Osmosis Technologies. 2015. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428934798.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Faze, Natasha. "Life Cycle And Economic Analysis Comparing Microbial Desalination Cell And Reverse Osmosis Technologies." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428934798

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1428934798
843
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.