Technical and Economical Evaluation of a Fresh-Water Production from Zero-Wastewater Reverse Osmosis System: A Feasibility Study in Jordan

Jordan endures a shortage of fresh drinking water. Thus, there is a wide use of reverse osmosis (RO) units at homes and industrial zones. Zero wastewater, which is a modified reverse osmosis system, is developed and evaluated to overcome the problem of limited water. In Jordan, for example, Petra Company for Water Treatment Systems was established to mass-produce the newly modified RO units. In this study, a feasibility study is conducted to evaluate the technical and economical aspects of mass production of the new RO systems. With increasing future demand for fresh water, it is expected that the introduction of the new system to regional countries would save huge amounts of water. Additionally, good economical impacts will be achieved as a net profit to the newly established company. This expected extra profit would be set the base for further development to the modified RO system, such as introducing a compact multistage filtration unit. Results of the feasibility study showed a huge amount of water saving per annum estimated by 4.5 million cubic meter. In addition, a half million of Jordanian Dinar (JD) of a net annual profit attained at the current demand of RO units in Jordan.