COMPARISON BETWEEN RO AND EDR DESALINATION SYSTEMS IN IRON FACTORY COOLING TOWERS' WATER TREATMENT

Abstract

Due to the water shortage all over the world, it becomes need to look for renewable water resources including the reuse/recycling of industrial wastewater. As such this study aims to compare between the reverse osmosis system (RO) and the reverse electro dialysis system (EDR) in the treatment of iron factory cooling towers water, in terms of quality and cost of construction based on case study in one of the iron factories in Egypt. The study includes practical comparison through actual application using a simulation model for the RO plant system carried out in Cairo, however, the EDR system practical part performed on an existing system in iron factory in Alexandria. The results show that the RO system gives better effluent water quality than EDR system. At the end of the study, the return of the investment for each system has been calculated and the results showed that the RO system is less expensive than EDR system with better return of the investment.