In this paper, the exergetic analysis of a seawater membrane-based desalination plant has been carried out. The desalination plant has been described in detail, then the exergy of the various saline water streams has been determined and a comprehensive analysis towards the exergy distribution of the major process components has been conducted. The examination of the exergy losses throughout the plant revealed that exergy destruction was mainly due to pressure drops in the membrane modules, valves and brine lines. Moreover, 12.9% of the exergy input to the system was supplied by the heater. Therefore, the most reasonable way to reduce power input to the plant, thus improving its performance and cost, has been shown (i) to be replacing the valves on the reverse osmosis brine stream by an energy recovery system, and (ii) to have thermal energy available in the plant. With the identified technical changes, energy consumption decreased from 18.3 to 2.05 kWh/m(3), resulting in an annual saving of 0.17$/m(3). (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.