DESALINATION

ELSEVIER Desalination 153 (2002) 199-205

www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Maximum economic design life for desalination plant: the role

of auxiliary equipment materials selection and specification in
plant reliability

Corrado Sommariva*, Harry Hogg, Keith Callister

Mott McDonald, VictoryHouse, Trafalgar Place, Brighton BNl 4 FX UK
Tel. +44 (127) 3365140; Fax +44 (127) 3365197; email: cs3@mm-brig.mottmac.com

Received 20 April 2002; accepted 30 April 2002

Abstract

The role of material selection in optimising plant costs has been already subject of several studies [l-3]. These
studies focused on the main plant items such as tube bundle, vessels, vessel linings, tubeplates etc. as they are the
major components to the plant costs and therefore represent the main source of expenditure in term of economic
optimisation of the plant life. Similarly for SWRO plants at least 40% of the plant costs are concentrated in the
membranes and in the supporting racks and auxiliary connections. However despite the fact that these cost aspects
are of major importance to evaluate the plant life and the economic aspects related to material design, the operational
reliability of the desalination plants depends largely on the dynamic components of the plants. Pumps, screens
ejectors and piping are subject to a more intense maintenance routine and spare parts replacement and are usually
less robust than the static components of the evaporator vessels. Whereas the design and procurement of these items
of equipment accounts for a limited part of the desalination plant budget the operation reliability and hence availability
is very dependent on these components. In some respects this is taken into account in the design of the plant by
adopting redundancy policy of (n + 1) components, where n is the number ofthe components in service. The analysis
proposed in the paper indicates that these aspects are mainly related to the plant auxiliary equipment where the
dynamic component is higher. By a proper material selection and design of these components, the plant reliability
and operation can be enhanced and the purchase of strategic spare parts could be optimised. This paper follows in
principle the study presented in the previous EuroMed conference held in Jerba “Forty years design life -the next
target: material selection and operating conditions in thermal desalination plant” but aims at analysing in more depth
desalination plant reliability and maintenance aspects.

Keywords: Plant lifetime; Material selection; Maintenance; Trouble shooting

*Corresponding author.
Presented at the EuroMed 2002 conference on Desalination Strategies in South Mediterranean Countries:
Cooperation between Mediterranean Countries of Europe and the Southern Rim of the Mediterranean.
Sponsored by the European Desalination Society and Alexandria University Desalination Studies and Technology
Center, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, May 4-6, 2002.
001 l-9164/02/$- See front matter 0 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
PII:SOOll-9164(02)01136-O
200 C. Sommariva et al. / Desalination I.53 (2002) 199-205
1. Introduction
The role of material selection in optimising
plant costs has been already the subject of several
studies [l-3]. These studies focused on the main
plant items such as tube bundle, vessels vessel
linings tube-plates etc. as they are the major com-
ponents to the plant costs and therefore represent
the main source ofexpenditure in terms ofeconomic
optimisation of the plant life.
Similarly for SWRO plants at least 40% of the
plant costs are concentrated in the membranes and
in the supporting racks and auxiliary connections.
However despite these cost aspects being of
major importance in the evaluation of plant life
and the economic aspects related to material selec-
tion, the operational reliability of the desalination
plants depends largely on the dynamic components
of the plants.
Pumps, screens ejectors and piping are subject
to a more intense maintenance routine and spare
parts replacement by design as they are usually less
robust than the static component of the evaporator
vessel.
Whereas the design and procurement of these
items of equipment accounts for a limited part of
the desalination plant budget the operation reliability
and hence availability is very dependent on these
components.
The analysis proposed in the following paper
indicates that these aspects are strictly related to
the plant auxiliary equipment where the dynamic
component is higher. By a proper material selection
and design of these components the plant reliability
and operation can be enhanced as well as the
purchase of strategic spare parts could be optimised.
This paper follows in principle the study pre-
sented in the previous EuroMed conference held
in Jerba “Forty years design life-the next target:
material selection and operating conditions in
thermal desalination plant” [l] but aims at analysing
in more depth desalination plant reliability and
maintenance aspects.
The increasing privatisation of the desalinated
water industry in areas such as the Middle East,
means that this aspect ofplant reliability is becoming
more and more important as a result of two con-
flicting demands.
Developers, in order to be successful in the
bidding process, need to keep costs down in order
to produce water at the lowest cost possible.
However they also need to ensure high reliability
and availability of plant in order to maximise the
returns on their investment and to avoid the
payment of liquidated damages that form an
essential part of the Water Purchase Agreements.
For the traditional ministry type contracts, the
cost ofthe desalination plants, although important
is secondary to reliability and availability. As a
result, offers from prospective contractors were
sought against fairly detailed Specifications, which
had evolved with experience over a period of time
to reflect the optimum choice of materials and,
configuration to achieve reliable operation over
the lifetime of the plant.
In terms of reliability, this was often achieved
by the use of the (n + 1) principle for vulnerable
plant such as pumps, where n = the number of
pumps required for the duty. This duplication of
items, or standby capacity is often an area which
is neglected for privatised schemes, the reduction
in cost being offset by the increased risk to the
operator.
For this scenario, it would be thought that
maintenance effort would assume a greater im-
portance but here again, privatisation introduces
important changes.
Again using the Middle East as the example.
The various ministries that were responsible for
the operation and maintenance ofthe desalination
plants had built up a wealth of experience in both
aspects. Vulnerable areas ofthe plant were known
to the maintenance staff and the emphasis was
placed on those areas which were known to
require increased maintenance effort.
The privatised industry cannot afford the high
numbers of staff that were a feature of the non-
privatised industry and consequently maintenance
effort is often put out to contract. As a result the
owner is unable to control the expertise and
 C. Sommariva et al. / Desalination 153 (2002) 199-205 201

Erection
experience that is required to identify vulnerable
areas in order to assign the maintenance effort
where it would be most effective.
It would be expected therefore that for the pri- vaporator
vatised desalination plants, reliability and avail- 40%

ability will deteriorate as the plant ages and that

many of the problems will arise from the rotating
machinery.

2. Capital cost distribution in a thermal and

membrane desalination plant 29%

The schematic diagrams of Figs. 1 and 2 indicate Fig. 1. MSF-MJZD plant evaporator island cost subdivision.
the general cost subdivision for thermal and
membrane plant. Fig. 1 indicates the breakdown
Other (cranes.
for MSF or MED desalination system among the commisdoning, kc.

main costs items.

Although there are no fared rules and the material
and equipment specification can influence the cost
subdivision indicated above it can be noticed that
for thermal desalination plants the cost percentage
allocated to the equipment (pumps vacuum system
piping etc) does not exceed one third of the overall
capital costs.
Although the majority of the plant costs are
concentrated in the evaporator vessel, auxiliary
equipment and piping are playing a vital role in
Post treatment
the plant lifetime. 5%
SWRO plant cost subdivision is indicated in
Fig. 2. RO plant island cost subdivision.
Fig. 2.
The membrane component in recent years has
drastically decreased as a result of the enormous The budget for maintenance, rehabilitation and
progress in membrane developments and costs. the incidence in plant outage and malfunction make
In this case the membranes do not have the the specification relative to the plant auxiliary
same impact on the cost component of the desali- components vital to achieve the best performances
nation plant as the evaporator does for thermal Table 1 shows qualitatively the expected failures
plant however the impact of the dynamic com- frequency occurring in the average plant life of a
ponent of the plant on the overall cost appear not thermal and SWRO desalination plant.
to change. For a thermal desalination plant a very wide
It has been discussed and demonstrated that range of causes generating these failure has been
for thermal desalination plant the modern specifi- observed, Tables 2 and 3 show the main causes
cations can allow a lifetime in excess of forty for trips and the related consequences on the plant
years to be achieved with limited extraordinary operation for thermal and SWRO desalination
maintenance. plants.
202 C. Sommariva et al. /Desalination 153 (2002) 199-205

Table 1
Analysis of plant failures

Phase Start with End with Failures Economical impact

A Induction Pre-commissioning Reliability Frequent Low
start up
B Production Initial commercial Reliability Low Severe (particularly for
operation modem IWP projects)
C Maintenance Overhaul Commercial operation Low to medium Medium to high

Table 2
Failure typology and consequences in thermal desalination projects

Phase Failures Reasons Consequences

Induction Pipe break during test or shut Reliability/ wrong design Long interruption or delaying
down of plant operation
Expansion bellows Wrong design Interruption or delaying of
plant commercial operation
Production Distillate high conductivity Tube leaks (MSF) Medium to severe if plant
De-mister blocks (MSF and interruption is requested
MED)
Pump trip Spurious signal Severe
Cracks: incorrect construction Medium to severe if plant
or material selection interruption is requested
Maintenance Steam high temperature Bad desuperheating/wrong Severe: manual operation until
equipment selection overhauling or plant
interruption
Major process pumps Erosion-corrosion of Low to medium
impellers
Brine recirculation Various Low to medium
Control valves Erosion Low to medium

The difficult conditions that desalination
plants operate in are well known and designs and
materials have evolved as a result of experience
to minimise deleterious effects, such as corrosion,
erosion etc.
3. Main process pumps
The main process pumps, in both thermal and
membrane processes operate in this harsh environ-
ment and their vulnerability to failure is increased
relative to static plant by virtue of the fact that
they necessarily contain moving parts. Failure of
any of the pump components, bearings, seals,
lubrication etc would result in failure ofthe pump.
While automatic monitoring and control of the
main parameters should protect the pump from
catastrophic failure by tripping, the loss of the
pump inevitably leads to plant shutdown with all
that that entails for the availability of the plant.
Because of their size, because of the features
of the hydraulic layout, the materials employed
as well as the difficult operating conditions (for
instance the very low NPSHav under which the
 C. Sommariva et al. /Desalination 153 (2002) 199-205 203

Table 3
Failure typology and consequences in SWRO desalination projects

Category Phase Failures Reasons Consequences

A Commissioning Membranes Sheet defects due to poor quality Poor water quality, rejection of
control membrane.
A Commissioning Membrane Telescoping of membrane due to Poor water quality, rejection of
mal-operation or poor plant start- membranes, time delay and
up design increased cost
Commissioning O-ring seals Inadequate installation, wrong Poor water quality, plant
material shutdown for checks and seal
replacement
Commissioning Membranes Chemical attack due to poor Costly membrane replacement
pretreatment design
B Operation Membranes Chemical and biological fouling Increased cleaning and possibly
due to poor pretreatment design membrane replacement
B Operation Stainless steel Pitting due to incorrect grade of Pipework replacement/ design
pipework stainless steel and/ or poor design modifications
B Operation GRP pipework Vibration damage Pipework replacement/ design
modifications
B Operation Energy recovery Erosion of Pelton wheel buckets Increased operating costs and/or
due to poor casting/ misalignment plant shutdown.
of jets
B Operation Valves Erosion of non-return valves and Plant shutdown for replacement
control valves of valves and possibly
membrane damage due to sharp
slivers of metal

major part of the pumps for desalination plant

operate), it is unlikely that pumps for thermal
desalination plant could be considered as standards.
The impacts on maintenance and long term
operation are sometime quite severe. Fig. 3 shows
the impeller of a brine recirculation pump open
during annual overhaul indicating. The impellers
show sign of erosion on the suction side resulting
from cavitation during commercial operation.
For this reason, even if the pumps or com-
ponents in general are considered as standard for Fig. 3. Sign of erosion due to cavitation in a brine
other industrial sectors, the pumps for desalination recirculation pump impeller.
plant have always been treated as a separate sector.
The operational experience in major desalination
plant operation has been leading to a review of Table 4 summarises the main improvements
the material selection and of the specification for in material selection and design specification for
major process pumps in order to overcome the major process pumps in desalination plant and
phenomena described above. the reasons leading to these changes.
204 C. Sommariva et al. / Desalination 153 (2002) 199-20.5

Table 4
Major process pumps change in material specifications and operational experience

Component First generation Second generation Reasons

Rising main and discharge
elbows for brine
recirculation and brine
blowdown pumps
Rising main and discharge
elbow for SWS pump
Impeller and casing for
brine recirculation pump
Impeller and casing for
sws pump
specification specification
Cast Stainless steel
Ni resist NiCrNb Typically AISI 3 16 1or duplex cracking and difficulty in proper
as per Din 1.4462
Cast Stainless steel
Ni resist NiCrNb Typical AISI 3 16 L plus
cathodic protection
Cast Cast
Ni resist NiCrNb Ni resist NiCrNb with double
stress relieve heat treatment
cast Cast stainless steel
Ni resist NiCrNb ASTM CF3M
Understanding of stress corrosion
stress relieving treatment on large
cast pieces (Fig. 4)
Ditto
Understanding of stress corrosion
cracking phenomena
Resistance to corrosion in seawater
at high velocities

4. Piping and valves

Fig. 4. Stress corrosion cracking in a brine recirculation
pump Ni resist component.
With increasing privatisation it is essential that
component failure in desalination plants should
be analysed and causes of failure fully identified
in order to establish a proper basis for plant avail-
ability. Failure to do this could see the fledgling
industry become bogged down in litigation as
owners, contactors and suppliers defend their own
positions in court. If this worst case scenario
should develop it is likely that technical solutions
to technical problems would play a secondary role
and this would be to the detriment of the industry.
Specification for main process pipe and valves
has been subject to great changes in the last five
years. The main changes arose from the develop-
ment of the GRP and PVC construction and from
the physical properties, which can be now
achieved by plastic material.
Table 5 shows some of the main variations in
the material specification for main process piping
and valves.
Coating or rubber lining in general have a very
good chemical resistance however if the coating
fails due to bad application or erosion by foreign
matters, the piping underneath in carbon steel
will be exposed to corrosion and damages will occur
very soon.
Repair occurring to damaged rubber lining will
not be possible during normal maintenance as
coating in general is carried out only by trained
personnel and with special machines (airless).
Furthermore the construction of the rubber
lined or ebonite pieces is in spools. For small bore
pipes rubber lining can not be carried out other
than in qualified workshops and the availability
of the pieces require long time.
 C. Sommariva et al. /Desalination 153 (2002) 199-205 205

Table 5
Process piping change in material specifications and operational experience

Component First generation Second generation Reasons

svecification specification
Seawater supply Carbon steel GRP Reduction/elimination of downtime for
Potable water internally painted (full vacuum design) inspection and replacements
Cost reduction
Elimination of CP system (internal external)
Reduction of water wastage for potable water
Sodium hypochlorite Carbon steel rubber PVC-C Ditto
generation and dosing lined GRP Higher resistance to corrosion, easier erection
Carbon steel ebonite and replacement (glued connections for C-
lining PCV)
Vent baffles Carbon steel Stainless steel Understanding of corrosion induced by high
Typically AISI 3 16 1 concentration of COZ, O2bromamine and
incondensable gases
Uncondensable Carbon steel Super-austenitic steel Understanding of corrosion induced by high
extraction pipe (high temperature) concentration of COZ, O2bromamine and
GRP (low temperature) incondensable gases

5. Conclusions
The reasons for interruption in normal plant
operation have been investigated and reported.
The contribution of auxiliary equipment such as
pumps and piping has been found of major im-
portance although the investment costs are lower
with respect to the main equipment (evaporator
or membranes).
The use of stainless steel for rising main and
discharge elbows of major process pumps and the
gradual adoption of higher grades stainless steel
will result in an increased longevity and more
“trouble free” maintenance of the plant.
Developments in the GRP and PVC construction
technology allow lower cost and lower main-
tenance for seawater potable water and chlorine
dosing lines.
Specification for these components should
include the complete rangeability of operations
from the start up to maximum overload. Often
major problems are envisaged because the full
rangeability of operating conditions is neglected.
Acknowledgements
Much of the material for is paper has been
retrieved reviewing many professional works that
the authors made with the co-operation of Mr.
Brian Todd.
The authors wish to dedicate this paper to
Brian Todd for his invaluable contribution to the
development of the knowledge in materials in
desalination plant.
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