Seawater Desalination as an alternative solution for potable water in Mexico
Seawater Desalination Plant Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S., Mexico
INTRODUCTION
About 75% of Earth’s surface is water, of this quantity, Saltwater oceans hold 97.25% of surface water and only 3% is fresh water but only, 0.7% it is available for human use from rives, streams, lakes, groundwater, etc. The other 2.05% is stored in solid form in the ice caps and glaciers
Volume of water Reservoir Percent of total 1000³ km³
Oceans 1370 97.25
Ice caps & glaciers 29 2.05
Groundwater 9.5 0.68 Lakes 0.125 0.01
Soil moisture 0.065 0.005
Atmosphere 0.013 0.001
Streams & rivers 0.0017 0.0001 Biosphere 0.0006 0.00004
1 INTRODUCTION
The water cycle is a natural continuous process of natural desalination, 100% of Earth’s available fresh water is naturally desalted.
INTRODUCTION
If we review the availability per capita of fresh water in several countries we found the following data:
COUNTRY m3x1000/Inhab./Year
CANADA 99.7 BRASIL 43.3 ARGENTINA 29.1 HIGH RATE (MORE THAN 10) BANGLADESH 20.0 MEDIUM RATE (BETWEEN 5 AND 10) LOW RATE (LESS THAN 5) INDONESIA 13.3 UNITED STATES 9.5 MEXICO 4.6 JAPAN 4.4 TURKEY 3.3 NIGERIA 2.9 CHINA 2.4 INDIA 2.3 EGIPT 1.0 Mexico has lower availability of fresh water; if the population grows, this availability will be less.
2 INTRODUCTION
Additionally if we review the condition in Mexico:
NATURAL ECONOMIC POPULATION NORTH, CENTRAL AND AVAILABILIT ACTIVITY Y NORTH EAST AREA 1,874 m3/Inhab/Year
SOUTH EAST AREA 13,759 m3/Inhab/Year
NATIONAL AVERAGE 4,573 m3/Inhab/Year
We find a contrast between water availability vs development, population and economic activity. We see that we need more fresh water where there is not available.
INTRODUCTION
By these and others reasons, we have to find new water sources and seawater desalination becomes a real alternative to supply fresh water to certain cities near of the ocean that have specific characteristics. A successful example is Los Cabos Municipal Seawater Desalination Plant
3 LOS CABOS DESALINATION PLANT First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
DESALINATION WITH REVERSE OSMOSIS PROCESS
• The desalination of seawater has being used in last decades (1960 trough 1980) as an ultimate resource for water obtaining, in coastal populations without fresh water available, with development and growing economies sustained in oil operation, being an expensive process. • The related industry has seen the process of desalination like an opportunity, and it has been invested in investigation that has obtained that actually there are processes for seawater desalt, shipper than last decades. • The costs of sea water desalination at present time, are comparable to the costs of conventional of superficial pick up and/or underground schemes, with long conduction toward consumption areas.
4 DESALINATION WITH REVERSE OSMOSIS PROCESS
• Within the diverse ways to desalt, the reverse osmosis is the process that has evolved more favorable than others. • At present time, almost all the desalination plants has been developed with systems of R.O., based on: Reliability. Economy that has been obtained by m3 desalted, by better results at evolution of membrane technology. Power efficiency, obtained from the engineering designs for energy recovery.
• The price by m³ produced was more than 3.5 dlls/m3 25 years ago. • Today, desalted water may cost as much than 1dll/m 3.
DESALINATION IN THE WORLD
Interest on Seawater desalination is increasing due to combination of population increases, development demands and climate change. These means that freshwater will be in chronically problems for water supply in the world.
Improvements in technology of desalination, coupled with the rising cost and increasing unreliability of traditional water supply, are bringing desalinated water into more focus as a general water supply option with major plants in operation, in planning or under studies in Europe, North Africa, North America, Australia, China and India among others.
5 DESALINATION IN THE WORLD
In 2004, it was estimated that seawater desalination capacity would increase 100% by 2015, an addition of 31 million m3 a day.
But these forecasts, seem certain to be exceeded by wide margins . In one example, the forecast was for China and India to be desalinating 650,000 m3/day by 2015, but China alone has recently announced plans to be desalinating 1 million m 3 of seawater a day by 2010 increasing to 3 million m3 a day by 2020.
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
• From the 80's, in the south end of the peninsula of Baja California, and as a result of infrastructure investments done by FONATUR, begins in the zone an economic growth as a result of a fast tourist development, that produced a demand of potable water that was not possible to satisfy with underground water. • The rates of growth were of 4% up to 10% in 1995, with a population of 70,000 inhab. in San Jose del Cabo and 75,000 inhab. in Cabo San Lucas. • Actually the annual growth rate is 7.5% . • Its main source of water supply has been wells located in the creeks and channels of the San Jose del Cabo and Santiago streams, arriving at its possible highest extraction, and even being observed considerable over-exploitation in the case of the San Jose del Cabo stream.
6 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
The state and municipal authorities made the decision to solve the present and future water deficit, summoning an international bid, under the following conditions: – Project, Construction and Operation. The operation will be for a 20 years period. – Capacity: 200 lps – The offerer would decide if the intake would be direct or by beach wells. – The site for intake was suggested, with opportunity for the bidders to present other options.
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
– The project will have the following facilities: •Seawater intake •Piping from intake to desalination plant •Desalination plant •Brine piping to the ocean •Pumping station to pump produced water to regulating tank •Piping lines to supply water to the city •Regulating tanks •Piping for water distribution to neighborhoods Mesa Colorada and Cangrejos •Piping to deliver 100 lps at Tanque 4 de Marzo
7 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
• The project would be finance according to the following distribution: 30% Thoroughly Federal Grant 45% (or less) Banking Credit 25% (or more) Risk capital (Equity)
• The amount that the offerer finances, will be recovered by fee of m3 of water produced and given to the system, during 20 years, with obligation to a settled down annual volume.
• The winning proposal was the partnership “PROMOAQUA Desalación de los Cabos”
PROJECT PARAMETERS
Capacity ...... 200 lps
Investment * ...... 28 MDlls
Cost by m3 ...... $0.90 / m3
Period of concession ...... 20 years
Beginning of construction ...... May 2005
Tests of operation……………… Jan. 2007
Beginning of operations ...... March 2007
*This amount of investment includes in addition to the desalination plant, infrastructure works for pumping, water treatment, conduction and distribution.
8 GENERAL PLAN OF THE PROJECT OF THE SEAWATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
TANK No. 4 TANK No.3 AND PUMPING STATION No.3 MESA COLORADA
TANK No. 1 TANK No.2 AND PUMPING STATION No. 2
LOS TANK 4 de CANGREJOS MARZO DESALINATION PLANT AND PUMPING STATION No. 1 COLONIA 4 de MARZO
BEACH WELLS SEAWATER INTAKE
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
Partnership PROMOAQUA Desalación de los Cabos, is constituted with the participation of 3 Mexican (Tijuana) companies (LIBRA, VAZLU and CISA) that made 52% of the facilities during construction stage.
In the operation stage, Mexican companies have 10% of the society where the Spanish company INIMA, has 90% of participation.
9 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
LIBRA was in charge of the elaboration of:
Geo-hydrological survey Project Design Construction of Civil Works Construction of Tanks and Pumping stations
VAZLU carried out the construction of: Access roads to the site of the plant Seawater intake and Brine piping to ocean Around 18 km of aqueducts, Cangrejos neighborhood water network
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
CISA was in charge of
The electrical design and construction Construction of water network at Mesa Colorada neighborhood
INIMA carried out: Design, provision, installation and operation of the equipment for process of desalination by reverse osmosis
The procurement for all permits at all instances were conducted by the mexican companies
10 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico Flow diagram
HIGH PRESSURE REVERSE OSMOSIS MULTIMEDIA CARTRIDGE PUMP 1462 KW 740.6 1440 M3/HR SEAWATER MEMBRANES FILTER FILTER 720 M3/HR 0 PUMP M3/HR 58.7 58.7 BAR BAR PSI
1440 M3/HR 740.6 M3/HR 1.7 1.7 BAR BAR 699.4 M3/HR 58.7 BAR PRETREATMENT POSTREATMENT
699.4 M3/HR 56.7 BAR BOOSTER 720 M3/HR 57.7 BAR BEACH PUMP 49 KW WELLS
720 M3/HR 699.4 M3/HR 1.0 BAR 1.7 BAR ENERGY RECOVERY
SEAWATER BRINE WATER FILTERED SEAWATER DATA HIGH PRESSURE POTABLE WATER FLOW: 720 M3/HR BRINE RECOVERY: 50% POTABLE WATER SEAWATER PUMP FLOW: 1440 M3/HR (100%) HIGH PRESSURE PUMP FLOW: 740.6 M3/HR (51.5%) BOOSTER PUMP FLOW: 699.4 M3/HR (48.5%)
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico ROSARITO: PILOT PLANT
11 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
TYPICAL COST COMPOSITION OF DESALTED CUBIC METER
Electric energy cost for seawater desalination by reverse osmosis represents almost 40% of the total cost of desalted cubic meter.
(Average cost of electric energy= 0.8 Pesos/ Kw-hr)
VCOM 43% IFC 36%
FCOM 21%
Variable Cost by Fixed Cost by Operation and Operation and Maintenance Maintenance
MEMBRANES 2% CARTRIDGES 2% INSURANCES 16% PERSONNEL 26% CHEMICALS 16% INVESTMENT 4%
MANAGEMENT 10%
CHEM. ANALYSIS 3%
ELECTRICITY 80% MAINTENANCE 22% ELECTRICITY 19%
12 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
Los Cabos desalination plant supplies potable water to a population of 40,000 inhabitants that had a deficient service.
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico
Due to the rapids growth of the population it is expected a future expansion of Los Cabos Desalination Plant to satisfy the demand.
Mexican authorities of several states have visited this plant to get information about the operation and financial aspects to know the benefits of this technology .
The construction of Los Cabos desalination plant, will detonate others desalination projects in Mexico as: La Paz, B.C.S. Ensenada, B.C. Hermosillo, Son. Loreto, B.C.S.
13 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination Plant in Mexico NEWSPAPERS NOTES
Viernes 16 marzo 2007 Jueves 15 diciembre 2005
Destaca el Gobernador de Baja La construcción de la Planta California Sur la Conclusión de La Desaladora, ubicada en las costas del Planta Desaladora de Los Cabos, en su océano Pacifico, en Cabo San Lucas, Segundo Informe de Gobierno. avanza a pasos firmes. José Antonio Agúndez Montaño.
Domingo 24 diciembre 2006
Día trascendental en la historia del Lunes 30 abril 2007 México, el Inicio de Operaciones de Miercoles 25 julio 2007 la primera planta desaladora de agua de mar para consumo Participa el OOMSAPAS de Los Cabos Destaca el alcalde de Los Cabos Luis humano, destinada a más de 60,000 en el "Premio Gobierno y Gestió n Armando Díaz, en su 2º . Informe de habitantes de Cabo San Lucas, Baja Local 2007", con la Planta Desaladora Gobierno; inversión en infraestructura California Sur. de Agua de Mar para consumo hidráulica y sanitaria, as í como la humano. conclusión de la Planta Desaladora de Cabo San Lucas.
PHOTO - GALLERY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEAWATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
14 PHOTO - GALLERY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEA WATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
PHOTO - GALLERY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEAWATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
15 PHOTO - GALLERY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEAWATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
The Desalination plant initiates its operation on December 2006, being it inaugurated by the state and municipal authorities of Los Cabos B.C.S.
PHOTO - GALLERY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEAWATER DESALINATION PLANT, LOS CABOS, B.C.S., MEXICO
On April 19 2007, Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, re-inaugurated the desalination plant, emphasizing it like an alternative of solution for desert areas with possibilities of development in the region
16 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
CONCLUSIONS
Seawater desalination represents at present time a reliable option as source of potable water to populations near of the ocean.
Potable water taken from seawater desalination will detonate touristic investment where were disabled by lack of water.
Costs of seawater desalination are similar than some of several cities of Mexico with conventional sources.
Excellent quality of desalination seawater satisfies international requirements and even it is better than the aquifers ones.
LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
CONCLUSIONS:
Don’t forget that prior to any seawater desalination project, it is necessary to develop field surveys to know the quality of the influent water in order to design the most adequate pretreatment and to explore several options to solve the brine final disposition, because all these are very important to avoid environment damage.
It is important to get all information about the seawater and the place where the plant will be settled in order to give more confidence to the desalination project.
Seawater desalination represents a fresh, new and unlimited resource and doesn’t affect to any superficial water or groundwater user.
17 LOS CABOS: First Municipal Desalination plant in Mexico
questions ?
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