Performance analysis of a medium-sized industrial reverse osmosis brackish water desalination plant

Abstract

The implementation of Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology is noticeably increased to produce freshwater from brackish and seawater resources. In this work, performance analysis of a multistage multi pass medium-sized spiral wound brackish water RO (BWRO) desalination plant (1200 m3/day) of Arab Potash Company (APC) located in Jordan is evaluated using modelling and simulation. For this purpose, a mathematical model for the spiral wound RO process based on the principles of solution diffusion model is developed. The model is then used to simulate the operating conditions of low-salinity brackish water RO (BWRO) desalination plant. The results obtained are then compared against the real industrial data of BWRO desalination plant of APC which shows a high-level of consistency. Finally, the model is used to analyse the impact of the operating parameters such as salinity, pressure, temperature, and flow rate on the plant performance. The sensitivity analysis confirms that both feed flow rate and operating pressure as the critical parameters that positively affect the product salinity.