Reverse osmosis operating pressure

Brackish waters contain between 0.05 and 1 wt % TDS. Their lower osmotic pressures allow reverse osmosis operation between 15 and 30 bar. Less expensive pressure equipment and energy consumption translate to more favorable water production economics than those for seawater desalination. 

A new variation related to the FT-30 membrane is being developed-the NF-50 composite membrane-which would appear to occupy a unique place in membrane technology. The NF-50 membrane has approximately the same characteristics as NTR-7250 and NF-40, but possesses an extremely high water flux. Reverse osmosis operation in large systems at a pressure of 35 to 50 psi is possible. The NF-50 membrane thus becomes the first example of a reverse osmosis membrane capable of operation at ultrafiltration membrane pressures. 

Commercial membrane separation processes include reverse osmosis, gas permeation, dialysis, electrodialysis, pervaporation, ultrafiltration, and microfiltration. Membranes are mainly synthetic or natural polymers in the form of sheets that are spiral wound or hollow fibers that are bundled together. Reverse osmosis, operating at a feed pressure of 1,000 psia, produces water of 99.95% purity from seawater (3.5 wt% dissolved salts) at a 45% recovery, or with a feed pressure of 250 psia from brackish water (less than 0.5 wt% dissolved salts). Bare-module costs of reverse osmosis plants based on purified water rate in gallons per day are included in Table 16.32. Other membrane separation costs in Table 16.32 are f.o.b. purchase costs. 

On the basis of the above observation, Schultz and Asunmaa developed the following transport mechanism. They made an assumption that the low-density and the noncrystalUnc region of the polymer that fills the space between the circular cells is incorporated into the unit cell as its part. Those spaces (between the unit cells) were therefore assumed to be vacant. In reverse osmosis operation these vacant spaces are filled only with water, and this water is assumed to be more ordered than the ordinary water under strong influence from the polymeric material. This water flows by the viscous flow mechanism through channels that arc formed by connecting the vacant spaces. Suppose r is the effective radius of this pore (m), np is the number of the pore in a unit area (1/m ), p is the pressure drop across the membrane (Pa), 17 is the water viscosity (Pa s), L is the effective layer thickness (m), and r is the tortuosity factor (-), the volumetric... 

Let us examine an imaginary case where the feed pressure approaches infinity in a reverse osmosis operation. Then from Equations 5.258 and 5.268,... 

Let us now turn to a more detailed examination of these processes Both nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) draw on principles of osmosis for their implementation. The principal features of this phenomenon and its manifestation in reverse-osmosis operations are illustrated in Figure 8.8a. Consider a selective membrane, i.e., one that is freely permeable to water but much less so to salt, separating a salt solution from water, as shown in Part 1. In such an arrangement, water will flow from the pure-water side into the side less concentrated in water, i.e., the saltwater side. This process is referred to as normal osmosis. If, now, a hydrostatic pressure is applied to the salt side, the flow of water will be retarded, and if that pressure is sufficiently high, the flow will ultimately cease completely. At this point we will have reached what is termed osmotic equilibrium (Part 2), and the hydrostatic pressure associated with this state is referred to as the osmotic pressure. A further increase in applied pressure will act to reverse the flow from the... 

Figure 7.2.4. (a) Schematic of a numiter of spiral-wound modules in series in a module housing which is a pressure vessel, (b) Configuration for multiple modules in series or multi-tube system for reverse osmosis operation. 

For most hydrardic pressure-driven processes (eg, reverse osmosis), dense membranes in hoUow-fiber configuration can be employed only if the internal diameters of the fibers are kept within the order of magnitude of the fiber-wall thickness. The asymmetric hoUow fiber has to have a high elastic modulus to prevent catastrophic coUapse of the filament. The yield-stress CJy of the fiber material, operating under hydrardic pressure, can be related to the fiber coUapse pressure to yield a more reaUstic estimate of plastic coUapse ... 

Reverse osmosis processes for desalination were first appHed to brackish water, which has a lower I DS concentration than seawater. Brackish water has less than 10,000 mg/L IDS seawater contains greater than 30,000 mg/L IDS. This difference in IDS translates into a substantial difference in osmotic pressure and thus the RO operating pressure required to achieve separation. The need to process feed streams containing larger amounts of dissolved soHds led to the development of RO membranes capable of operating at pressures approaching 10.3 MFa (1500 psi). Desalination plants around the world process both brackish water and seawater (15). 

Equations (22-86) and (22-89) are the turbulent- and laminar-flow flux equations for the pressure-independent portion of the ultrafiltra-tion operating curve. They assume complete retention of solute. Appropriate values of diffusivity and kinematic viscosity are rarely known, so an a priori solution of the equations isn t usually possible. Interpolation, extrapolation, even precuction of an operating cui ve may be done from limited data. For turbulent flow over an unfouled membrane of a solution containing no particulates, the exponent on Q is usually 0.8. Fouhng reduces the exponent and particulates can increase the exponent to a value as high as 2. These equations also apply to some cases of reverse osmosis and microfiltration. In the former, the constancy of may not be assumed, and in the latter, D is usually enhanced very significantly by the action of materials not in true solution. 

Applications RO is primarily used for water purification seawater desalination (35,000 to 50,000 mg/L salt, 5.6 to 10.5 MPa operation), brackish water treatment (5000 to 10,000 mg/L, 1.4 to 4.2 MPa operation), and low-pressure RO (LPRO) (500 mg/L, 0.3 to 1.4 MPa operation). A list of U.S. plants can be found at www2.hawaii.edu, and a 26 Ggal/yr desalination plant is under construction in Ashkelon, Israel. Purified water product is recovered as permeate while the concentrated retentate is discarded as waste. Drinking water specifications of total dissolved solids (TDS) < 500 mg/L are published by the U.S. EPA and of < 1500 mg/L by the WHO [Williams et ak, chap. 24 in Membrane Handbook, Ho and Sirkar (eds.). Van Nostrand, New York, 1992]. Application of RO to drinking water is summarized in Eisenberg and Middlebrooks (Reverse Osmosis Treatment of Drinking Water, Butterworth, Boston, 1986). 

Figure 2a. Experimental data on the effect of operating pressure, average pore size on membrane surface, and feed concentration on solute separation and product rate for the reverse osmosis system cellulose acetate membrane-sodium chloride-...

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