1/8/2014

Typical water uses in industries

Membrane Separation…Basics

Dr. KURIAN JOSEPH

Professor of Environmental Engineering
Centre for Environmental Studies
Anna University, Chennai –600025
Phone: 91-44-22301283; Fax: 91-44-22354992
E mail: [email protected]

What are the Challenges???

WQ Challenges
Water Treatment and Wastewater
Challenges??? Reclamation - New Technologies in Demand
Increased Demand Alternative Sources

How to meet increasing water demand
Polio Virus

Minimize effluent discharges
Sewage Bacteria

Zero liquid discharges

Emerging water pollutants and Standards

Sea water Giardia

Environmental protection measures are much
cheaper than curative measures post-pollution
• Demand for
higher quality
• Increased
regulatory Effluents
pressures
Cryptosporidium

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Membrane Separation is applied after secondary treatment designed

to produce an effluent of higher quality to protect the receiving waters or to
provide reusable water for its further domestic and/or industrial recycling (cooling
Why Membrane Separation?
water supplies). Feed wastewater
stream
• Technical Answers
PRELIMINARY
TREATMENT
– Modular design, compact
– Small foot-print
PRIMARY
TREATMENT Membrane – Continuous process, simple automation
Wastewater separation
treatment
SECONDARY
Removal of : – Good solid-liquid, liquid-liquid separation
process TREATMENT
•Additional organic and suspended solids.
•Nitrogenous Oxygen Demand (NOD)
•Nutrients – No phase and temperature change
•Toxic materials

ADVANCED – Easy for reuse, recycle

TREATMENT
Also called
It’s a combination of
physical, chemical, “Tertiary
and biological Treatment”
processes
To discharge or How best we can achieve
reuse/recycling TDS/nutrient removal in
wastewater treatment plant?

Why Membrane Separation? Membrane Separation -What’s Involved?

Membrane Types
Designing for Membranes
• Management and Regulatory Answers - Why Membrane Filtration
- Reverse Osmosis
- Nanofiltration
- Waste Concerns
– Meeting the regulatory standards - Membrane Replacement
- Ultrafiltration
- Piloting with Membranes - Microfiltration
– Public health - Membrane Materials
– Environmental protection Membrane Configurations
- Plate and Frame
– Market forces - Spiral Wound
Membrane System Options
- Pre-
Pre-treatment - Hollow Fiber
- Post-
Post-treatment
- Chemical and Backwash Cleaning Membrane Systems
- Design Options - Bench Scale
- Pilot Scale
- Full Scale

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Membrane separation -Objective Different Water contaminants

• The basic objective of membrane separation processes is the
selective permeation of one or more species through a membrane, SPECIES RANGE OF DIMENSIONS (NM)
thereby achieving separation.
Yeasts and fungi 1000-10000
Retentate Bacteria 300-10000
Feed
Oil emulsions 100-10000
Membrane
Pump Colloidal solids 100-1000
Viruses 30-300
Schematic representation of a membrane separation unit.
Proteins, polysaccharides 2-10
Permeate
Enzymes 2-5
• According to IUPAC, a membrane is a Common antibiotics 0.6-1.2
Organic molecules 0.3-0.8
“structure, having lateral dimensions much Inorganic ions 0.2-0.4
greater than its thickness, through which mass Water 0.2
transfer may occur under a variety of driving Particles (larger than 1 micron)
Colloids (smaller than 1 micron
forces”. Solutes (ions and organic molecules) – size typically between 1
Angstrom 0.1 nm) and 1 nm

Particle Size TDS in different types of water

• Freshwaters differ substantially from seawaters by
the relative amount of salts found in them.
Yeast Cell =
3.00 microns

Bacteria =
0.45 microns

Ferric Iron
Molecule =
0.001 microns

Six elements comprise about 99% of sea salts: chlorine

(Cl-), sodium (Na+), sulfate (SO4-2), magnesium (Mg+2),
calcium (Ca+2), and potassium (K)
Human Hair ~
75 microns

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Membrane ??? Membrane ???

a discrete (not necessarily solid), thin interface that
moderates the permeation of chemical species in • The membrane may be molecularly
contact with it and separates two phases as a homogeneous(completely uniform in
selective wall to the mass transfer, making the composition and structure) or it may be
separation of the components in a mixture possible.
chemically or physically heterogeneous

IDEAL MEMBRANE
REAL
Feed
Permeate – for example, containing holes or pores of finite
dimensions or consisting of some form of layered
Driving Force
structure.

Phase 2 Phase 1

13 SEM Image of Membrane Lumen

(AWWA, 1996)

Membranes can separate particles and molecules and over a

wide particle size range and molecular weights

Semi-Permeable membranes selectively pass certain

molecules in a solution while restricting the passage of others

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Adopted from A. Fane

Membranes are Membrane material

• Sieve with submicron pores
• Semipermeable (allows some type of matter • Organic polymers
to pass through while leaving others behind) – Polysulphone (PS)
• Different shapes – Polyethersulphone (PES)
– Flat sheet – Cellulose Acetate (CA)
– Tube (dia 0.5 to 2 cm) – Polyamides (PA)
– Capillary (1 to 5 mm) – Polyvinylidefluoride (PVDF)
– Hollow Fibre (less than 1 mm) – Polycarbonitrile (PAN)

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Membranes- Many Industrial Applications Membranes Applications – An Overview

1. Waste and water treatment

2. Clarification of fruit juice, wine and beer
3. Ultrapure water in the semiconductor industry
4. Metal recovery as colloidal oxides or hydroxides
5. Cold sterilization of beverages and pharmaceuticals
6. Medical applications: transfusion filter set, purification of surgical water
7. Continuous fermentation
8. Purification of condensed water at nuclear plants
9. Separation of oil-water emulsions

Use of Membranes by Water Industry

Membrane Filtration
• a pressure or vacuum-driven separation process in
• Drinking water Production which particulate matter larger than 1 mm is rejected
by an engineered barrier, primarily through a
• Process water Production combination of sieving and diffusion mechanisms;
• Brackish and seawater desalination the term filter is usually limited
• Industrial wastewater Recovery to structures that separate
• Sewage Treatment and Recycling particulate suspensions larger
than 1 to 10 µm.

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Membrane Separation - Terms Membrane Schematic (Typical)

• Permeate Permeate
Feed [Product/Filtrate]
– The portion of the feed stream that passes through the membrane
(not filtrate)

• Concentrate/Reject Pump

– the continuous waste stream (consisting of concentrated dissolved

solids) from a membrane process, usually in association with
nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) processes

• Bleed
– the continuous waste stream from a microfiltration (MF) or
ultrafiltration (UF) system operated in a crossflow hydraulic
configuration Concentrate
(Reject)

Dead end and Cross flow Filtration

All the suspended solids in
Dead-end Filtration the feed end up on the
Dead end Cross-flow membrane in a filter cake
Feed
Feed Retentate
Cake Thickness

Permeate
Permeate Yield

(Through flow) (Tangential flow)

time

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Dead End Mode

allows the solids to be kept in
suspension and minimizes
the build up of a filter cake to
Cross-flow filtration plug or foul the membrane
Feed

Membrane
Pump
Yield

Cake Thickness Filtrate

time

Crossflow Mode
Cross-flow Filtration Vs Dead end Filtration
Process Goal Cross- Deadend Filtration
flow
Recirculation Filtration
Ability to handle wide Excellent Generally poor
variation in particle size

Concentrate Ability to handle wide Excellent Poor or unacceptable

Feed variations in solids
Membrane
concentration
Pump Continuous concentration Excellent Poor or unacceptable
with recycle

Waste minimization Superior Can minimize waste if handling low solids feed
Filtrate where cartridge disposal is infrequent

High product purity or Excellent Performance is generally acceptable except in

yield situations involving high solids or adsorptive
fouling

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Cross-flow filtration
Filtration Mode
• Advantages:
– turbulent flow
– continuous concentrate discharge
– control of cake-layer build-up
• Disadvantages:
– more complex process layout
– high(er) energy consumption
– high(er) investment cost

Membrane Separation - Terms

Flux Jv is depending on:
Flux : the throughput of a pressure-driven membrane
filtration system expressed as flow per unit of membrane
area (e.g., gallons per square foot per day (gfd) or liters - Trans Membrane Pressure
per hour per square meter (Lmh))
- Temperature ≈ Viscosity
- Resistance of the membrane
(including fouling)
- Structure
- Concentration Polarisation
Flux: The permeate flowing through the membrane per
unit time and per unit surface area (not flow) m3/m2-hr

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J=
∆P Relation Temp & Flux
µR
The dynamic viscosity η = 497.10-3
R = Ra + Rc + R f + R p + Rg + Rd + Ri
(T + 42,5)1,5

J= permeate flux
∆P= applied pressure difference T = temperature of the permeate (Celcius)
R=hydraulic resistance
Ra=resistance to membrane Η = dynamic viscosity in Pa.s
Rc=resistance due to membrane compression
Rf=resistance due to fouling Pa.s = N .s/m2 = 10 Poise;
Rp=resistance due to polarisation
Rg=resistance due to gel layer 1 centipoise (cP) = 0,001 Pa.s
Rd=resistance due to deposit
Ri=resistance due to internal clogging
S.Vigneswaran/UTS

Membrane Flux Trans Membrane Pressure (TMP)

• pressure gradient across the membrane, or feed
Process Driving Force Typical Flux Separation mechanism pressure minus permeate pressure

MF Pressure (0.1-3 bar) 100 – 1000 L/m2-h Size

UF Pressure (0.35 – 5 30 – 300 L/m2-h Size

bar)
NF Pressure (6-10 bar) 20 – 150 L/m2-h Solution/ diffusion/
hydration
RO Pressure (7 – 70 10 – 35 L/m2-h Solution/ diffusion/
bar) hydration
ED Electrical (1-2 10 – 50 mA/cm2 Charge Trans Membrane Pressure (TMP) is the net driving
V/CP) pressure on the membrane . This is the effective pressure
for forcing water through the membrane.

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Trans Membrane Pressure (TMP)

Permeability of a membrane
• When flux and temperature are constant, the TMP is
indicative of the degree of fouling on the membrane.
• A clean membrane will have a relatively low TMP, Ap = Jv / Δ P
whereas a fouled membrane will have a relatively
high TMP, depending on the severity of fouling.
Ap = permeability in m3 / m2.h.Pa
An increasing TMP does not necessarily indicate Jv = Flux in m3 / m2.h
fouling, only the possibility of fouling. Δ P = Trans Membrane Pressure
• Since water viscosity and membrane = Pfeed – Ppermeate
resistance are dependent on temperature.
– When water temperatures change, TMP changes
as well.

Membrane Separation - Terms Recovery

• volumetric percent of feed water that is converted to filtrate
• Molecular Weight Cutoff (MWCO) in the treatment process over the course of an uninterrupted
(i.e., by chemical cleaning or a solids removal process such as
– a measure of the removal characteristic of a membrane in
backwashing) operating cycle excluding losses that occur due
terms of atomic weight (or mass), as opposed to pore size; to the use of filtrate in backwashing or cleaning operations)
typically measured in terms of Daltons
• Dalton
– a unit of mass equal to 1/12th the mass of a carbon-12
atom (i.e., one atomic mass unit (amu)); typically used as a
unit of measure for the molecular weight cutoff (MWCO)
of a ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), or reverse
osmosis (RO) membrane

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Evaluation of Membrane Performance

Qc, Cc Concentration Effects
Q F , CF

Q P CP

Selectivity: For dilute aqueous mixtures of a solvent (water) and a solute

(particles), the selectivity is expressed in terms of retention “R”
towards solute.

CF and Cp are solute concentration in feed and

CF - CP C permeate
R= =1- P R = 100% (complete retention) of solute
CF CF
R = 0% (solute and solvent pass thru membrane

Water Recovery: QP/QF

Typically, single RO elements are operated with a
recovery of 10–15% .
x

Concentration Factor
vs. Percent Recovery Membrane Separation - Terms
• Salt Passage
– transport of a salt through a semi-permeable
membrane; typically expressed either as a
percentage or as mass of salt per unit of
membrane area per unit time
• Salt Rejection
– amount of salt in the feed water that is rejected
by a semi-permeable membrane, expressed as a
percentage; also referred to as “solids rejection”

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Membrane Separations
Parameters in Membrane Filtration
Cf

Feed Concentrate
Membrane

Permeate Cp
(Filtrate)

Simple scheme of a membrane module

 C f − Cp   C 
Rejection : R (%) = 100 ⋅   = 100 ⋅ 1 − p 
  
 C f   C f 

Membrane separation or rejection, R

Cp= concentration of permeate
Cf= concentration of feed

Membrane Separation - Terms Membrane Terminology

• Osmosis
Raw Input stream to the membrane process
– the passage of a solvent (e.g., water) through a semi-
Brine Concentrate stream containing total dissolved
permeable membrane from a solution of lower solids greater than 36,000 mg/L.
concentration to a solution of higher concentration so as
Membrane A single membrane unit containing a bound group
to equalize the concentrations on either side of the element of spiral wound or hollow fine fiber membranes
membrane to provide a nominal surface area

• Concentrate Staging Pressure vessel A single tube that contains several membrane
elements in series
– a configuration of spiral-wound nanofiltration (NF) and Stage Parallel pressure vessels
reverse osmosis (RO) membrane systems in which the Array or Train Multiple interconnected stages in series
concentrate from each stage of a multi-stage system
becomes the feed for the subsequent stage

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Membrane Terminology Boundary Layer

Rejection Percent solute concentration reduction of
permeate stream relative to feed stream
Solute Dissolved solids in raw, feed, permeate and • thin layer of water at the surface of a semi-
concentrate streams permeable membrane containing the
Solvent Liquid containing dissolved solids usually water
rejected contaminants from the filtrate (i.e.,
Scaling Precipitation of solids in the element due to solute
concentration on the feed stream of the permeate) flow in higher concentrations than
membrane
the bulk feed/brine stream (called
Fouling Deposition of existing solid material in the
element on the feed stream of the membrane concentration polarization), affecting the
Mass Transfer Mass or volume unit transfer through membrane osmotic pressure and salt passage
Coefficient (MTC) based on driving force

Concentration Polarization Concentration profile at the membrane

accumulation of solute near the membrane surface

When a solution is brought to
a membrane surface, some
components will permeate
the membrane under a given
driving force whilst others are
rejected.

This leads to an accumulation
of retained material and to a
depletion of permeating
components in the boundary
layers adjacent to the
membrane surface.

This phenomenon is known as
concentration polarisation.
S.Vigneswaran/UTS

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Concentration polarisation has significant

negative effects on NF and RO process
performance:

it leads to an increase in the osmotic pressure of
the solution at the membrane surface, with a
consequent reduction in the transmembrane flux
at constant applied hydrostatic pressure;

for some salts based on divalent ions (Ca2+,
Mg2+), solubility limits can be exceeded (CaCO3,
CaSO4, MgCO3, etc.), leading to their precipitation
on the membrane surface, which limits the mass
transfer;
Adopted from A. Fane
57 S. Vigneswaran/UTS

Adopted from A. Fane Adopted from A. Fane

S. Vigneswaran/UTS

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Classification of membrane
operations
• Driving forces
• Mechanisms of separation
• Membrane structures
• Phases in contact

Adopted from A. Fane

S. Vigneswaran/UTS

According to the Driving Forces for transport,

Driving Forces membrane processes can be classified as follows:
A driving force can make the mass transfer through the
Pressure Gradient (P):
membrane possible; usually, the driving force can be a Electrical potential Gradient (E):

Reverse osmosis
Electrodialysis
pressure difference (∆P), a concentration difference (∆c), an

Ultrafiltration
Membrane electrolysis
electrical potential difference (∆E).
Electrosorption

Microfiltration
Membranes can be classified according their driving forces:
Electrofiltration

Nanofiltration
Electrochemical ion exchange

Vapor permeation
∆P ∆c ∆T ∆E Temperature gradient (T):

Gas permeation
Microfiltration Pervaporation Thermo-osmosis Electrodialysis
Membrane distillation

Pervaporation
Thermo-osmosis
Ultrafiltration Gas separation Membrane distillation Electro-osmosis
Concentration gradient (C):
Nanofiltration Vapour permeation Membrane
Dialysis Processes with combined driving forces:
electrolysis
Membrane extraction
Electro-osmofiltration (P + E)
Reverse Dialysis
Supported liquid membrane (SLM)
Electro-osmotic concentration (E + C)
osmosis
Emulsion liquid membrane (ELM)
Gas separation (P + C)
Piezodialysis Diffusion dialysis
Non-dispersive solvent extraction with
Piezodialysis (P + C)
hollow fiber contactors.

63

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Pressure-Driven Membrane Processes Pressure driven processes

Membrane
MF UF NF RO
∆P= 10-300 kPa 50-500 kPa 0.5-1.5 MPa 0.5-1.5 MPa

Feed
Permeate

∆P
Particle or Solute Solvent
Molecule

Pressure-Driven Membrane Processes Pressure-Driven Membrane Processes

MF UF NF RO

Suspended Solids (Particles)

Macromolecules (Humics)
Water Molecules
Multivalent Ions (Hardness)

Monovalent Ions (Na+,Cl-)

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Membrane applications in water Membranes for Water Treatment

treatment Dissolved salts Colloids Suspended solids

• MF can remove suspended solids, turbidity, crypto Viruses Bacteria

and giardia. Not color, virus, or dissolved solids. Org. macro. molecules Parasites

• UF can remove color and odor causing organics,

virus, and other microbiological pests. Not dissolved 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100µ
µm

salts. polio smallest Crypto- hair

virus micro- sporidium
• RO and NF systems should be used to remove only organism

dissolved solids - they need VERY clear feed water. Reverse Osmosis Ultrafiltration Sand filtration

• ED removes IONS from water - it does NOT remove Nanofiltration Microfiltration

crypto, giardia, uncharged molecules, suspended

solids etc.

Separation spectrum of pressure-driven membrane

processes Pressure driven membrane processes
• Microfiltration operates on Membrane process Pore size Pressure
a particle size range of 0.10 applied
µm to 0.15 µm. Microfiltration < 2 bar
0.05 – 10 µm
• Ultrafiltration operates on a
particle size range of 0.15
µm to 5xl0-2 µm Ultrafiltration 1 – 100 nm 1 – 10 bar
• Nanofiltration operates on
a particle size range of 5xl0-2 Nanofiltration < 2 nm 10 – 25 bar
µm to 5x10-3 µm
• Reverse osmosis operates Reverse Osmosis < 2 nm 15 – 80 bar
on a particle size range of
5xl0-3 µm to 10-4 µm.

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Membranes processes - Overview Membrane Type

Type Molecular Pressure Pore MTC for Separation Application
• RO - Desalination (ΔP) weight cutoff (bar) size water Mechanisms
• NF - Softening, Metals, (ΔP) (MWC) (nm) (Permeability)
RO 100-
100-300 5-120 <0.5 0.1 gsfd/psi
gsfd/psi Solution-
Solution- Ultrapure water
• UF - Pretreatment RO (ΔP) (0.1) diffusion Small ions,
(0.05--1.5
(0.05
• MF - Disinfection, L-S separation (ΔP) L/h·m2·bar) Micropollutants
• MBR - Membrane Bioreactor (ΔP) NF 500
500--1000 3-20 0.5
0.5--2 0.3 gsfd/psi Solution Softening,
(1) (1.5-30
(1.5- -diffusion Small organics
• Pervaporation - Dewatering, Organics (ΔP) Charge Precursors
L/h·m2·bar)
• Electro dialysis - Desalination (ΔV) UF 5000
5000--10000 0.1
0.1--5 2-100 5 gsfd/psi Sieving Bacteria, virus
• CMC - Oxidation/hydrogenation (ΔC) (10) (10
(10--1000 Macromolecules
• Dialysis - Water extraction (ΔC) L/h·m2·bar)
MF >10000 0.1
0.1--2 100-
100-10000 20 gsfd/psi Sieving Turbidity,
• Pertraction - Solvent extraction(ΔC) (500) (>1000 Protozoa
• Membrane distillation - Dewatering (ΔT) L/h·m2·bar) Bacteria,

• CDI - Desalination (ΔV)

MTC: Mass Transfer Coefficient

It is cost efficient to use a series of membranes

Water Contaminants and Typical Removal
to filter increasingly smaller particles and
Range for Membranes and Hybrid Processes
microorganisms
Species Size MF UF NF RO Chem PAC +
(µ
µm, kD) +MF/UF MF/UF
Protozoa >10
Coliform >1
Turbidiy 1 – 0.1
Cysts/Oocysts ~ 0.1
Virus 0.01 – 0.1
THMP <10 kD
Colour <10 kD
Al species <1 kD
Ionic <0.1 kD
Nearly complete removal
Possible removal

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Membrane Technologies - Water History membrane technology

• The process of osmosis through semi-permeable
membranes was first observed in 1748 by Jean Antoine
Nollet
• Produced fresh water from seawater in the mid-1950s with
cellulose acetate RO (fluxes too low)
• Loeb and Sourirajan made asymmetric CA membrane in the
sixties with high fluxes
• Seventies and eighties: new materials, standardization
/optimization
• Nineties: lowering energy consumption; control of fouling
• Twenty one century: breakthrough of RO followed by (UF,
MF, NF,…)

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Forecast
• Membrane fluxes will slightly improve (Concentration
polarization)
• Selectivity will further increase (higher quality water)
• Price of membranes goes further down by competition
• Energy consumption will be further optimized (energy
integration)
• Bio fouling and scaling on RO will disappear
• Life time of membranes will strongly increase lowering
Opex
• New hybrid processes will emerge (membranes in the
centre)

A Successful Membrane Operation

Depends on Possible Project Path
–The Selection of an Appropriate System • Water Quality Testing
• Preliminary Design
–Optimized Operating • Develop Preliminary Membrane Selection Criteria
Conditions/Protocols that Yield • Piloting with Proposed Equipment
• Demonstrate Integrity Tests with State Regulators
Manageable Membrane Fouling • Procurement/Negotiation of Filtration Equipment
• Treatment Plant Design Based on Selected Equipment
• Bid Construction and Installation
• Start-up
• Maintaining Warranty and Integrity

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Calculation Membrane surface Answer:

A single tubular membrane has a diameter of
6 mm. 2r=D=6mm

The length of the module = 3,65 meter.

In one module there are 55 membranes L = 3,65 m

together. • Area of 1 membrane = 2 π r x l

What is the total membrane surface area in this • 2 π r x l = 2 π 0,003 x 3,65 = 0,069 m2
module?
• Total area = 55 x 0,069 = 3,78 m2

85

Example calculation Flux (Jv) and

Permeability (Ap) Answer:
The total applied membrane area (A)
• A UF membrane with 12 tubes of Ø 5 mm and = 12 x 6m x 2. л. 0,0025 m = 1,131 m2
a length of 6 m. give a permeate flow of 325
litres/hour at a pressure of 3,5 bar. Flux
Jv = 325 litres/1,131 m2 = 287,36 L/m2.h
– What is the Flux? Permeabilty
– What is the Permeability?
Ap = Jv/ΔP = 287,36 / 3,5 = 82,1 L/m2.h.bar

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Example Trans Membrane Pressure: Answer:

P in P out
• TMP = Pfeed – Ppermeate
Feed flow
2r=D=6mm

• P feed = ( Pin + Pout ) / 2

L = 3,65 m

• The inlet pressure in the membrane is 3,6 bar.

The outlet pressure = 3,3 bar. • TMP = (3,6 + 3,3) /2 - 0,3 = 3,15 bar
• The permeate outlet has a pressure 0,3 bar.
– What is the TMP over this membrane module?

89

Recovery (S) of membrane process

Recovery (S) of membrane process
with backwash
Q feed = 12,5 m3/h • Qf = 8,2 m3/h ; Qp =8 m3/h
• Permeate production time = 20 minutes
Q retentate = Q concetrate = 4,5 m3/h • After every 20 minutes production there is a 30 seconds
backwash with a flow of 24 m3/h. The Feed flow is going
on then and is not affected by the backwash.
• What is the overall recovery ? • What is the overall recovery ?
Q permeate = 12,5 – 4,5 = 8 m3/h
Recovery = (20,5 x 8) – (0,5 x 24) x 100%= 99,4 %
Recovery = 8 / 12,5 x 100 % 20,5 x 8
= 64 %

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Retention / Selectivity example

? mg/l
• The raw feed water of a UF membrane has a
TS concentration of 25 mg/l
• The permeate has a TS concentration of 2,8
mg/l.
25 mg/l
• The recovery is 80 %

-What is the TS retention ?

-What is the selectivity of TS for this 2,8 mg/l
membrane ?
94

Cr = ? mg/l Retention Answer:

Cf =25 mg/l
• Total Solids Rentention [ R ]

R = (Cr – Cp) / Cr
Cp =2,8 mg/l

Mass balance: = (113.8 - 2.8) / 113.8 x 100%

Recovery S = 80% so Qp = 80 % of Q feed
100 x 25 mg/l = 80x2.8 mg/l + 20 . ? mg/l
= 97.5 %

Cr = (2500 – 224) / 20 = 113,8 mg/l

95

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Selectivity β for Total Solids Example. What is the average velocity of solution toward a
membrane, if the flux is 50 LMH?

β = Cr / Cp = 113.8 / 2.8

L  1 m3   cm  cm
= 40.6 % JV = 50 2  100  = 5.0
m -h  1000 L   m h

If retention R = 0 % then β = 1
If R = 100 % then β = ∞

Estimate quantity and quality of the waste stream, and the total quantity of
Reverse Osmosis Recovery water that must be processed, from a RO facility that is to produce 4000
m3/day of water to be used for industrial cooling operations. Assume
recovery and rejection are equal to 90%.
 Example: A membrane is making 10 gallons per day concentration of feed stream is 400 g/m3
as product, while 40 gallons go to drain. What is the
recovery? QF = QP + Qc (1)
QF*CF = QP*CP + Qc*Cc (2)
 Feed Water = product + reject = 10 + 40 = 50 Recovery = (QP/QF)*100 [%] (3)
Rejection = (1-CP/CF)*100 [%] (4)
 Recovery = product/feed = 10/50 = 20%

 Note: at 50% recovery, reject water TDS is double Feed-water Permeate

that of the feed water QF P QP
CF CP

Concentrate
Qc
Cc

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Combined Eq. 1 and 3; then calculate Qc = 4000 [1-0.9]/(0.9) = 444 m3/day

Calculate Qf from eq (1) = 4000 + 444 = 4444 m3/day

Calculate Cp from eq (4) = 400 (1-0.9) = 40 g/m3

Calculate Cc from (2) = 3643 g/m3

QF = QP + Qc (1)
QF*CF = QP*CP + Qc*Cc (2)
Recovery = (QP/QF)*100 [%] (3)
Rejection = (1-CP/CF)*100 [%] (4)

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