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Permeate Flow Rate

If the permeate flow rate is sufficiently high it can generate a back
pressure that reduces the differential pressure and rate of
permeation.
From: Gas Purification (Fifth Edition), 1997

Related terms:

Membrane Distillation, Forward Osmosis, Reverse Osmosis, Permeate Flux,

Protein, Feed Pressure, Feedwater

Reverse Osmosis
Hisham T. El-Dessouky, Hisham M. Ettouney, in Fundamentals of Salt Water
Desalination, 2002

Example on Semi-Empirical Model

Use the statistical mechanical model to obtain the permeate flow rate and
membrane area at the following conditions:
– Membrane constants C1, C2, D1, and D2 with

– Other data includes:

Membrane salt rejection = 99%
Feed salinity = 34,000 ppm
Feed flow rate = 1000 m3/d
Permeate flow rate = 325 m3/d
Feed pressure = 6000 kPa
Pressure of brine reject = 5900 kPa
Permeate pressure =101 kPa
Salt concentration in membrane = 1.76 Cf
– The salt rejection definition is used to calculate the product salinity, where

which gives Xp = 340 ppm

– From the above the pressure drop across the membrane is given by

– The osmotic pressure is calculated for the feed, brine, and permeate

– The resulting average osmotic pressure on the feed side is then calculated

– Therefore, the net osmotic pressure across the membrane is given by

– The permeator area is calculated from the following equation

– The salt rejection is then calculated from the following relation

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31st European Symposium on Computer Aided Process

Engineering
Çağla Odabaşi, ... Ömer Çağlar, in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 2021

3 Results
In order to predict RO membrane performance indicators (salt passage, permeate
flow rate and pressure difference), different ML methods were implemented and
compared. The best performed models that resulted in minimum RMSE on test
data prediction are used to detect the most influential parameters on three RO
membrane performance indicators. Feed pressure, flow rate, conductivity, TSS,
ORP, COD, turbidity and temperature were used as input parameters. The RMSE
values of different models for each RO membrane performance indicator were
presented in Table 1.

Table 1. RMSE values of validation and test data prediction using different methods

Methods Salt passage Permeate flow rate ΔΡ

10-fold-cv Test 10-fold-cv Test 10-fold-cv Test

RMSE RMSE RMSE RMSE RMSE RMSE

XGBoost 0.91 0.77 3.90 6.64 0.33 0.64

Random 0.71 0.65 7.32 10.51 0.35 0.63

forest

ANNs 0.76 0.91 4.36 5.12 0.34 0.58

MLR 0.76 0.85 3.77 4.35 0.39 0.66

For salt passage prediction, a random forest model performed superior to other
methods (Table 1). The RMSE of test data prediction was found to be 0.65. The
actual and predicted salt passage values of test data are presented in Figure 1a. In
random forest method, mean decrease in Gini (IncNode Purity) is used as a
measure to analyse the variable importance (Kuhn et al., 2008). This measure
represents the performance of each split considering the input parameters using
Gini index. If the value of mean decrease in Gini of an input variable is high, this
variable has a higher variable importance. Hence, considering the random forest
model, it was found that the feed conductivity and temperature had more effect on
salt passage than other parameters (Figure 1b).

Figure 1. Analysis of salt passage a) actual versus predicted values of test data
(number of trees = 100), b) variable importance analysis

Bartels et al. also showed that when the feed water salinity increases, salt passage
also increases (Bartels et al., 2005). Hence, the conductivity of the feed water has a
significant effect on salt passage and ion removal efficiency. Secondly, a change in
the feed water temperature of RO membrane trains causes the RO membrane pore
diameters to change. If the feed water temperature increases, pore diameters
expand and more ions can pass through the RO membranes. Hence, salt passage
increases (Al-Bastaki and Al-Qahtani, 1994; Jin et al., 2009).
For the permeate flow rate prediction, the accuracy of the MLR model was found to
be the highest and the RMSE value of test data prediction was found to be 4.35.
The actual and predicted permeate flow rate values are shown in Figure 2a. In
order to determine the relative importance of the input variables according to MLR
model, the significant input variables of which p-values were found to be smaller
than 0.05, were considered. In Figure 2b, the absolute values of the coefficients of

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significant input variables are given. Feed flow rate was found to be the major
factor affecting permeate flow rate. Considering the strong linear correlation
between feed and permeate flow rate (0.96), the success of the MLR model and the
importance of the feed flow rate were expected. Temperature appeared to be the
second influential factor for permeate flow rate. Regarding the expansion of the RO
membrane pore diameters due to high temperature operation, the feed flow can
pass through the pores more easily and the permeate flow rate increase. (Boulahfa
et al., 2019).

Figure 2. Analysis of permeate flow rate, a) actual versus predicted values of test
data, b) variable importance analysis

Lastly, ANN model performed better than other methods for predicting the
pressure difference across RO membranes with a minimum RMSE of 0.58 on test
data prediction (Table 1). The actual and predicted pressure difference values are
given in Figure 3a. In order to determine the variable importance according to
ANN model, Olden’s method (Olden et al., 2004) was employed. Olden’s method is
based on connection weight approach that uses raw input-hidden and hidden-
output connection weights in the neural network. According to the Olden’s
method, feed flow rate was found to affect the pressure difference significantly and
this situation is expected considering the system hydraulics. Secondly, temperature
was found to affect pressure difference. An increase in temperature causes a pore
expansion of the RO membranes, hence, the pressure difference between the
stages of the train is expected to be lower.

Figure 3. Analysis of pressure difference a) actual versus predicted values of test

data (neural network with two hidden layer (2-12 neurons)), b) variable importance
analysis.

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Water and Membrane Treatment

Rajindar Singh, in Membrane Technology and Engineering for Water Purification
(Second Edition), 2015

2.4.3 RO/NF array design

The following basic membrane separation phenomena should be kept in mind
when designing a membrane system:
• The permeate flow rate (convective) is proportional to the net driving pressure
(NDP) differential across the membrane.
• The salt flow rate (diffusive) is proportional to the concentration difference
across the membrane, and is independent of applied pressure.
• Permeate TDS depends on the relative mass transfer rates of water and
dissolved solutes through the membranes.
• The chemical and physical nature of the membrane determines the preferential
transport of water over dissolved solutes.
• The higher the permeate flux, the greater the likelihood of higher
concentration polarisation (CP). As CP increases, the osmotic pressure of the
solution in the feed-reject channel increases, salt passage increases, and the
risk of scaling and/or fouling increases.
Membrane manufacturers provide design guidelines based on the parameters
given below. These guidelines are usually modified based on the type of feed water
and pre-treatment [33,40].

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• Maximum feed flow rate to any element in the pressure vessel

• Maximum reject-flow rate from any element
• Maximum product water recovery for an element
• Maximum flow rate (or flux) for any element
• Maximum average flux for a system
• Maximum applied pressure
The optimal design of the RO system incorporates certain rules of thumb based on
the membrane for the particular application:
• Recovery per element is < 19% for softened water or well water with SDI < 3
• Recovery per element is < 16% for unsoftened water or surface water with
SDI = 3–5
• Net pressure drop across the array is < 7 bar
• Average flux for each element depending on the type of feed water1
• Percent variation in permeate flow rate is < 10% between the first and last
elements in the same pressure vessel
• Feed water flow rate to the first element of each stage is the same, < 10%
In order to avoid excessive concentration polarisation at the membrane surface,
permeate recovery per membrane element should not exceed 18%. In the case of
brackish water RO systems, the average recovery per 100 cm (40-in.) long
membrane element is usually about 9%. The overall recovery for a staged system
with pressure vessels containing six elements is usually as follows [46]:
• One-stage array (1) = 52–56%
• Two-stage array (2:1) = 75–80%
• Three-stage array (4:2:1) = 85–90%
The recovery in each element is controlled by the concentration of rejected species,
especially, sparingly soluble salts of calcium and magnesium and silica in the brine
stream. When the product recovery is 50%, the salt concentration in the reject
stream is doubled, whereas the salt concentration increases fourfold when the
recovery is 75% due to the concentration factor. Hence, the RO system is operated
below the design recovery point. In general, the product water recovery is
maintained well below 15%, and the systems are usually designed for a recovery of
8–10% per element. The scaling and fouling potential is usually the highest in the
last elements of the final stage as stated in Table 2.9.
The above conditions are taken into consideration when modelling a RO/NF
membrane system. The engineers use computer-generated performance
projection software provided by membrane manufacturers to design an optimal
membrane array design that maximises the operating conditions and minimises
fouling and scaling. A typical RO/NF programme calculates permeate quality
(conductivity, pH), feed-pressure requirements, and the final concentrate stream
solubility numbers such as LSI and SDSI depending on (a) permeate flow rate, (b)
%recovery, (c) feed water composition, (d) feed water temperature, (e) type and
number of membrane elements, (f ) the rate of flux decline, and (g) the rate of salt
passage increase.
The programme algorithm is an iterative calculation in which the computer first
estimates a feed pressure to satisfy the desired recovery and then calculates the
performance of the first element of the system [46,47]. The concentrate from the
first element becomes the feed to the second element, and a second calculation of
membrane element performance is made, and so on from element to element
through the complete array of the proposed design. The programme then sums
the permeate flow from all elements and compares this value to the target value.
The programme adjusts the feed pressure based on this comparison, causing the
solution to converge to the required feed pressure to achieve the required
permeate recovery given the user-defined system parameters and until the
programme has converged on a single unique solution. Calculations can be
repeated with different design parameters or membrane element array
configurations. If the programme does not converge, a warning is issued
requesting a revised number entry. The programme also calculates the
concentration polarisation coefficient called the β factor:

β is a function of the ratio of permeate flow from an element to the feed-brine

average flow for that element. The optimum value is 1.13 for the last element of
the last stage of a membrane array. To maintain this value of β when using 100 cm
(40 in.) long SW elements, the maximum recovery is usually limited to 15% for one
element, 30% for two elements in series, and so on to 50% for six elements in
series in a pressure vessel.
Computer-generated design of a single-pass, three-stage RO membrane array
(4:3:3) with concentrate recycling is shown in Figure 2.24 and given in Table 2.11.
The stream numbers in the figure are 1 is raw water, 2 is blended water, 3 is
membrane array feed, 4 is reject, 5 is reject/concentrate recycle, 6 is reject to drain,
and 7 is permeate. The RO unit is designed to produce 27 gpm (6.13 m3/h)
permeate corresponding to an overall recovery of ~ 75% (27 gpm permeate/36
gpm raw water feed). The TFC polyamide RO membranes reduce the TDS content

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from 421 mg/l in blended feed water to 5 mg/l in product water at an average

rejection of 98.8%. A portion of reject flows to the drain at 9 gpm (2 m3/h), and the
remaining recycles to the RO pump inlet at 5.5 gpm (1.25 m3/h). The design feed
pressure is 145 psig (10 bar g). The β factor is within range, and the LSI is < 1,
which is within range with anti-scalant dosage. The RO membranes are spiral-
wound modules, 4 in. diameter × 40 in. long.

Figure 2.24. Block-flow diagram of the single-pass RO membrane design given in

Table 2.11 with reject recycling. Stream 1 is feed, 2 is blended feed, 3 is membrane
array pressurised feed, 4 is reject, 5 is reject/concentrate recycle, 6 is reject-to-
drain, and 7 is permeate.

Table 2.11. RO membrane system performance projection (Hydranautics)

Project name Single-pass RO Permeate flow 27.00

design gpm

HP pump flow 41.5 gpm Raw water flow 36.0

gpm

Recommended pump 144.6 psi Total system recovery 75.0%

pressure

Feed pressure 115.6 psi Permeate recovery ratio 65.1%

Feed water temperature 25.0°C (77 °F) Concentrate recirculation 5.5 gpm

Feed water pH 7.14 (0.00) Element age 0.0 years

Acid dosage, ppm 0.0 H2SO4 Flux decline % per year 7.0
(100%)

Acidified feed CO2 11.1 Salt passage increase, % 10.0

per year

Average flux rate 15.2 gfd Feed type Well

water

Flow/vessel

Conc and
throt.
Perm.
pressure
flow Feed Conc Flux Element Elem.
Stage (gpm) (gpm) (gpm) (gfd) Beta (psi) (psi) type no. Array

1–1 12.8 10.4 7.2 18.1 1.13 100.5 0.0 ESPA2- 12 4 × 3
4040

1–2 7.8 9.6 6.9 14.8 1.11 83.8 0.0 ESPA2- 9 3 × 3
4040

1–2 6.3 6.9 4.8 11.9 1.12 72.2 0.0 ESPA2- 9 3 × 3
4040

Raw water Feed water Permeate Concentrate

Ion mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3

Ca 32.6 81.3 45.5 113.4 0.16 0.4 129.9 323.8

Mg 7.4 30.5 10.3 42.5 0.04 0.1 29.5 121.3

Na 47.8 103.9 66.3 144.2 1.11 2.4 187.8 408.3

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Raw water Feed water Permeate Concentrate

Ion mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3 mg/l CaCO3

K 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0

NH4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.0 0.0

Ba 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0

Sr 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0 0.000 0.0

CO3 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.00 0.0 0.4 0.7

HCO3 69.3 56.8 96.5 79.1 0.80 0.7 274.7 225.1

SO4 44.7 46.6 62.4 65.0 0.07 0.1 178.5 185.9

Cl 50.5 71.2 70.4 99.3 0.33 0.5 200.9 283.4

F 1.8 4.7 2.5 6.6 0.02 0.1 7.1 18.8

NO3 44.7 36.0 61.6 49.7 2.11 1.7 172.4 139.1

SiO2 3.7 5.2 0.03 14.7

TDS 302.6 420.9 4.7 1195.9

pH 7.0 7.1 5.3 7.6

Raw water Feed water Concentrate

CaSO4/Ksp × 100 1% 1% 6%

SrSO4/Ksp × 100 0% 0% 0%

BaSO4/Ksp × 100 0% 0% 0%

SiO2 saturation 3% 4% 11%

Langelier Saturation Index − 1.21 − 0.79 0.58

Stiff and Davis Saturation Index − 1.16 − 0.74 0.60

Ionic strength 0.01 0.01 0.02

Osmotic pressure 2.5 psi 3.4 psi 9.8 psi

A typical RO skid is shown in Figure 2.25. It is a single-pass, two-stage (4:2 array)

unit with pressure vessels containing six spiral wound membrane elements
(20 cm × 100 cm) in series in each vessel. There is room on the backside of the skid
to double the number of vessels to make it into an 8:4 array with permeate flow
rates approaching 70 m3/h at 75%. The RO high-pressure pump is multi-stage,
horizontal, submersible type. The skid includes a control panel and instruments
such as conductivity and flow monitors shown on the right-hand side. The end
view of a large RO/NF membrane system is shown in Figure 2.26.

Figure 2.25. A typical RO skid showing a 4:2 two-stage membrane array, high-
pressure pump, instruments and control panels. The high-pressure RO pump is a
horizontal, multi-staged submersible type. Each pressure vessel contains six spiral-
wound modules, 20 cm dia. × 100 cm long.
Source: USFilter.

Figure 2.26. End view of a RO/NF membrane plant.

Source: Ultrapure Water.

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The effect of colloidal fouling on membrane processes was discussed earlier in this
chapter; it is a function of the permeate flux and the solids content of the feed
solution. Since colloidal fouling has a strong negative effect on membrane
performance, membrane systems are designed by limiting the permeate flux of
each element based on the recommendations of the membrane manufacturers.
One such plot for a RO membrane with various natural water feeds is shown in
Figure 2.27. The data show that as the quality of feed water improves, the
recommended permeate flow rate also increases. For example, the membrane flux
is linear with pressure in the case of nearly pure water or RO permeate. The figure
shows that the flux reaches a plateau at higher pressures for solutions other than
pure water due to concentration polarisation (CP) as discussed in Chapter 1. The
mid-point of the non-linear curve is the region of critical flux and the optimal
operating condition to minimise CP as discussed earlier.

Figure 2.27. Membrane flux characteristics of a spiral wound RO module for

various feed waters.
Source: Film-Tec membrane catalogue. For non-pure water solutions the flux reaches a constant,
steady state value at higher pressures. For optimal performance, the system should be run below the
“critical flux” region, which is the mid-point of the curved part of the curve.

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27th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process

Engineering
M.A. Al-Obaidi, ... I.M. Mujtaba, in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 2017

Nomenclature

Parameter Description, units Parameter Description, units

A Area of membrane (m2) Qp Total permeate flowrate

(m3/s)

Aw Water permeability constants R Gas constant (atm m3/K

(m/atm s) kmol)

b The friction factor (atm s/m4) Reb Reynold number at feed

channel (-)

Bs Solute permeability constant Rec The total recovery (-)

(m/s)

Cb Bulk solute concentrations Rej The solute rejection (-)

(kmol/m3)

Cf Feed concentration Rep Reynold number at

(kmol/m3) permeate channels (-)

Cm Dimensionless solute T Feed temperature (°C )

concentration

Cp Permeate concentration tf Height of feed channel (m)

(kmol/m3)

Cr Retentate concentration tp Height of permeate

(kmol/m3) channel (m)

Cw Wall membrane W Membrane width (m)

concentration (kmol/m3)

Db Solute diffusion parameter μb Feed viscosity (kg/m s)

(m2/s)

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Parameter Description, units Parameter Description, units

E The energy consumption μp Permeate viscosity

(kWh/m3) (kg/m s)

k Mass transfer coefficient ρw Molal density of water

(m/s) (kmol/m)

L The membrane length (m) ρb Feed density (kg/m3)

Pf(in) Inlet feed pressure (atm) ρp Permeate density (kg/m3)

Pf(out) Outlet feed pressure (atm) ∆ρb(in) Inlet and outlet pressure
difference (atm)

Pp Permeate pressure (atm) ∆ρb(out) Outlet pressure difference

(atm)

Qb Bulk flowrate (m3/s) εpump The efficiency of pump (-)

Qf Feed flowrate (m3/s) θ Parameter defined in

Eq. (20)

Qr Petentate flowrate (m3/s)

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Fundamentals
In The MBR Book (Second Edition), 2011

2.3.7.3 Unsteady-state Operation

Unsteady-state operation can arise from such things as variations in feedwater
quality (and so organic load), permeate flow rate (and hence hydraulic load) and
aeration rate, which are all known to impact on MBR membrane fouling
propensity, along with other dynamic effects (Table 2.13). In an experiment carried
out with a large pilot-scale MBR in which the effects of unstable flow and sludge
wastage were assessed (Drews et al., 2006), it was established that the level of
carbohydrate in the supernatant before and after each sludge withdrawal increased.
Whilst the increase following wastage was thought to be due to the sudden stress
experienced by cells due to biomass dilution (which in extreme cases is known to
lead to foaming in full-scale plant), increase before sludge withdrawal was
attributed to the high MLSS concentration and the resulting low DO level in the
bioreactor. It was concluded that unsteady-state operation changed the nature
and/or structure (and fouling propensity) of the carbohydrate rather than the
overall EPS formation. These findings corroborated results previously reported on
effects of transient conditions in feeding patterns: the addition of a pulse of acetate
in the feedwater has been shown to decrease significantly the MBR biomass
filterability due to the increase in SMP levels produced (Evenblij, Verrecht, van der
Graaf, & Van der Bruggen, 2005b). More detailed characterization of the impact of
a wide range of unsteady-state conditions on the EPS present in activated sludge
has recently been presented (Yang & Li, 2009). Along with changes in DO level,
variation in the ratio of monovalent and polyvalent cations present in the feedwater
can result in sludge deflocculation, usually leading to increased supernatant SMP
levels. In the experiments reported by Van Den Broeck et al. (2010), high
monovalent/polyvalent ratios resulted in significant deflocculation and decline in
hydraulic performance.

Table 2.13. Examples of Dynamic Effects in MBR Operation (see also Table 3.38)

Determinants Parameters affected

Flow rate Ultimate flux and rate of change

Feedwater quality Ultimate composition and rate of change

MLSS dilution Dilution factor and rate of concentration change

(Partial) aeration loss Percentage and period of reduction

Backflush/cleaning Period of loss

loss

Hydraulic shock Rate and level of flow increase

Saline intrusion Ultimate concentration factor and rate of concentration

change

The effects of starvation conditions on the biological suspension have been

assessed by incorporating different substrate impulses in batch tests (Lobos,
Wisniewski, Heran, & Grasmick, 2005). Exogenous phases were followed by
starvation periods, both characterized by the S/X (substrate to biomass

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concentration ratio) where high ratios led to multiplication of bacteria cells, whilst
at low ratios MLVSS decreased, SMPp production was absent and bacteria lysis
ceased. S/X closely relates to F/M ratio (Equation (2.23)), and the low F/M values
generally used in MBRs are thus theoretically close to starvation conditions which
are in turn likely to be beneficial to MBR operation on the basis of the reduced
SMPp production and correspondingly reduced fouling.
The principal period of unsteady-state operation is during start-up when the
system is acclimatizing. Cho, Song, Lee, & Ahn (2005b) reported temporal changes
in the bound EPS levels when the MBR was acclimatized at three different SRTs (8,
20, 80 days). As expected from general trends described in Section 2.3.6.5, the EPS
concentration was lower at the longer SRT (83 vs 26 mgTOC/gSS for SRTs of 8 and
80 days, respectively). An initial latent phase was observed in which EPS
concentration did not vary significantly. However, EPS levels increased
exponentially after 40 days of operation at an SRT of 8 days, and after 70 days when
the MBR was operated at 20 days SRT. No change in EPS levels was observed
during the 80 days of operation at 80 days SRT. For another MBR operated at
infinite SRT, no significant changes in SMP concentration during 100 days of
operation were observed, over which time period the MLSS increased from 1.8 to
4.5 g/L (Jinhua, Fukushi, & Yamamoto, 2006). In a further study, following a latent
phase of 30 days, MLSS and SMP levels started to increase significantly and
stabilized after 140 days of operation at infinite SRT, whereas EPS levels increased
continuously from the start but also stabilized after 140 days (Gao, Yang, Li, Wang,
& Pan, 2004a). Nagaoka and Nemoto (2005) observed an increase in MLSS
concentration from 4 to 14 g/L over 100 days along with a steady increase in EPS
(from 50 to 250 mgTOC/L). There therefore appears to be no distinct pattern
regarding foulant species generation and start-up, other than a general trend of
more stable foulant levels at longer SRTs.
The generation of MBR foulants arising from changes in salinity has been studied
by Reid, Liu, and Judd (2006), and the literature on the CASP effects date back to
the 1960s (Ludzack & Noran, 1965; Tokuz & Eckenfelder, 1979). Reports indicate
changes in salinity to have a greater impact on biotreatment efficacy, as manifested
in the outlet organic carbon concentration, than high salinity levels per se.
According to Reid et al., SMP and EPS turbidity, EPSp and SMPc all increased
when a shock load of sodium chloride was administered to an MBR in a way
designed to mimic saline intrusion in coastal MBRs. As with other studies (Section
2.3.6.5), permeability decline correlated with SMPc.
Finally, seasonal variations of the environment are also expected to affect MBR
performances. A long-term study revealed the buffering effect of long SRT on
fouling behaviour. Although the fouling reversibility was observed to vary at short
SRT of 13 days (i.e. greater fraction of irreversible fouling at high temperature), the
impact of temperature variations on fouling was not observed for an SRT of 50 days
(Miyoshi et al., 2009).

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Membrane operations in wastewater treatment:

complexation reactions coupled with membranes,
pervaporation and membrane bioreactors
A. Cassano, ... R. Molinari, in Handbook of Membrane Reactors: Reactor Types and
Industrial Applications, 2013

19.2.2 Complexation - ultrafiltration

The separation of solutes with ionic dimensions can be accomplished by using the
reverse osmosis operation, but this will result in high operating costs, low
permeate flow rate and low ion selectivity. In order to overcome these problems CP
- UF, also named polymer-assisted ultrafiltration (PAUF), using a water-soluble
polymer as complexing agent, was introduced (Argurio, 2002). The idea of the
PAUF process is that UF can be used for removal of ions from aqueous streams,
providing they are preliminarily bound to water-soluble polymers (Juang and
Chiou, 2001; Molinari et al. 2008). The unbound ions pass through the membrane,
whereas the polymers and their complexes are retained (Fig. 19.2). For this method
to be economically feasible, the complexing agent should be regenerated by
releasing the metal from the metal complex, for example, by decreasing the pH of
the solution and subsequent UF. The retentate obtained by this filtration step is a
complexing agent rich phase, that can be recycled at the complexation step, while
the permeate is a concentrate solution of metal salts, which can be reused in the
industrial process or further processed for metal recovery (Petrov and Nenov,
2004). Besides, in order to achieve a separation process that will be successful, the
polymer should meet the following requirements: good solubility, high selectivity,
chemical and mechanical stability, low toxicity, high molecular weight with low
viscosity and low cost (Geckler and Volchek, 1996).

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19.2. Schematic representation of the CP - UF separation technique (particles in the

wash solution (black) are retained in the retentate binding to the complexing agent
while the others (white) pass in the permeate).

Low molecular weight species, such as metal ions, can be bound to

macromolecules by intermolecular forces, mainly ionic interaction and complex
binding, or the combination of both.
Formation of complexes is significantly more selective than ionic interactions. An
example of this binding mechanism is the complexation reaction among the
polymeric agent (PEI), the proton (H+) and the metal cation (Cu2 +) that is
represented by the equilibrium equations:
[19.3]

[19.4]

where and with equal to the number of monomers

contained in a single polymeric chain and ā represents the maximum complexation
ratio of the polymers with copper ions ( for PEI-Cu complex because of
Cu2 + tetra-coordination with four nitrogen of PEI).
The water-soluble polymers polyacrylic acid (PAA) and polyacrylic acid sodium salt
(PAASS) interact with copper cation by ion-exchange reactions described by the
following equations:
[19.5]

[19.6]

The ionic interaction mechanism of the above equations has low selectivity, and the
disadvantage to release another ion (H+ or Na+ in this case) in the feed solution, in
order to remove an ion from an aqueous solution another one must be released. In
contrast, reactions such as [19.4] does not present this disadvantage.

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High-Salinity Pressure Retarded Osmosis Using

Seawater Reverse Osmosis Brine
Sangho Lee, ... Yong-Gyun Park, in Membrane-Based Salinity Gradient Processes
for Water Treatment and Power Generation, 2018

11.5.2 Draw Solution Concentration

The concentration of draw solution (cdraw) is an important factor affecting the flux
and power density of PRO systems. As reported previously [14,32], the permeate
flow rate increases as cdraw increases, which is attributed to an increase in the
osmotic pressure. This also results in an increase in the power density of the PRO
membrane module. However, the flux behavior is nonlinear with respect to cdraw,
due to the effect of external concentration polarization on the feed water side [26].
An increase in cdraw leads to an increase in both flux and external concentration
polarization.
An example of the effect of draw solute concentration on the power density is
shown in Fig. 11.4. These are the results from a pilot-scale study using the 4-inch
PRO membrane modules [8]. Total dissolved solids (TDS) of the draw solution
ranged from 50,000 to 70,000 mg/L, while that of the feed solution was 400 mg/L.
As expected, the power density increases by 4.5%–35% with an increase in TDS of
the draw solution from 50,000 to 70,000 mg/L. The maximum power densities
were 4.2 W/m2 for the draw solution of 50,000 mg/L and 5.8 W/m2 for the draw
solution of 70,000 mg/L, respectively. These power densities are close to the value
that allows the economic feasibility for a PRO system (~5 W/m2) [18,19].

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Figure 11.4. Effect of draw solution concentrations on power density of PRO

module.

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26th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process

Engineering
A. Sharma, ... M. Fikar, in Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 2016

3 Parameter Estimation
In this section, the parameters of limiting flux model and the parameters of the
four fouling models described above are estimated. Several experiments were
performed and one of the experimentally obtained permeate flow rate data w.r.t.
increasing concentration of lactose and time as depicted in Figure 2 is used here to
perform the estimation. The minimization of the sum of squared differences
between experimental flux data (Jexp), and estimated flux model (Jest) can be
formulated as:

Figure 2. Comparison of estimated four fouling models, limiting flux model (with
no fouling), and experimental data.

(7a)

(7b)

(7c)

(7d)

where m is the number of data points, and J is the permeate flux defined either by
(5) or by (6). The Eq. (7c) is derived from (2a), by replacing V(t) from (3). The volume
of the processed solution in the beginning of the operation is 0.03 m3. Based on
technological considerations, the three estimated parameters (K, k and clim) are
expected to lie within the intervals K ∈ [0, 1000] units, k ∈ [0,10]m/h, clim ∈
[0,1500]g/L. The experimental measurements show that the flow rate of permeate
decreases with time, because of the gel-polarization layer formed on the
membrane surface, and due to the fouling of membrane.
Non-linear least-squares estimation was performed to identify the values of the
parameters k, clim of the limiting flux model (4) and the fouling rate constant K for
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all the four fouling models. The linear least-squares method (Foley, 2013) was also
used to estimate the limiting flux model parameters k and clim assuming no
fouling. A non-linear estimation of the parameters (k, clim) of limiting flux model
without fouling was also done for comparison, and they were estimated to be:
k = 0.0066 m/h and clim = 880.97 g/L. These values as seen in Table 1 are analogous
to the linearly estimated limiting flux model. All the optimization problems were
solved in MATLAB using the SQP solver implemented in the function fmincon.
MATLAB function ode45 was used for numerical solution of the initial value
problem (7c) – (7d).

Table 1. Comparison of estimated values of K, k and clim for different fouling

models, and limiting flux model, along with the value of least squares criterion,
.

model (n) K k × 10− 2[m/h] clim[g/L] f × 10− 5[m/h]

cake filtration (0) 494.14 [s/m2] 1.30 210.43 3.43

intermediate blocking (1) 33.47 [1/m] 0.76 880.89 1.36

internal blocking (1.5) 0.74 880.98 1.91

complete blocking (2) 0.19 [1/s] 0.72 880.97 2.55

limiting flux (–) – 0.66 880.97 5.98

Figure 2 shows the comparison between experimental data, limiting flux model,
and the four fouling models. It can be observed that the performance of the
limiting flux model is the worst as it does not account for fouling. On the other
hand, all four fouling models fit the data reasonably well. The cake filtration model
with n = 0 is estimated to be linear w.r.t. time as seen from the figure, and hence
does not fit the experimental data with high precision. The other three fouling
models are of non-linear nature and all fit the experimental data with satisfactory
precision. This similarity of the models suggests that the fouling behavior could
occur due to nanofiltration being a higher pressure based separation process. It is a
well-known phenomenon that the fouling in the form of pore blocking increases
with increasing pressure for membrane processes operated in cross-flow mode,
and higher pressures tend to foul the membrane internally rather than externally
on the surface due to higher sweep-off in-flow rate. The cake filtration fouling
model, on the other hand, states fouling on the surface of the membrane by
forming a layer of solutes, which is quite prominent in dead-end membrane
separation rather than in cross-flow filtration. The other three fouling models
account for blocking of membrane pores by solutes too, and hence fit the
experimental data more precisely.
Table 1 provides estimated values of all parameters. The value of the objective
function qualifies the intermediate fouling model (Figure 2) as the best fit for the
experimental case studied here. The study done on nanofiltration of water in
Chang et al. (2011) suggested the same model defining the behavior of fouling.
Note also the comparison of different values for the parameters k, and clim of the
limiting flux equation with the cake filtration fouling model, to other three models.
This also points to appropriateness of the cake filtration model. On the other hand,
the limiting flux parameters estimated for other three fouling models are in a very
close proximity of linearly and non-linearly estimated limiting flux model without
fouling.

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Hybrid membrane systems – applications and case

studies
Rajindar Singh, in Hybrid Membrane Systems for Water Purification, 2005

3.2.1 Seawater desalination

MSF desalination had been the mainstay for producing potable water from
seawater in western Asia and the arid regions of the Mediterranean since the early
1960s. During the last 20 years, however, SWRO membrane desalination has made
significant inroads gradually becoming the dominant technology.42 For example,
SWRO plants with total capacity exceeding 100,000 m3/day (>26 MGD [million
gallons/day]) provide more than 60% of water needs in the Mediterranean nation
of Malta (population ~0.5 million).43 SWRO plants exceeding 200,000 m3/day (~53
MGD) are now commonplace. In the United States, SWRO desalination is being
increasingly used in California and Florida.40,41
Membrane desalting costs have dropped nearly 50% in the last 15 years due to
higher performance membranes, improved process controls, and lower energy
consumption with the deployment of energy recovery turbines. Process flow
scheme of a typical hybrid SWRO plant with 35,100 mg/l feed water TDS operating
at 60 bar g and 50% recovery is illustrated in Figure 3.34. The complexity of the

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seawater desalination process increases with the product water requirements: TDS
<400 mg/l; chloride level <100 mg/l; and boron level of <0.5 mg/l TDS.41

Figure 3.34. A seawater RO plant process flow schematic. The membrane plant
uses boreholes for raw seawater intake. Sulphuric acid and 5.0 μm cartridge filter
are used for pretreatment. Post-treatment includes decarbonation, lime addition
for pH adjustment and sodium hypochlorite injection for chlorination. The plant
includes an automatic system for flushing the membranes.
Source: Rahman

A new potential technology for desalination is membrane distillation (MD), which is

a thermally-driven membrane process that uses hydrophobic microporous
membranes similar to the ones used in osmotic distillation discussed earlier in this
chapter. MD combines the advantages of conventional thermal processes with
those of membrane processes. However, fouling affects the performance quite
adversely.44 One possible solution is to use an integrated membrane system using
MF/UF pretreatment followed by RO and MD. Since, RO seawater desalination
product water dissolved solids content is typically 300–400 mg/l (as compared to
about 10 mg/l with thermal distillation), post-treatment of RO product water by
MD is an attractive option. A product water recovery of 87.6% was achieved.45
Case Study I. The process flow diagram of a SWRO plant is shown in Figure 3.35.
The plant design and operating conditions are as follows:

Figure 3.35. Engineering process flow diagram of a 42 m3/h seawater RO

membrane plant integrated with a hydraulic energy recovery turbine.
Source: Desalination 82 (1991), 31

• Feed water flow rate: 94 m3/h at 69 bar g

• Permeate flow rate: 42 m3/h

• Product water recovery: 45%

• Feed water TDS: 38,000 mg/l

• Product water TDS: 325 mg/l at > 99% salt rejection

• Energy consumption: 5.8–6.0 kWh/m3

The feed water source is a seawater infiltration well located 100 m from the
shoreline. The well is dosed with sodium bisulphite (SBS) for disinfection (30–
40 ppm). Seawater is transferred from the well to three media filters operating
in parallel (one filter on standby) by two centrifugal pumps. Anti-scalant
sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) is injected upstream of the 5.0 μm
cartridge microfilter (MF) in the media filters effluent to prevent precipitation
of magnesium sulphate. The SHMP dosage is based on a 5–10 ppm level in the
RO feed water. Coagulant dosage upstream of the sand filters is 1–2 ppm, if
required. The silt density index (SDI), an indicator of colloidal fouling, was
consistently in the range of 0.5–1.0, indicating the feed seawater is very clean.
This is because the seawater feed intake is a well.
The RO feed water is transferred by the high-pressure pumps (one pump is in
operation, and the other is on standby) to the RO membrane unit. The high-

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pressure, multistage, submersible centrifugal pump is connected to an energy

recovery turbine (ERT). The pump-motor-turbine-set enables the recovery of
energy from the high-pressure brine reject stream. The high-pressure brine drives
the turbine (reverse-running pump) mounted on a common shaft with the electric
motor and the RO high-pressure pump. The high-pressure feed seawater is piped
to the RO vessel rack. The membrane unit is a two-stage array (12:6); stage one
consists of 12 pressure vessels in parallel, and stage two contains six pressure
vessels also in parallel. The rejected brine is piped to the ERT from which it
discharges to the sea.
Each pressure vessel contains six polyamide TFC seawater membrane (Film-Tec 30)
spiral-wound elements, 8-in. diameter × 40 in. long, producing 1000 m3/day (~0.25
MGD). The feed seawater TDS is about 38,000 mg/l. Since 45% is recovered as
product water with a TDS of 325 mg/l, the TDS of the rejected brine is 69,000 mg/l,
and the osmotic pressure of the rejected brine stream is nearly 54 bar. This means
the effective driving force at the end of the RO unit is only 16 bar, since the feed
pressure is 70 bar g.
Case Study II. The process and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) of a SWRO system
is shown in Figure 3.36. The one-pass RO unit is a single-stage array (6:0)
consisting of six parallel pressure vessels with each pressure vessel containing six
spiral-wound TFC membrane elements connected in series.42 The permeate flows
to the product water storage tank. High-pressure reject flows to the hydraulic ERT
before it flows back to the sea. The ERT transfers the recovered energy to the high
pressure RO pump. The system design conditions are as follows:

Figure 3.36. A P&amp;ID of a dead-end cartridge microfiltration pretreatment

system for a seawater RO plant.
Source: Rahman

• Feed water flow rate: 60 m3/h at 75 bar g

• Permeate flow rate: 21 m3/h

• Product water recovery: 35%

• Reject flow and pressure: 39 m3/h at 72 bar g

• Product water TDS: 300 mg/l at >99% salt rejection.

The feed water pretreatment for this SWRO plant in the Mediterranean is minimal;
multimedia filtration for removing particulate matter larger than 20.0 μm, acid
injection for reducing pH to less than 6.0 to prevent calcium carbonate scaling,
sodium metabisulphite injection for dechlorination, and 5.0 μm cartridge filtration
for protecting the RO modules from fouling. Post-treatment includes a product
water drawback tank to protect the membranes after shutdown, and addition of
lime solution to the product water for raising the pH to 7.5–8.0 to prevent
corrosion of downstream piping and equipment since the pH of the permeate is
typically in the range of 5–6.

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Figure 3.36b. A P&ID of a 94 m3/h seawater RO one-pass single-stage membrane

system.
Source: Rahman

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MBR and Integration With Renewable Energy Toward

Suitable Autonomous Wastewater Treatment
Ephraim Gukelberger, ... Alberto Figoli, in Current Trends and Future
Developments on (Bio-) Membranes, 2019

3.2 Control Strategies and Theoretical Approach

Changing the permeate flux control of the hydraulic load in contrast to the
supplier's recommendations also showed a positive impact on the overall power
consumption. In a study of Gabarrón, the hydraulic system load is given as
percentage amount of current permeate flow rates related to the supplier's design
flow rate (Gabarrón et al., 2014). A high volume flow supports cake layer formation
and pressure drops due to the increasing resistance. Even though the permeate
pumps require higher energy to compensate the pressure drop, the additional
consumption is negligible compared to the benefits of higher water quality and
reduced specific energy consumption. Results indicated about 71% reduced energy
consumption at 7 times higher permeate flow rates (Mannina and Cosenza, 2013).
One-point worthy of note is the internal fouling potential due to the higher
hydraulic forces. Consequently, periods between chemical cleaning intervals might
be shortened.
Adept fouling control actions (ACS) supported by a novel online-fouling
measurement strategy were carried out by Huyskens et al. (2011). As a dynamic
controlling method, various input parameters were used to operate the MBR
without respecting supplier instructions (Huyskens et al., 2011). On average, the
aeration rate was reduced by 22% without affecting the process quality negatively.
The in situ fouling measurement (MBR-VFM) device is based on a small cross-flow
filtration unit equipped with pressure and volume flow sensor and data-acquisition
as well as processing software. It can accurately determine the fouling level on a
previously set range between 0 and 100%. For instance, strong fouling is provoked
by low aeration and high permeate volume flow rates and set to a total fouling of
100%, indicated by a certain pressure value. Measurements are taken and
compared to the initial state before the experiments and then the range is
interpolated (Huyskens et al., 2008). In addition, the system can distinguish
between reversible and irreversible fouling and decides on certain cleaning steps,
like back flushing duration or chemical cleaning intensity.
A reliable tool to understand water treatment processes and identify their
potentials can be a theoretical defined model which approximates reality. Model
based analysis has the major advantage of designing a system regardless of its
capacity, capital expenditures or elaborate surveillance and maintenance, like
sampling or membrane cleaning activities (Boyle-Gotla et al., 2014). Verrecht et al.
carried out a dynamic model for a small-scale MBR adapted to a domestic
wastewater treatment application investigating different inflow load conditions
trying to optimize the operational parameters and characteristics of MBR systems.
A reduction in air supply (optimizing dissolved oxygen) and the sludge retention
time were most beneficial, resulting in 23% lower energy consumptions.
Additionally, a high air flow supported the total-N and total-P removal rate
(Verrecht et al., 2010). Dynamic models help to understand the complexity of
hydrodynamic flow behavior in the reactor tank. Knowledge of the correlation
between hydrodynamics and fouling phenomena is still lacking. In this respect,
Böhm et al. (2012) conducted research on air bubble modeling with the
implementation of drag and lift forces. The influence of the air bubble diameter,
the inflow character and the distance to the membrane surface were examined. The

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model's generated results showed 70% energy savings for air scouring in best-case
scenarios (Böhm et al., 2012).

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