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College of Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department
Desalination Engineering
Dr. Hassan K. Abdulrahim
Hassan K. Abdulrahim, PhD.
REVERSE OSMOSIS DESALINATION
SYSTEM
Introduction
Reverse Osmosis (RO) process is the leading, most
energy efficient, and most used desalting method for
brackish water, seawater, and wastewater.
The RO (also known as hyper-filtration) is the finest
level of filtration available, after micro-, ultra-, and
nano-filtration.
The RO membrane acts as a barrier to all dissolved
salts and inorganic molecules, as well as organic
molecules with a molecular in the range of 100
Introduction
Water molecules, on the other hand, pass freely
through the membrane creating a purified product
stream. Rejection of dissolved salts is typically 95%
up to 99.9%.
RO desalting method utilizes semi-permeable
membrane, separating salty water (solution) on one
side of the membrane from fresh (almost pure)
water on the other side.
Fresh water is permeated through the membrane
from the solution-side to the fresh water side by
applying high pressure on the solution-side.
Filtration Spectrum
Chemical Potential
The chemical potential of the solvent (water)
molecules in the solution is the motive force for pure
water transfer (pass or permeate) through a semi-
permeable membrane, and it is expressed by:
w(P, T, xw) = ow(P, T) + R T ln(xw)
The chemical potential of the solvent in a solution may
be altered by changing the temperature and external
pressure applied to the solution and by changing the
mole fraction of the solvent in the solution, given by:
xw = nw /(nw + ns)
Chemical Potential
Particles tends to
flow from a system
with a high value of
m to a system with a
low value of m. This
particle transfer
continues until m1 =
m2
Physical meaning of chemical potential is the tendency
of a system to give particles.
Osmosis
When a semi-permeable
membrane separates pure
water from salty water
(solution) and both sides
are at the same P and T,
pure water permeates from
the pure water side to the
concentrate-side, and this
is known as osmosis flow.
Reverse Osmosis
The chemical potential of
water in the solution is less
than that in the pure water
side, since xw< 1, and as a
result the term (RT ln xw) is
negative. The chemical
potential of water in the
solution w(P, T, xw) increases
by the increase of pressure
and/or temperature.
w(P, T, xw) = ow(P, T) + R T ln(xw)
Osmotic Pressure
Osmotic pressure can be thought of as the pressure
that would be required to stop water from diffusing
through a barrier by osmosis.
Osmotic Pressure
Osmotic Pressure
Osmotic pressure of saline water can be calculated
by measuring the molar concentrations of individual
dissolved salts in the solution by using eqn.
= R (T + 273) mi
is the osmotic P (in bars)
R is the the universal gas constant [0.0809
(Lbar)/(molK)]
T is the temperature in Celsius, and
mi is the sum of molar concentrations of all
constituents in the saline water.
Seawater Sample
Osmotic Pressure
= 0.0809 (25+273) 1.1135 = 26.8 bar
The relative osmotic pressure per 1000 mg/L of TDS of
Pacific Ocean water is 26.8/(35,000/1000) = 0.77 bar/ppm
(bar) 0.77 TDS (g/l)
Rough estimation for
osmotic pressure , is
(11 psi) or (0.77 bar)
for each 1000 ppm of
Total Dissolved Solids
(TDS).
Filtration Process Flow Types
Dead-End Flow Cross-Flow
Filtration Process Flow Types
Dead-End Flow Cross-Flow
The idea of using RO for desalting saline water is pressurizing the salty feed water
F of salinity Xf against a semi-permeable membrane. Part of F permeates through
the membrane as product water Pr and the balance B = F - Pr is rejected as
brine of high salinity Xb. The amount Pr is controlled by a valve mounted at the
brine exit. So, the RO is a pressure-driven diffusion-controlled membrane process.
The RO process showing the pretreatment of
FW before its arrival to the RO block.
RO System
Water Chemistry Related to
RO PROCESS
Water Chemistry Related to RO
3.1 Solute Constituents in Water
3.2 Total Dissolved Solids
3.3 Milliequivalents Per Liter or Million (Epm)
3.4 The ppm CaCO3 Equivalents
3.5 Hardness and Alkalinity
Basic Equations of
RO PROCESS
Basic Equations
Pr = ( P p) Kw S/d
Pr: permeate (product) flow rate
P: hydraulic pressure difference across the membrane
p: osmotic pressure difference across the membrane
Kw: water permeability coefficient of the membrane
S: membrane surface area
d: membrane thickness
Product Flow
Pr = A (P p)
Pr = A (NDP)
NDP = (Pf Pfb/2 Pp) (fb p)
The driving pressure for the water to permeate through
the RO membrane is (P p), and this is called the net
driving pressure (NDP)
A: is a constant for each membrane material type. It is
not a simple constant, as it depends on the permeability,
surface area and thickness of the membrane.
RO Membrane Unit
Feed, Permeate,
F = 100 m3/h Pr = 50 m3/hr
Xf = 20000 ppm Xp = 100 ppm
Concentrate,
B = 50 m3/hr
Xb = 39,900 ppm
t : temperature in oC
C: constant, characteristic of membrane material.
For polyamide membranes, C values of 2500 3000 are
being used.
69
Feedwater temperature vs. flux and salt
rejection
Temperature effect on Pr and Xp
Permeate flow
The higher the temperature the higher the permeate flow
Why? Lower viscosity makes it easier for the water to
permeate through the membrane barrier
RULE OF THUMB for every 1C the permeate flow will
increase ~ 3%
Salt passage
Rule of Thumb: salt passage increases 6% for 1C increase.
Increasing temperature increases salt passage more than
water passage.
Generally you will get better rejections at lower feed
temperatures.
Salt concentration vs. flux and salt
rejection
1.50
polarization factor
Concentration
1.40
1.30
1.20
1.10
1.00
0.90
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Recovery rate, %
Performance Parameters of NF, BWRO, and SWRO
membrane elements
NF Spiral-Wound Polyamide
Membrane Elements
Used in NF treating very low salinities (typically TDS <
1000 mg/L) and mainly removes divalent ions causing
water hardness (i.e., Ca, and Mg), called softening
membranes.
NF membrane have higher permeability than BW and SW
elements and comparable rejection of bi-valent ions (i.e.,
Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, SO4).
NF membranes have low rejection of monovalent ions
e.g. Na, Cl, B.
NF have higher permeability, allowing NF elements to
operate at relatively higher specific flux and lower feed
pressure than BWRO and SWRO elements.
Brackish Water Desalination Elements
BWRO elements for saline water of
500 < TDS < 15,000 ppm
Optimal operation up to 10,000 ppm,
Beyond TDS 15,000 ppm considered as SWRO
membranes.
Testing: Standard 8-in (20-cm) D and 40-in (1.0-m)
long BWRO membranes tested at water salinity
between 500 and 1500 ppm, recovery rate of 15%;
flux rate between 43.5 and 51.4 lmh, and feed
pressure between 6.7 to 10.3 bars.
Brackish Water Desalination Elements
BWRO membranes are subdivided to
High-rejection membranes, 99.5-99.7%, with
higher operating pressure
Low-energy membranes, lower energy but lower
rejection
Low-fouling membranes, changes of membrane
surface chemistry (charge) or use of wider
feed/brine spacers (0.79 or 0.86 mm) versus
standard (0.71 mm)].
High-productivity membranes.
Seawater Desalination Elements
SWRO membranes also classified to high-rejection,
low-energy, low-fouling, and high-productivity.
Standard-salt rejection up to 99.6%
For a specific RO unit size, # of membrane elements
can be roughly estimated by considering the
published average flux reported in operating plants.
2024 lmh for nanofiltration,
2530 lmh for BWRO, and
1217 lmh for SWRO.