Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Water pinch analysis for an urban system:

a case study on the Sultan Ismail Mosque at the
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Z.A. Manan*, S.R. Wan Alwi, Z. Ujang
Chemical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Tel. +60 (7) 553-5512; Fax +60 (7) 558-1463; email: [email protected]

Received 20 January 2005; accepted 18 November 2005

Abstract
This paper describes how the water cascade analysis (WCA) technique, based on the pinch analysis concept, was
adapted to establish the minimum water targets for the Sultan Ismail Mosque at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The
WCA is a numerical alternative to the graphical water targeting technique known as a water surplus diagram. Two
cases were analysed using WCA to predict potential savings with reuse as well as with reuse and regeneration. The
results were compared with the savings predicted via a conventional water management solution. The conventional
system predicted reductions of 25% fresh water and 19.8% wastewater. The WCA technique predicted savings of
65.1% fresh water and 51.5% wastewater with reuse only, and up to 85.5% fresh water and 67.7% wastewater with
reuse and regeneration. The WCA technique based on the pinch analysis concept can rapidly yield accurate minimum
water targets, pinch-point locations and water allocation targets for an urban water network.

Keywords: Pinch analysis; Minimum water targets; Urban system; Water cascade analysis; Regeneration

1. Introduction have long relied on non-conventional water sup-

plies due to water scarcity. For example, four
Water demands are growing every year as the
Gulf states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and
result of the booming world population. A popu-
the United Arab Emirates—have so little fresh
lation report on environment and water issues has
water available that they resort to desalination,
estimated that more than 2.8 billion people in 48
the costly conversion of seawater into fresh
countries will lack access to adequate water sup-
water. Saudi Arabia now must mine fossil
plies by 2025 [1]. The Middle Eastern countries
groundwater for three-quarters of its water needs.
Jordan and Yemen withdraw 30% more water
*Corresponding author. from groundwater aquifers every year than they

0011-9164/06/$– See front matter. Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2005.11.003
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 53

replenish. Also, Israel’s annual water use already recycling. In a water distribution system, it is
exceeds its renewable supply by 15% [2]. possible to determine the maximum water recycle
Billions of dollars have been spent to expand flowrate through appropriate water cascading.
water supply to an increasing number of con- Note that the maximum water recycle flowrate
sumers in industry and housing estates world- corresponds to minimum fresh water consump-
wide. A rapid increase in water tariffs has spurred tion. The first key step towards minimising fresh
water conservation efforts, particularly in the water consumption and wastewater generation is
industrial sector. It has been reported that indus- to establish the baseline minimum water con-
trial water use in some developed countries has sumption target prior to the design or retrofit of
been falling as a result of greater efficiency in the an urban water network through the notion of
use, reuse and recycling of water. For example, water targeting. As far as our search has revealed,
industrial water use in England and Wales has there has been no published work related to water
fallen by 900 million m3 since the year 1998 [3]. targeting for urban water network. The available
While industries and commercial enterprises have work on water targeting is exclusively focused on
made significant progress in water efficiency, the industrial applications [6–12]. There is a clear
achievement of the general public has been need to extend the water targeting technique
extremely poor, thereby resulting in urban water beyond industrial applications for use in the
demand to increase steadily [4]. This discrepancy design and improvement of urban water systems.
can be attributed to low water tariffs and wide The next section highlights some of the key
availability of potable water in urban areas. Con- developments in pinch analysis related to water
sequently, the general public, particularly the targeting. This is followed by a description of
urban population, has little consciousness of how the water cascade analysis technique (WCA)
water savings and hence, the energy savings was adapted to establish the minimum water
associated with water use. targets for the Sultan Ismail Mosque at the Uni-
The urban sector contributes a significant versiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
percentage of water consumption, particularly in
developed countries of warmer climates. In
Malaysia for example, the domestic sector con- 2. Previous work on water targeting
tributes 60.1% of the total water consumption
compared to the other sectors [5]. The need for The advent of water pinch analysis (WPA) as
efficient water management in the urban sector is a tool for the design of an optimal water recovery
becoming ever more crucial due to a sharp network has been one of the most significant
increase in the price of fresh water. This trend is advances in the area of water conservation over
likely to continue in the near future due to the the last decade. Water pinch analysis is a sys-
predicted shortage of fresh water, and hence, the tematic technique for implementing strategies to
possibilities of resorting to wastewater treatment, maximise water reuse and recycling through inte-
desalination, groundwater extraction, and inter- gration of water-using activities or processes.
state water purchases as well as water transfer. Maximising water reuse and recycling can mini-
Compared to the extensive amount of work mise freshwater consumption and wastewater
conducted on water minimisation in industry, generation. A typical WPA solution has two
there has been many fewer efforts towards water steps: setting the water targets, followed by net-
conservation in the urban sector. The majority of work design to achieve the targets.
work on urban water conservation is focused on In targeting the minimum utility requirements
design of water-saving gadgets and wastewater and in locating the pinch points, a graphical
54 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

technique, such as composite curves, and a nume- (a)

rical technique, such as the problem table, have
both been used in heat [7], mass [13,14] and
water recovery problems [15,16] that are based
on pinch analysis. Why then are both techniques
usually used together even though they appa-
rently yield the same information? The answer
lies in the complimentary roles they play in pinch
analysis. The graphical tool with composite
curves is vital in terms of providing an under- (b)
standing of the overall heat and mass transfer
potentials in a process. On the other hand, the
numerical targeting tools like problem table ana-
lysis (PTA) in heat integration [7] or the compo-
sition interval table (CIT) in mass integration [13,
14] are advantageous from the point of view of
accuracy and speed, and therefore, are more
amenable to computer programming. Note that
the majority of researchers have extended the use Fig. 1. Non-mass transfer-based water-using operations:
of composite curves and PTA established for heat (a) reactor that consumes water in aniline production;
(b) reactor that produces water as a by-product in acrylo-
recovery based on pinch analysis to mass recov-
nitrile (AN) production.
ery, and later, to water recovery problems.
One of the latest and most widely used water
(a) (b)
targeting techniques, known as a water surplus
diagram [10], is limited in its ability to estimate
the minimum water targets as it implements a
graphical approach that involves time-consuming
trial-and-error steps. This limitation has inspired
the development of the water cascade analysis
(WCA) technique [12]. WCA is a numerical alter-
Fig. 2. Two other common types of the non-mass
native to the graphical water targeting technique transfer-based water-using operations: (a) cooling tower
known as the water surplus diagram. The WCA is make up; (b) boiler blow-down.
to the water surplus diagram in WPA as the PTA
is to the grand composite curves in heat pinch
analysis. By eliminating the tedious iterative based operations and is therefore applicable to a
steps of the water surplus diagram, the WCA can wide range of water using operations, including
quickly yield accurate minimum water targets, water used as a solvent or a raw material, or
pinch point locations and water allocation targets withdrawn as a product or a by-product in a
for a maximum water recovery (MWR) network, chemical reaction, or being utilised as heating or
thereby offering a key complimentary role to the cooling media (see Figs. 1 and 2).
water surplus diagram in the synthesis of water This paper describes how the WCA technique
network. was adapted to establish the minimum water and
Unlike the case of the composition interval wastewater targets for the Sultan Ismail Mosque
table, the WCA is not limited to mass transfer- at UTM. The targets generated via WCA predict
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 55

significant potential reductions in terms of fresh

water and wastewater, far beyond the potential
reductions calculated after a detailed water net-
work revamp on the mosque proposed by another
research group at UTM [17]. Results of the study
show that setting the minimum fresh water and
wastewater targets prior to design allow a de-
signer to pinpoint rapidly the design option that
satisfies the minimum water targets, thereby
saving a considerable amount of resources in
detailed evaluation and screening of numerous Fig. 3. Breakdown of water utilization for SIM.
inferior design options.
network for the mosque which includes the
stream numbers, flowrates and contaminant
3. Water minimisation for an urban system: A concentrations.
case study on the Sultan Ismail Mosque, UTM
The Sultan Ismail Mosque (SIM) located at
4. Water recycling scheme for Sultan Ismail
UTM, Skudai, was chosen as the case study for
Mosque proposed by IEWRM
this research. This mosque is mainly used by the
Muslim students and staff of UTM for prayer and The Institute of Environmental and Water
educational activities. Activities which demand Resource Management (IEWRM), UTM, pro-
water in the mosque include ablution, irrigation, posed a water recycling scheme aimed at mini-
showers, kitchen and toilet services as well as mising fresh water consumption for SIM. The
cleaning. A detailed breakdown of the various retrofitted network design proposed by IEWRM
water demands in SIM is shown in Fig. 3. is shown in Fig. 5.
Fresh water is stored in four inter-connected IEWRM proposed the idea of reusing treated
distribution tanks, each with a volume of 237 m3. ablution water and rainwater for the entire
These tanks are arranged in a straight line so that mosque except for kitchen services. The ablution
fresh water which fills up the first tank overflows water or rainwater were to be filtered for solid
into the next tank until all four tanks are filled. particles like hair, stones and dirt before going
The estimated total fresh water consumption for through a series of treatments using activated car-
SIM is 11,550 m3/y [18]. Of this, 9178 m3/y is bon and microfiltration processes. The treatment
used for ablution and the rest is for toilet flushing, process was to ensure that water being recycled to
irrigation, cleaning, wash basins and toilet pipes the distribution tank was of acceptable purity for
[18]. The total amount of water consumed varies uses which involve bodily contact.
throughout the year between semesters and holi- The amount of ablution water reclaimed and
days. During the semester, the amount of water rainwater collected was limited by the existing
consumed for ablution is about 60 m3/d on distribution tank. Treated ablution water could
Fridays, but only 25 m3/d on other days. In order only be sent to the last distribution tank. Since the
to estimate a reasonable typical water savings for water output was approximately 29.07 te/d for the
the mosque, daily water consumption calculations four tanks, only 7.27 te/d of treated water can be
were based on normal semester days [18]. fed into the last distribution tank. The flowrate of
Fig. 4 shows a simplified water distribution 7.27 te/day represented the limiting point or
56 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Fig. 4. Water distribution network for the Sultan Ismail Mosque.

Fig. 5. Retrofitted water network for the SIM by IWERM.

bottleneck for this system. During the rainy sea- allowed an estimated fresh water savings of up to
son, rainwater was collected instead and the spent 25% with a payback period for investment of
ablution water diverted to the sewer. This design about 10 years.
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 57

5. Setting the minimum water targets for the Table 1

Sultan Ismail Mosque proposed using the Summary of the water demands for Sultan Ismail Mosque
water cascade analysis technique
Stream Demands Flowrate BOD conc.,
For this case study, the biological oxygen description (t/d) (ppm)
demand (BOD) was the most significant water
D1 Kitchen 0.03 0
quality factor chosen for water quality analysis D2 Ablution 25.03 10
for water reuse. Faecal coliform was not selected
D3 Wash basin 0.14 10
as the quality factor since regeneration was pro-
D4 Showering 0.14 10
posed to enable the greywater to be reused safely.
Regeneration consists of three main steps. Firstly, D5 Mosque cleaning 0.29 10
greywater is filtered for particles. Next, it is D6 Irrigation 1.46 10
passed through an activated carbon to remove D7 Toilet pipes 0.44 10
unpleasant odours. Finally, chlorine or UV is D8 Flushing toilet 1.57 10
used to disinfect the greywater for storage
purposes. Table 2
Tables 1 and 2 summarise the water demands Summary of the water sources for Sultan Ismail Mosque
and sources for SIM. There are eight water
demands and six water sources. Water sources are Stream Sources Flowrate BOD conc.,
description (t/d) (ppm)
those available for possible recycling while water
demands reflect the actual requirements for vari- S1 Rainwater 11.14 10
ous water-using processes. “Blackwater” from S2 Ablution 25.03 23
toilet flushing and toilet pipes was not used as a S3 Wash basin 0.14 23
water source since it is highly contaminated with S4 Showering 0.14 216
urine and faeces while water from irrigation is S5 Mosque cleaning 0.29 472
assumed to be completely absorbed by the soil. S6 Kitchen 0.03 536
Since the Skudai area, in which UTM is located,
receives a high average annual rainfall of
2027.2 mm [19], rainwater was harvested and Table 3 shows that the USEPA sets conserva-
used as one of the water sources for this case tive water quality standards for the BOD level to
study. be reduced to at least 10 ppm for non-potable
The data for water demands in Table 1 were domestic water recycling. Non-potable water
adapted from USEPA standards of water reuse refers to water that is not used for human con-
[20] (Table 3), and data for water sources in sumption. Since all the water usage after the dis-
Table 2 were based on the data by [21] (Table 4) tribution tank in the mosque is non-potable water,
and [22] (Table 5). CSBE [21] has conducted a maximum BOD limit of 10 ppm was set for the
quality tests on ablution greywater collected from water demands. A BOD value of 0 ppm was set
the King Abdullah Mosque. In this paper, it was for kitchen water demand.
assumed that wash basin greywater and ablution The mosque case study is, strictly speaking, a
greywater were of similar quality, i.e., 23 ppm. batch process since all the water-using activities
Janikowski [22] collected data on typical pollu- occur in discrete time periods. However, in this
tant concentrations for stormwater in Eastern case, it is possible to use the WCA [23] technique
Europe. The BOD for rainwater was used as a developed for a continuous process to establish
guideline for this case study. minimum fresh water consumption and waste-
58 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Table 3
Summary of water quality standards and criteria suitable for domestic water recycling [20]

Total colifrom Faecal BOD Turbidity Cl2 residual pH

count/100 ml coliforms (mg/l) (NTU) (mg/l)

Bathing water standardsa 10, 000 (m) 2000 (m) — — — 6–9

500 (g) 100 (g)
USA, NSF — <240 45 90 — —
USA, EPA Non-detectable — 10 2 1 6–9
Australia <1 <4 20 2 — —
UK (BSIRA) Non-detectable — — — — —
Japan <10 <10 10 5 — 6–9
WHO 1000 (m) — — — — —
200 (g)
Germany 100 500 20 1–2 — 6–9
a
Suggested as appropriate for domestic water recycling.
(g), guideline; (m), mandatory.

Table 4
Results of water quality tests conducted on greywater collected from the ablution at the King Abdullah Mosque [21]

Parameter Concentration Concentration JS 893/1995 for irrigation JS 893/1995 for

before filtration after filtration of cooked vegetables irrigation of fruit trees
EC (dS/m) 0.84 0.77 — —
pH 7.2 7.6 6.0–9.0 6.0–9.0
Chloride, Cl (mg/l) 0.12 0.18 350 350
Sodium, Na (mg/l) 52.1 49.0 230 230
SAR 3.5 1.4 9.0 9.0
Faecal coliforms 700 2 1000 —
(MPN/100 ml)
BOD (mg/l) 23 4 150 150
Boron (mg/l) 0.53 0.38 1.0 1.0

Table 5 water generation targets. The availability of stor-

Typical pollutant concentrations in stormwater in Eastern age and fixed patterns of water utilisation allow
Europe [22] the mosque case study to be modelled as a
repeated batch process that approaches a con-
Pollutant conc., Rainwater Snowmelt Street wash
(mg/l) water tinuous system.

Suspended 50–16,000 570–6,580 30–8,300

solids
6. Water targeting using WCA: methodology
COD 24–260 33–250 35–280
BOD 5 10–285 5–270 6–225
and results of the case study
Chlorides 10–35 35–1,600 11–37 A systematic methodology for water minimi-
Oil products 2–24 35–72 2–72 sation using the WPA technique is shown in
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 59

well as the water surplus and deficit at the

different water purity levels within the process
under study. The interval water balance table has
been introduced for this purpose. The mosque
case study described in the previous section is
used to illustrate the WCA water targeting
technique.
The first step in the WCA is to set up the
interval water balance table (Table 6) to deter-
mine the net water source or water demand at
each purity level. The first column of Table 6
contains the contaminant concentration levels (C)
arranged in ascending order. Each concentration
level is expressed in terms of the water purity (P)
in the second column. With the concentration of
Fig. 6. A three-step procedure for water minimisation in pure water set at 1 million ppm, the fraction of
a new building.
pure water in a contaminated stream, or the water
purity, can be expressed as [10]:
Fig. 6. This methodology is not only applicable to
mosques but also to other types of buildings like
households, hotels, faculty buildings, and offices. (1)
First, a total building review is carried out to
have a good understanding of the initial water where C is the contaminant concentration in ppm.
plumbing and sanitation of the building. Next, The number of purity intervals (n) equals the
data acquisition and extraction are conducted by number of water demands (ND) and the number of
surveying the water flowrate and contaminant water sources (NS) minus any duplicate purity
concentration at the source and at the discharge. (NDP):
With these data, the process flow diagram of the
initial water network can be obtained. Subse- (2)
quently, WCA is constructed to achieve the true
minimum target for the water network. Finally, a Application of Eq. (2) to the SIM case study
new water network is designed before the eco- yields six purity levels. Next, the water purity
nomic analysis is carried out to show the total difference (∆P) in column 3 of Table 6 is calcu-
savings of the new water network. lated as the difference between purity level at
intervals k and k + 1, as follows:
6.1. Water cascade analysis technique
(3)
The main objective of the WCA is to establish
minimum water targets, i.e., the overall fresh Columns 4 and 5 contain the total flowrates
water requirement and wastewater generation for for the water demands ( ) and water
a process after looking at the possibility of using sources ( ) at their corresponding purity
the available water sources within a process to levels. The flowrate of water demand is fixed as
meet its water demands. To achieve this objec- negative, and the water source positive. These
tive, one has to establish the net water flowrate as flowrates are summed up at each purity level to
60 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Table 6
Interval water balance table for the Sultan Ismail Mosque

Column no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Interval, Concentration Purity, Pn ∆P ΣD, j ΣS,i ΣD, j + ΣS,i Net water source/
n Cn (ppm) (te/d) (te/d) (te/d) demand
0 1.000000 !0.03 !0.03 Demand
1 0.000010
10 0.999990 !9.07 11.14 !17.93 Demand
2 0.000013
23 0.999977 25.17 25.17 Source
3 0.000193
216 0.999784 0.14 0.14 Source
4 0.000256
472 0.999528 0.29 0.29 Source
5 0.000064
536 0.999464 0.03 0.03 Source
6 0.999464
1,000,000 0

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 7. (a) Water cascade diagram with an assumed fresh water flowrate of 0 kg/s. (b) Pure water cascade is used to check
the feasibility of the water cascade. (c) Interval fresh water demand to determine the fresh water amount needed in each
purity interval.

give the net interval water flowrate, The next key step in the WCA is to establish
( , column 6); (+) represents the the fresh water and wastewater targets for the
net water source, (!) the net water demand process. In doing so, it is important to consider
(column 7). both the water flowrate balance and the concen-
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 61

(a) (b)

Fig. 8. Principle of water cascading.

tration driving force (water purity) so that the true meets only net water sources down the next four
minimum water targets can be obtained. The purity levels to yield a cumulative water source,
water flowrate balance involves using the water or wastewater flowrate (FWW), of 7.67 te/d at the
cascade diagram (Fig. 7) to get the cumulative net lowest purity level of the water cascade diagram.
water source/demand for a process (FC). A con- The cumulative net water source/demand for the
ceptual illustration of how water cascading can process (FC) at each purity interval forms the net
minimise fresh water needs and wastewater gene- interval water cascade diagram. The water cas-
ration is represented by Fig. 8. In Fig. 8(a), cade diagram is similar to the interval heat
100 kg/s of wastewater is produced by a water balance table for the PTA in heat integration [7]
source at the purity level of 0.999900 (100 ppm) and the table of exchangeable loads for CIT in
and 50 kg/s water is needed by a water demand at mass integration [15].
the purity level of 0.999800 (200 ppm). Without The water cascade diagram depicting the pre-
considering water reuse, 100 kg/s of wastewater liminary water balance (i.e., with FFW = 0 te/d) is
would be generated while 50 kg/s of fresh water essential as a basis to generate a feasible water
would be required. However, as shown in cascade, and ultimately, the true minimum water
Fig. 8(b), by making use of 100 kg/s of the water targets. Note again that, in addition to considering
source at the purity level of 0.999900 (100 ppm) the water flowrate balance, the true minimum tar-
to satisfy the water demand of 50 kg/s at the gets can only be realised by also taking into
purity level of 0.999800 (200 ppm), it is possible account the pure water surplus or deficit, which is
to avoid sending part of the water source directly a product of the cumulative net water source/
to effluent (at P = 0.999900). Doing so not only demand (FC) and the purity difference (∆P)
reduces the wastewater generation but also the across two purity levels (Fig. 7b). A pure water
fresh water consumption, in both cases by surplus (+) means that water is available with
50 kg/s. purity higher than what is required in this region.
For the water cascade diagram in Fig. 7(a), a On the other hand, a pure water deficit (!) means
fresh water flowrate (FFW) of 0 te/d is assumed. that water of higher purity than those available is
Here, the net water demand of !0.03 te/d at the required [10]. Cascading the pure water surplus/
first purity level is cascaded to the second deficit down the purity intervals yields the pure
purity level to meet another water demand of water cascade that represents the cumulative
!17.93 te/d, giving a cumulative net of amount of pure water surplus/deficit (Fig. 7b).
!17.96 te/d (demand). This cumulative demand The cumulative pure water surplus/deficit at each
62 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

(a)

(b)

Fig. 9. (a) Water surplus diagram that shows insufficient pure water in a network. (b) Fresh water flowrate is increased until
the surplus diagram becomes pinched.

purity level is a numerical representation of the Fresh (or pure) water is to be supplied at the
water surplus diagram introduced by Hallale [10]. highest purity level. To minimise fresh water, it is
Notice that for the pure water cascade in necessary to determine the minimum flowrate of
Fig. 7b, cumulative pure water deficits are ob- fresh water, or, the interval fresh water demand
served from second to third purity levels (P2 and that will satisfy the total water requirement at
P3). The deficits on the pure water cascade, which each purity level. The interval fresh water
correspond to the negative region of Hallale’s demand restores a feasible pure water cascade
water surplus diagram (Fig. 9a) [10], indicate that throughout the water network. Fig. 7(c) shows
the pure water cascade is “infeasible”. These that the interval fresh water demand (FFW, k) for
deficits mean that there is insufficient fresh water each purity level k is obtained by dividing the
in the network and are the result of assuming a cumulative pure water surplus/deficit by the pur-
zero fresh water flowrate (FFW) during water cas- ity difference between the fresh water supply
cading. Thus, additional fresh water should be (PFW) and purity level (Pk) of interest, as follows:
supplied to remove all pure water deficits and
yield a feasible pure water cascade.
(4)
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 63

Fig.10. Feasible water cascade for the SIM case study.

Referring to Fig. 7(c), a negative value for At the third purity level (P3 = 0.999977; Ck =
FFW, k means that there is insufficient fresh water 23 ppm) of Fig. 10 where there is zero cumulative
where as a positive FFW, k means that there is pure water surplus, there exists the pinch for the
excess fresh water at the purity level k. In order to mosque problem. The pinch is the most con-
ensure that there is sufficient fresh water at all strained part of the network that results in
points in the network, a fresh water flowrate maximum water recovery. The detailed network
(FFW) of exactly the same magnitude as the design proposed by Castro et al. [15] confirmed
absolute value of the largest negative FFW, k the utility targets for this case study. Note that
should be supplied at the highest purity level of a through the WCA, we have obtained the utility
feasible water cascade (Fig. 10). The FFW,4 of targets ahead of design and are able to verify
!10.16 te/d is found at the third purity level (P3) whether the proposed initial design [15] achieved
of the cumulative fresh water cascade in Fig. 7(c) the MWR objective for the plant. The water cas-
as the largest negative FFW,k. This quantity of cade and the pure water surplus cascade diagrams
fresh water is added at the highest purity level of can be integrated with the interval water balance
the feasible water cascade in Fig. 10. Note that a table to form the water cascade table (WCT)
feasible water cascade is the one that results in a (Table 7).
positive or at least a zero cumulative pure water Through the WCT, the WCA technique offers
surplus value in the pure water cascade. The two other key advantages over the water surplus
feasible water cascade yields the true minimum diagram in realising the minimum water targets,
fresh water (FFW) and wastewater flowrate (FWW) apart from its power to eliminate tedious iterative
targets of 10.16 te/d and 17.83 te/d, respectively, steps of water surplus diagram to yield the exact
for the mosque case study. utility targets and the pinch location(s) quickly.
64 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Table 7
Water cascade table for the Sultan Ismail Mosque case study

Interval Conc. Purity, ΣFD, j ΣFS, i ΣFD, j + FC, Pure water Cumulative pure
n Cn (ppm) Pn (te/d) (te/d) ΣSFS,i (te/d) (te/d) surplus (te/d) water surplus (te/d)

FFW =10.16
0 1.000000 !0.03 !0.03
1 10.13 0.000101
10 0.999990 !29.07 11.14 !17.93 0.000101
2 !7.80 !0.000101
23 0.999977 25.17 25.17 0 (pinch)
3 17.37 0.003353
216 0.999784 0.14 0.14 0.003353
4 17.51 0.004484
472 0.999528 0.29 0.29 0.007837
5 17.80 0.001139
536 0.999464 0.03 0.03 0.008976
6 FWW =17.83 17.824789
1,000,000 0 17.833765

The first key advantage is that the WCT clearly Referring to Table 2, this stream originated from
displays both the minimum fresh water (FFW) and two water sources, i.e., the ablution (S2) and wash
wastewater flowrate (FWW) targets in the cumu- basin (S3).
lative net water source/demand (FC) column (see, In order to realise the pinch point and to
for example, Table 7). Note that in the case of the achieve the MWR objective, a portion of the
water surplus diagram, only the minimum fresh pinch-causing source stream (in this case, the
water target is known. However, the value of the ablution and wash basin) has to be allocated to a
minimum wastewater flowrate target is not process above the pinch, while the rest to a pro-
available from the diagram. cess below the pinch during network design. The
The second key advantage of using WCT is exact water allocation is available from the WCT.
that it enables a designer clearly to identify the Referring to the cumulative net water source (FC)
pinch-causing stream and the exact water alloca- column of Table 7, out of 25.17 te/d water source
tion for the regions above and below the pinch to from ablution and wash basin, 7.8 te/d of water
achieve the minimum water targets during net- (found between P2 and P3) must be sent to the
work design. Hallale [10] reported that a pinch region above the pinch (negative sign indicates
always occurs at the purity of a source, and is the sending water across driving force). On the other
point where the source switches from being hand, 17.37 te/d of water (found between P3 and
below a demand (i.e., deficit) to being above a P4) must be sent to the region below the pinch.
demand (i.e., surplus). Referring to Table 7, a The exact water allocation flowrates can be read-
zero cumulative pure water surplus at the purity ily verified with any detailed network design
level of 0.999977 (P3) represents the pinch point. techniques for non-mass transfer-based water-
Note that the pinch-causing stream(s) which using processes, e.g., a source sink mapping
exists at this purity level is the water source diagram [15,24,25] or sink-source allocation
( ) with a total flowrate of 25.17 te/d. [10,26].
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 65

Such important insights on pinch-causing tially treated to achieve purity higher than the
stream and water allocation are evident from the pinch purity.
WCT but are not available from the graphical 3. Regeneration below the pinch: water
technique of the water surplus diagram. With the source(s) in the region below the pinch are par-
water surplus diagram, it is necessary to construct tially treated to upgrade its purity. However, the
the balanced composite curve in order to obtain resulting water source is still maintained below
the exact water allocation targets [10]. the pinch.
The systematic technique of WCA has made Note that regeneration above and across the
it easy to be programmed into a new computer pinch reduces the fresh water consumption and
software called Water-MATRIX. This software wastewater generation while regeneration below
was developed by the Process Systems Engi- the pinch only reduces wastewater generation.
neering Group, Department of Chemical Engi- The main problem of dealing with process
neering, UTM [23] and is able to eliminate the changes is that an assessment of the impact of
tedious iterative steps involved during the con- changes involves repetitive calculations to revise
struction of water surplus diagrams. the utility targets and relocate the pinch. Such
tasks can be quite cumbersome in the absence of
an efficient targeting tool. The WCA has
7. Water regeneration using WCA managed to overcome this problem through the
introduction of the WCT, which is very amenable
Making appropriate changes to a process has
to computer programming.
been widely accepted as an effective measure to
Table 7 shows the pinch concentration for the
reduce utility targets further in heat and mass
mosque process located at 23 ppm. One possible
integration [7,15]. The same principle applies to
option of regenerating the water source is to treat
WPA. Two possible scopes for process changes
the ablution water to a concentration above the
to reduce the water targets further, and hence
pinch. Ahn et al. [27] proposed treating domestic
water consumption, include water regeneration
and equipment (hardware) modifications. Water wastewater using microflitration to reduce the
regeneration involves the partial or total up- contaminant concentration of BOD from 59 ppm
grading of water purity using purification tech- to 4.2 ppm and also other contaminant concen-
niques such as wastewater treatment like trations (Table 8) suitable for reuse. The amount
microfiltration, greenhouse filters, sand filters of ablution to be treated depends on the cost of
with reeds, multi-media filters and biofilters. The the treatment equipment. An analysis of the re-
regenerated water can either be reused in other lationship between treatment equipment cost and
water-using processes or recycled to the same flowrate must be established to know the amount
process to reduce further water consumption and of water needed to be treated that has an appro-
wastewater generation. To increase water avail- priate payback period. The total amount of ablu-
ability, Hallale [10] proposed the use of water tion water to be treated using microfiltration is set
composite curves and the pinch purity to guide to 7.27 te/d based on the IEWRM case study.
the regeneration of water sources as follows: Table 9 from the WCT shows the new pinch
1. Regeneration above the pinch: water purity at 0.999977 (23 ppm), and the fresh water
source(s) in the region above the pinch are par- and wastewater flowrates reduced to 4.22 te/d and
tially treated to upgrade its purity. 11.89 te/d, respectively. The net-work design by
2. Regeneration across the pinch: water El-Halwagi [15] confirmed these targets.
source(s) in the region below the pinch are par-
66 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68

Table 8
Water quality of influent and effluent [27]

Items Influence Effluent Removal Standard for reusea

efficiency, %

Range Average Range Average Toilet Sprinkling Landscape

flushing
COD, mg/L 622–10 122 30–1 8.8 92.8 — — —
BOD, mg/L 110–25 59 7–1 4.2 92.9 <10 <10 <10
TOC, mg/L 22.6–2.8 11.1 8.1–0.4 3.8 65.8 — — —
SS, mg/L 645–5 91 2–0 0.2 99.8 — — —
Turbidity, NTU 123–2.7 24.3 4.2–0 0.15 99.4 <5b <5b <10b
Colour, CU 109–5 –42 32–2 10 76.2 — — —

a
Related to Article 3 in the regulation of public water works.
b
Unit degree.

Table 9
WCT for process involving partial regeneration of ablution water

Interval Conc., Purity, ΣFD, j ΣFS, i ΣFD, j + FC (te/d) Pure water Cumulative pure
n Cn (ppm) Pn (te/d) (te/d) ΣFS,i (te/d) surplus (te/d) water surplus (te/d)

FFW = 4.22
0 1.000000 !0.03 !0.03
1 4.19 0.000018
4.2 0.999996 7.27 7.27 0.000018
2 11.46 0.000066
10 0.999990 !29.07 11.14 !17.93 0.000084
3 -6.47 -0.000084
23 0.999977 17.90 17.90 0 (PINCH)
4 11.43 0.002206
216 0.999784 0.14 0.14 0.002206
5 11.57 0.002962
472 0.999528 0.29 0.29 0.005169
6 11.86 0.000759
536 0.999464 0.03 0.03 0.005928
7 FWW = 11.89 11.885539
1,000,000 0 11.891467

Designing a water network that reuses waste- be reused directly in other water-using operations
water is needed due to the shortage of fresh water if the level of contaminants does not interfere
and rising cost of wastewater treatment. “Re- with the water-using operation. This reduces both
using”, “regenerating”, and “regeneration and wastewater and fresh water volumes without
reuse” wastewater reduce fresh water consump- changing the mass load of contaminants.
tion and wastewater generation. Wastewater can
 Z.A. Manan et al. / Desalination 194 (2006) 52–68 67

8. Comparison of results from IEWRM and processes, the WCA, has been developed. WCA
water cascade analysis is a numerical technique that can quickly yield
The system proposed by IEWRM predicted a accurate water targets and pinch-point locations
fresh water savings of 25% and wastewater for a water network. By eliminating the tedious
reductions of 19.8%. The system suggested by iterative steps of the water surplus diagram, WCA
the water pinch method predicts 65.1% fresh offers a key complimentary role to the water
water savings and 51.5% wastewater reduction surplus diagram in the design and retrofit of a
before regeneration and 85.5% fresh water and water recovery network. The WCA technique was
67.7% of wastewater reduction after regeneration. sucessfully implemented to assist the retrofit of a
With regeneration, both the IEWRM and the water network for the Sultan Ismail Mosque at
water pinch methods use microfiltration treat- UTM. From the methodology developed, fresh
ment, hence the payback period will almost be the water consumption was reduced by 85.5% and
same except for the additional piping system. 67.7% wastewater production, respectively, in the
However, the water pinch method gives much case study. Results of the study show that setting
better fresh water savings. the minimum fresh water and wastewater targets
Say, in the worst case scenario, there is no prior to design allows a designer rapidly to pin-
rainwater due to a drought season. Omitting rain- point design options that satisfy the minimum
water as a source and going through the same water targets, thereby saving a considerable
calculation using the water cascade table with amount of resources in detailed evaluation and
partial regeneration of ablution water, as pre- screening of numerous inferior design options.
viously, a potential fresh water saving of 63.9%
and wastewater reduction of 72.5% are targeted.
This is still better than the system proposed by
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