Impact of increased fuel costs and inflation on the cost of desalting sea water and brackish waters

Technical Report · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4113465· OSTI ID:4113465

Reed, S. A.

The combined increases in the cost of fuel, equipment, and money during the past four years have had a marked impact on the cost of desalting saline waters. The current costs of desalting seawater by distillation and reverse osmosis and brackish waters by reverse osmosis and electrodialysis as a function of plant size and feedwater chemistry are estimated. Typically, distillation plant capital costs have increased from $1 per daily gallon to $3 per daily gallon for large plants (100 Mgd) and from approximately $1.40 per daily gallon to approximately $5 per daily gallon per plant sizes of 5 Mgd or less. Consequently, water costs are now ranging from $3 to $4 per 1000 gal when oil is used to generate steam. Similarly, the costs of desalting inland brackish waters using reverse osmosis or electrodialysis have increased significantly. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn. (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-33-013914
• OSTI ID: 4113465
• Report Number(s): ORNL-TM--5070(Rev.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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