Chemistry in the Operation and Maintenance of Reverse Osmosis Systems

Abstract

Across the spectrum of industrial and municipal water utilization and treatment plants, ex‐ tensive desalination and purification of water relies on the use of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Sustaining the productivity of RO plants as continuous processes for water pu‐ rification has been since the late 1970s, and still is, a significant technological challenge. The challenge is magnified on the one hand by the increasing shortages of water thus driving down the quality of available raw waters, and on the other hand by the demand and the high cost of lost production that can result from insufficient productivity of RO systems. Re‐ duced productivity of RO plants exerts serious economic impact on the downstream pro‐ duction of steam, power, microelectronics, pharmaceuticals and beverages among other products. Not only used in the front-end to provide supply of high quality process water, the loss of RO capacity to process wastewater at the back-end to allow regulated discharges can shut down production or operation of some industrial complexes. With all these re‐ quirements, efficient operation and maintenance (O&M) of RO plants based on an under‐ standing of chemistry is essential.