About the Presentation 

With an abundant source of seawater worldwide, desalination is considered a viable option for sustainable water supply, despite its energy-intensive nature. This plant includes electrocoagulation (EC) for pretreatment, ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) for upstream filtration, batch reverse osmosis (RO) for seawater desalination and hybrid semi batch/batch RO for brackish water desalination. Each individual process unit has demonstrated potential for reducing energy consumption in seawater desalination systems. The plant is also equipped with SmartOps platform which allows each individual unit to operate at their optimum setpoints. Brine recycling in brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO), partial bypass of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) permeate and the implementation of center-port pressure vessels for uniform flow distribution in batch process are proven to contribute to the lower energy consumption. The plant is designed to achieve an energy consumption of 1.96 kwh/m³ with 50% overall system recovery, yield 1125 m³/day of high-quality product (boron concentration of <0.5 mg/L). In addition, membrane lifespan is expected to improve by 25% while the frequency of RO cleaning-in-place (CIP) decreased by 8%.

About the speaker:

Jia Shin is an NPI Manager specializing in the development and scale-up of advanced membrane technologies for low-energy seawater desalination and wastewater reuse applications. She completed her PhD study in Nanyang Technological University, focusing on membrane fouling monitoring. Her current focus in Gradiant is on next-generation seawater reverse osmosis, including semi-batch RO processes designed to reduce energy consumption while improving water recovery and overall process economics. She leads technology translation from laboratory and prototype validation through pilot-scale demonstration, integrating membrane process design, system engineering, automation, and performance optimization. Beyond seawater desalination, Jia Shin is exploring the application of semi-batch RO to challenging industrial wastewater streams, where higher recovery, reduced brine generation, and lower energy consumption can provide significant value.