Comparison of Membrane-based Solutions for Water Reclamation and Desalination

The capital costs for a plant producing water from seawater are about twice the costs of a plant reusing secondary sewage. Both the pretreatment costs and RO cost are higher. Similarly, the O&M costs for producing RO water from seawater are 2 times higher than the cost of reusing secondary sewage. The total life cycle costs for producing RO water from secondary effluent and seawater are 0.28US$/m3 and 0.62US$/m3, respectively.