SPI is pleased to announce the release of DORIS – an Energy Consumption Calculator for Seawater Reverse Osmosis Systems.

SPI developed this software tool, which establishes a standardized framework for energy consumption estimation.  Typical users may include planners, design engineers and operators of seawater desalination facilities.  Using DORIS will promote a complete and accurate estimation of energy consumption and documentation of the basis of the estimate.

A project’s process design is input by creating a process flow diagram via “drag and drop” from menus of process components (e.g. pumps, screens, granular media filtration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, energy recovery device, etc.).  Specific operating parameters (filter head loss, RO operating pressure, pump efficiency, etc.) are input through drop down menus.   Default values are provided to streamline the input process, if desired.

sample screen shot of DORIS

Additionally, the tool’s guidance feature provide reference data generated at the West Basin Municipal Water District Ocean Water Desalination Demonstration Facility in Redondo Beach, CA, which will promote the use of realistic design assumptions.

The calculator output reporting includes specific energy consumption for the entire process, as well as for the process components (intake, pretreatment, first pass RO, second pass RO, etc.).  Results are presented in a tabular format, accompanied by a process flow diagram.  A comparison option allows comparison of the energy consumption for two different cases. To supplement the energy calculations, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission equivalence is also reported.

This project was co-funded by the Water Research Foundation (WRF) and West Basin Municipal Water District.

The DORIS software can be downloaded from the WRF website at no cost here: DORIS – Energy Consumption Calculator for Seawater Reverse Osmosis Systems