The core desalination technology of the platform: a semi-permeable membrane driven by pressure, with recovery, salt rejection, energy and concentrate all derived by real engines.
- Active
- Available
Small & Modular Desalination S&M
Skid-packaged desalination sized from a stated duty and a stated membrane basis: product demand, feed and concentrate by salt conservation, and the array that carries the design flux. A packaging architecture, not a different process — the membranes are still RO.
Overview
Skid-packaged desalination sized from a stated duty and a stated membrane basis: product demand, feed and concentrate by salt conservation, and the array that carries the design flux. A packaging architecture, not a different process — the membranes are still RO.
This entry describes an application and packaging architecture. The treatment process inside it is documented separately — see the related technologies below. Nothing on this page states a standard capacity, because capacity follows from the design basis rather than from the packaging.
How it works
Separation mechanism and feed window. Inherits RO feed compatibility exactly. A small plant on a feed a large plant could not treat will not treat it either — the package changes the footprint, not the separation.
What the process produces. Product flow and quality follow the stated duty and the stated product TDS target. No recovery, flux, staging or envelope is chosen by the tool.
Energy. High pressure, same as RO. A smaller array is not a lower-energy process.
Process sequence
Where this technology normally sits in a treatment train. The steps either side of it are documented in the Library as separate entries.
- Demand or product flow
- RO mass balance
- Array staging
- Package and delivery scope (your decision)
Typical applications
- Village and community water supply at a few hundred cubic metres a day
- Containerised or skid-mounted plants for temporary or phased demand
- Mining, camp and industrial satellite plants away from a large intake
Main equipment
- Feed and high-pressure pumps
- RO pressure vessels and elements
- Pre- and post-treatment on the same basis as a large plant
- Skid frame, enclosure and control panel
Key design parameters
The parameters an engineer actually sets, and why each one drives the design. EngiMetric does not assume any of them.
| Parameter | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Community demand basis or a direct product flow | One or the other. Neither is defaulted, because a guessed population fabricates the whole chain. |
| Feed TDS and product TDS target | Salt conservation and the required rejection both need them. |
| Plant recovery | Splits the feed into product and concentrate. Your decision. |
| Design flux, element area, elements per vessel, array stages | The membrane basis. Nothing here is assumed to be a typical value. |
Advantages
- Factory-built and repeatable rather than site-built.
- Phased expansion as demand grows.
- The same mass balance and array engines a large plant uses.
Limitations
- Economics of scale still apply — a small plant does not have a small plant's capital cost per cubic metre.
- Recovery and flux are bounded by the same membrane limits as a large array.
- Package scope, envelope and dry weight are yours to state; the tool does not size a shipping envelope.
Engineering considerations
- A modular package changes how the plant is procured and delivered, not how it treats water.
- A staging whose stages cannot each hold a vessel is refused rather than rounded into a different array.
Status and EngiMetric support
Industry maturity and commercial status describe the technology itself. EngiMetric support and quantitative modeling describe what this platform does with it — and those two are read from the engineering registry at build time, so they cannot drift from the code.
- Engineering maturity
- Mature How established the technology is in the industry. Not an EngiMetric claim.
- Commercial status
- Commercial Where the technology sits in the market. Not an EngiMetric claim.
- EngiMetric support
- Active Derived from the execution registry: small-modular is registered as supported.
- Design engine
- Planned Whether the Plant Designer can carry this as a configured process step.
- Quantitative modeling
- Available Derived: 1 of 1 registered capabilities run a deterministic engine.
What EngiMetric computes
These capabilities are registered in the EngiMetric execution registry. Each one runs a deterministic engine, so every result is reproducible from the inputs you supply.
- Small & modular plant sizing sizeSmallModularPlant
Related tools
Every tool below exists and is live. EngiMetric does not duplicate a formula here — the calculation lives in the tool, and this page links to it.
- Small & Modular Desalination Sizing The sizing itself: product, feed, concentrate and the array.
- Water Demand & Flow Requirement Calculator The community demand basis when the duty is stated as a population.
- RO Membrane & Vessel Element Count Calculator The authoritative element and vessel count the array stages.
- Water Analysis & Treatment Selection The feed chemistry a small plant still has to satisfy.
Design this as a plant
Demand-first: the plant is sized from the duty you state, and the sizing composes the existing demand, mass-balance and array engines rather than repeating their formulas.
EngiMetric does not model the packaging itself — there is no container, skid or transport model in the Plant Designer. What the designer carries is the contained treatment process, configured exactly as it would be for a central plant.
Sources and references
- Membrane basis — Design flux and element area are manufacturer figures supplied by the engineer.
EngiMetric does not publish a bibliography of external literature for catalogued technologies. Where a figure is required, it is entered by the engineer from a datasheet or a published reference, and it is labelled as an input.