ABSTRACT
Genetic algorithms (GA) is a stochastic search method which imitates the natural biological evolution process. This chapter discuses examples of successful applications of the GA methodology on seawater desalination studies. It examines the application of GA for maximising the removal of organic compounds from wastewater in a reverse osmosis process. The GA methodology uses the population of several points simultaneously along with probabilistic operators, reproduction, crossover, and mutation, as inspired by natural genetics. GA has been used in several industrial wastewater treatment processes to optimise the operation, reduce total energy consumption, reduce pollutant concentration, and reduce the total operation cost. The GA has selected the maximum allowable pressure and temperature to drive the process towards the maximum rejection in the case of the highest feed concentration. The transmembrane pressure, suspension concentration, and feed flow rate were selected as control variables to maximise the permeate flux at minimum energy consumption.
