Abstract
The article describes an investigation into membrane fouling and flux decline in the reverse osmosis treatment of river Rhine water. Special attention is paid to technical applications and process optimization. The investigations involve the effect of a number of relevant process variables, such as the extent of the pretreatment of the raw Rhine water (rapid sand filtration, chemical clarification with various degrees of floc removal and tapwater treatment), membrane quality (tubular, cellulose acetate, cured at 75°C, 80°C and 86°C), brine velocity (75 up to 150 cm/sec), pressure (20, 30 and 40 atm.) and recovery (50%, 75% and 90%). The results show a great effect of each of the process variables on membrane fouling and flux decline. It seems preferable to pretreat the raw Rhine water by chemical clarification and sand filtration and to operate high capacity installations at 20 atm., 90% recovery and brine velocities of about 75 cm/sec. Operating at 20 atm. instead of 40 atm. seems profitable as it saves energy and installation costs, and because it presents less fouling problems and is consequently an easier operation.
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