Reverse Osmosis Technology Research Articles

Energy behaviour and economic analysis of a photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) collector coupled with a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination unit in Tunisian climatic conditions: a feasibility study.

Water scarcity affects about onebillion people in the world. Around two billion people could be living in water-stressed areas by 2050. For this reason, the desalination is always evolving due to the importance of the water resources found in the seas and brackish water. As these systems are generally energy intensive, the use of a renewable energy source is among the most appropriate solution. In this paper, both experimental and numerical investigations have been conducted to evaluate the performances and the economic viability of aphotovoltaic-thermal collector intended to supply a reverse osmosis (RO) unit. Experimental study is based on the input-output and dynamic system testing (DST)according to ISO 9459-5 standard method and computations use the energy and mass balances of the PV/T collector and the RO plant. Results of DST testing showed that the loss coefficient of the PV/T, the tank loss coefficient and the total tank heat capacity are 10.46 W.m-2.K-1, 1.596 W.K-1 and 388MJ.K-1, respectively. The ability to couple the RO technology to PV/T systems has been demonstrated. The complete system has been simulated for a water salinity of 10,000ppm and climatic data of Borj-Cedria (Tunisia) site (longitude 10° 25' 41″ E and latitude 36° 43' 04″ N). Numerical investigations showed that the electricity needs of a small off-grid desalination unit could be met by using a 6.48m2 PV/T panel surface area. In this case, the purified water produced has a salinity of 1500ppm and the flow rate is 24,000l/day. For a grid connected site, the produced and auxiliary powers are found to be equal to 54% and 21%, respectively. Moreover, the economic cost of adding a PV/T system into an existing RO unit has been evaluated and the results showed that the payback period is 6years.

Preparation and application of porous functional polymers for boron removal in seawater desalination by a mild and free-organic solvents process

The development of high-performance adsorbents to address high concentrations of boron and thus acquirement of drinkable water from seawater is a huge challenge. Most of the boron removal adsorbents reported in the literature have complex and organic solvents involved in preparation processes, which makes industrial production difficult. Herein, the porous cross-linked polyglycidyl methacrylate (CLPGMA) with a rich pore structure is prepared in one step by water-in-oil high internal phase emulsification, and then functionalized using water as a solvent to dissolve glucosamine to obtain the boron removal adsorbent. The whole preparation process is facile and free-organic solvents, making it suitable for further industrial production. The adsorbent demonstrates excellent performance in batch adsorption. Especially, we propose to combine the adsorption with reverse osmosis technology, by which the drinkable desalinated seawater can be obtained. The column adsorption experiments show that the adsorbent can rapidly remove boron from desalinated seawater at high flow rates under dynamic conditions to meet drinking water standards. This research provides a new method for the green large-scale synthesis of high-performance boron adsorbent for seawater desalination.

RANCANG BANGUN ALAT FILTRASI PENYEDIA AIR SIAP MINUM DENGAN SISTEM REVERSE OSMOSIS

Drinking water is a very basic basic need, and cannot be replaced by other elements. The needs of living things for drinking water are very many, not only needed by humans but also needed by animals and plants. To produce good and quality drinking water in accordance with health standards that have been set by the Regulation of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia No. 492 / MENKES / PER / IV2010, a proper water treatment process is needed. This research activity is aimed at designing a filtration device that is able to process dirty water into clean ready-to-drink water using reverse osmosis (RO) technology. The parameters tested are biological, physical, and chemical parameters in accordance with the requirements for good drinking water set by Permenkes No. 492 of 2010. This study used 3 water source samples to be tested, namely: the first sample was a relatively clear and odorless water sample but the bacteria content was above the standard, the second sample was turbid but odorless water, while the third sample was odorous water. After going through the filtration process with the tool made, ready-to-drink water is able to be produced with the condition that the bacterial level (total coliform) drops from 200/100ml to 0/100ml. In addition, the turbidity level also dropped from 8 NTU to 0 NTU, and the water condition also changed from smelly to odorless. So it can be concluded that the filtration device made and tested is able to produce readyto-drink water according to the standards of Permenkes No. 492 of 2010.

Financial, Economic, and Environmental Analyses of Upgrading Reverse Osmosis Plant Fed with Treated Wastewater

One of the most effective strategies to mitigate water shortages worldwide is to reuse treated wastewater for freshwater production employing reverse osmosis (RO) technology. This strategy is appropriate in urban areas of arid or semi-arid regions as it can provide a sustainable and reliable water source close to the consumers. One of the drawbacks of RO is the high variability of production costs due to the electricity intensity. In addition, depending on the electricity source, it can also result in substantial environmental costs. This study showed that upgrading pumping and RO membrane systems of a wastewater reuse plant in Cyprus can significantly alleviate these drawbacks in terms cost, water recovery rate, and air pollution. The water-recovery rate of the upgraded RO plant increased from 43.2 to 75 percent, which resulted in a substantial net financial benefit due to the reduction in the quantity of wastewater purchased and the increase in potable water produced. The upgraded system also reduced the electricity requirement from 3.63 kWh/m3 to 1.92 kWh/m3. Pollution emissions decreased substantially because of the reduction in electricity requirements. The beneficiaries of these lower emission costs are the residents of Cyprus and global society. Overall, the benefit of upgrading the plant is highly attractive with more than 65 percent annual real internal rates of return in financial and economic terms. Positive net present values are realized for all the scenarios considered.

Effect of feed spacer geometric design in a spiral wound module of reverse osmosis process on the removal of dimethyl phenol from wastewater. Simulation‐based model

AbstractThe reverse osmosis (RO) technology has engaged in the removal of a wide set of pollutants including dimethylphenol at a high rejection. The goal of this research is to explore the influence of spacer geometric design on the performance metrics of an individual spiral wound module of RO process to eliminate dimethylphenol from wastewater. The study entails the embedding of an author's model developed to envisage the performance of a spiral wound membrane‐based wastewater treatment with a detailed model of feed spacer (collected from the open literature) utilised to characterise the pressure drop along the feed channel. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to observe the impact of feed flow rate on the energy dissipation and mass transfer coefficient of several selected feed spacers of different design characteristics. Accordingly, the consequence of feed spacer design parameters was analysed on the performance metrics of RO process including the dimethylphenol rejection and water recovery. It is found that the angle of flow diversion, voidage, and feed spacer height have a considerable effect on the pressure drop, mass transfer coefficient, and axial velocity, which accordingly affect the overall performance indicators. The results show the success of feed spacers 80MIL‐1 and 80MIL‐2 to gain the highest dimethylphenol rejection and associated water recovery.

Investigation of Carbon Footprints of Three Desalination Technologies: Reverse Osmosis (RO), Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF) and Multi-Effect Distillation (MED)

Nowadays, the drinking water shortage is increasing, mainly due to rapid population growth, climate change, wasteful overuse of water, and pollution. Under the current circumstances, a quarter of the world's population will not have access to good quality drinking water. Thus, another solution must be adopted in areas with insufficient freshwater. One possible line is the desalination of seawater, one of the most practical solutions to solve the problem of drinking water shortage along the oil availability shore and continues to expand globally. Water produced may also be utilized for irrigation, reducing a region's reliance on imports, contributing to the local economy, and improving food supplies. However, this process is not a consequences-free procedure; it may cause several environmental and human health problems.The three most applied desalination technologies are reverse osmosis (RO), multi-stage flash distillation (MSF), and multi-effect distillation (MED). In this study, the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) of drinking water produced from seawater using these three technologies with fossil and renewable energy sources were investigated based on two methods: life cycle assessment (LCA) using SimaPro life cycle analysis software and carbon footprints. As a result, RO technology has significantly lower CO2 emissions than thermal technologies. The RO combined renewable energy is the most environmentally friendly; provides outstanding benefits in terms of human health and ecosystem quality. This technology may still evolve in the future to produce longer-lasting, cheaper membranes, and the energy requirements of this process are lower with applying modern energy recovery systems.

Analysis of Research Hotspots in the Field of Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Reverse osmosis technology in the field of seawater desalination has become a hot topic in recent years. In this study, 2,507 literatures in WOS database from 2013 to 2022 were analyzed using Citespace visualization technology. It is found that the number of literatures published and their citation frequency on reverse osmosis desalination are on the rise globally. At present, research hotspots mainly focus on forward osmosis, interfacial polymerization, draw solution, reverse osmosis, brine discharge and boron removal. Future research hotspots will focus more on ammonia carbon dioxide, layer, draw solution and economic analysis. Through bibliometric analysis method, this study provides a quantitative review of relevant literature for the development of reverse osmosis desalination field, and has an in-depth understanding of the development and evolution of this field.

Mechanisms and models for water transport in reverse osmosis membranes: history, critical assessment, and recent developments.

Water scarcity is one of the greatest societal challenges facing humanity. Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, a widely used membrane-based technology, has proven to be effective to augment water supply in water-stressed regions of our planet. However, progress in the design and development of RO membranes has been limited. To significantly enhance the performance of RO membranes, it is essential to acquire a deep understanding of the membrane separation and transport mechanisms. In this tutorial review, we cover the pivotal historical developments in RO technology, examine the chemical and physical properties of RO membrane materials, and critically review the models and mechanisms proposed for water transport in RO membranes. Based on recent experimental and computational findings, we conduct a thorough analysis of the key transport models-the solution-diffusion and pore-flow models-to assess their validity for accurately describing water transport in RO membranes. Our analysis involves examining the experimental evidence in favor of the solution-diffusion mechanism. Specifically, we explain whether the water content gradient within the membrane, cited as evidence for the key assumption in the solution-diffusion model, can drive a diffusive transport through RO membranes. Additionally, we review the recent molecular dynamics simulations which support the pore-flow mechanism for describing water transport in RO membranes. We conclude by providing future research directions aimed at addressing key knowledge gaps in water transport phenomena in RO membranes, with the goal of advancing the development of next-generation RO membranes.

Efficient seawater desalination in lamellar nanochannel-based boridene filtration membrane.

With the progressively increasing demand for freshwater, the shortage of global freshwater resources has become one of the most serious events that all humans are facing now. The reverse osmosis (RO) technology that achieves freshwater from seawater is a promising strategy. However, current RO membranes suffer from the bottleneck of low efficiency. In this work, we designed a RO membrane based on a novel two-dimensional nanomaterial, boridene, prepared by stacking them into lamellar nanochannels. We employed the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation approach to investigate the desalination performance of the designed boridene lamellar membrane. Our results showed that the water permeability through the boridene membrane increased following the incremental interlayer spacing. In addition, the boridene membrane exhibits high water permeability and ideal salt rejection, featuring water permeability far beyond those obtained from commercial RO membranes with two orders of magnitude enhancement. Further free energy calculations demonstrated that the water molecules are energetically more favorable to transport through the boridene lamellar nanochannels than ions. Therefore, our results highlight that the boridene lamellar nanochannel-based filtration membrane can be utilized as a potential outstanding candidate in RO membranes for future desalination applications.

A Comparative Analysis of Major Desalination Processes

The desalination process is used to reduce the salinity of water to meet the water demand in water-scarce regions. There are several methods available for water desalination, each with merits and demerits in terms of raw water treatment, process operations, and water quality management. In the present analysis, a systematic review of various desalination processes is presented based on technical, economic, and environmental analyses. Thermal and Reverse Osmosis (RO) processes are widely studied in the literature and used for Sea Water (SW) desalination on a larger scale to produce drinking water. The technical and economic criteria are used to show that Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) technology is better when compared to other desalination technologies.

Path toward sustainable desalination: Sodium precipitation and carbon capture

Current desalination technologies are not sustainably scalable due to high operational costs, high carbon emissions, and the environmental impact of brine. Almost all desalination plants built today use Reverse Osmosis technology, with research primarily focused on developing ultra-high permeability membranes that lower specific energy consumed. We believe sustainable desalination can be achieved by optimizing the overall Reverse Osmosis system. Our method takes advantage of the high-pressure brine, high levels of total dissolved solids, and the sheer amount of brine waste discarded. This is achieved by bubbling CO2 into ammoniated brine to precipitate sodium ions. The process was studied by modeling CO2 absorption, simulating real brine behavior, and optimizing for sodium removal. The results showed that ammonia requires 528 kg of CO2 per cubic meter of freshwater. In addition, the results revealed that CO2 absorption at 22.2 °C and 68.7 bar removed 72.5 % of the dissolved sodium. Ammonia unlocks the path toward sustainable desalination, as it can be absorbed and regenerated within the reverse osmosis system.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SMALL SCALE DESALINATION PLANT BASED ON MULTI TRAY AERATOR, MEDIA FILTER, AND SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS

Seawater as abundant source for clean water is deemed as impossible task, particularly in developing country. Therefore, the feasibility of applying the reverse osmosis technology, particularly in the coastal area for drinking water is need further investigation. This paper aims to design and analyze the performance of small-scale desalination plant using combination of multi tray aerator, media filter, and multiple membranes consisting of ultrafiltration, brackish, and seawater membranes.Parameters used to verify the performance of small plant are salinity and total dissolved solid for membranes, while the parameters for examining the pre-treatment are Fe and Mn. The test results will be evaluated under the regulation of minister of health, Permenkes No. 32/2017. The influence of the pump pressure on the flow will also be analyzed.The result shows that the desalination plant can reduce the salinity concentration significantly from 10,200 ppm to 16 ppm, or 99.84%. The ratio of clean water to rejected water is 36%. However, bacteria of E. Coli are still found in clean water, which is probably caused by biofouling.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF SMALL SCALE DESALINATION PLANT BASED ON MULTI TRAY AERATOR, MEDIA FILTER, AND SEAWATER REVERSE OSMOSIS

Seawater as abundant source for clean water is deemed as impossible task, particularly in developing country. Therefore, the feasibility of applying the reverse osmosis technology, particularly in the coastal area for drinking water is need further investigation. This paper aims to design and analyze the performance of small-scale desalination plant using combination of multi tray aerator, media filter, and multiple membranes consisting of ultrafiltration, brackish, and seawater membranes.Parameters used to verify the performance of small plant are salinity and total dissolved solid for membranes, while the parameters for examining the pre-treatment are Fe and Mn. The test results will be evaluated under the regulation of minister of health, Permenkes No. 32/2017. The influence of the pump pressure on the flow will also be analyzed.The result shows that the desalination plant can reduce the salinity concentration significantly from 10,200 ppm to 16 ppm, or 99.84%. The ratio of clean water to rejected water is 36%. However, bacteria of E. Coli are still found in clean water, which is probably caused by biofouling.

The advantages and future development trends of reverse seawater osmosis compared with other desalination methods

Global freshwater resources are not evenly distributed in regions and time, and with economic development and population growth, the world's water consumption is also increasing year by year. The world is facing a crisis of insufficient freshwater resources, which will become more and more serious in the future. In order to solve this problem, various countries are vigorously developing seawater desalination technology. Seawater reverse osmosis is one of the important methods of seawater desalination. The advantages and disadvantages of the seawater reverse osmosis method were obtained by comparing it with other desalination methods. Find references to list the views of some countries on seawater reverse osmosis. Combined with the different needs of some regions and countries, this paper summarizes the corresponding progress of seawater reverse osmosis technology, analyzes the application of seawater reverse osmosis, and understands the specific technologies to be developed in the future. The future development trend and challenges of seawater reverse osmosis were predicted.

Ex ante Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis of an anaerobic digester in Italy

The end-use valorisation of food waste (FW) and biowaste is currently being focused on biofuels and bioproducts production through different technologies. This study evaluated the implementation of a new eco-industrial system in Italy that incorporates a micro-scale anaerobic digestion (mAD) and a Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) unit to produce renewable energy (e.g., electricity and heat) from AD biogas and high-quality bio-based products (e.g., bio-pesticides) from digestate. Three scenarios (S0, S1, S2) were modelled. S0 and S1 included only a solid-liquid separation of digestate through a centrifuge, assuming a different fate for the solid fraction (composting in S0 and application on farmland in S1). S2 integrated SSF and reverse osmosis technologies for the treatment and valorisation of digestate with nutrient recovery. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis (eCBA) methodologies were applied to assess the environmental performances and economic feasibility of the project. The pilot system showed solid environmental performances, especially for S1 and S2, in the five impact categories considered. According to LCA results, the eCBA gives a positive outcome for S2. While the financial and economic analysis showed positive Net Present Values for S2, the project's profitability was not achieved for S0 and S1. If AD plants are implemented at a smaller scale they would represent a favourable investment for the local community; particularly when considering the benefits of nutrient recovery through a complete post-treatment of digestate. The valorisation of organic residues could be better supported through introducing alternative market-based policy tools, as well as removing regulatory barriers and encouraging the implementation of financial schemes to support small-scale renewable production systems and the enhancement of market-based instruments for credits certification from renewable energy production. • Biowaste treatment and valorisation had solid performances in Life Cycle Assessment. • Environmental Cost-Benefit Analysis quantified good revenues for bio-based products. • Nutrient recovery by bio-pesticides and organic fertilizers allow economic benefits. • Limited plans, policies and economic instruments characterize the biowaste sector. • Alternative economic tools can promote biowaste reduction & efficient resources use.

Bibliometric and sentiment analysis with machine learning on the scientific contribution of Professor Srinivasa Sourirajan

Prof. Srinivasa Sourirajan is remembered by the desalination and membrane community as the “Father of Reverse Osmosis”. He passed away at the age of 98 peacefully in his beloved city Ottawa (Canada). His legacy will be remembered by the scientific community “membrane science, membrane processes, desalination and engineering”. His research studies were not only novel, but also very creative and even visionary. He offered a priceless gift to humanity by bringing clean water to all those in need through the presentation of reverse osmosis technology together with its appropriate membranes for water treatment, including desalination. This technology has now gained worldwide interest as it is able to produce clean water at a lower cost compared to other separation processes. His scientific contribution also pioneered other research areas. He developed novel research methodologies in geophysics while in catalysis he produced unleaded gasoline to help with the smog issue. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times. Prof. Sourirajan had also an exceptional humanitarian attribute. He played a significant role in bringing the Indian community to Ottawa. In the present paper we apply machine learning for his extraordinary and original scientific contribution. The results reveal how influential scientist he was.

Thin Film Composite Polyamide Reverse Osmosis Membrane Technology towards a Circular Economy.

It is estimated that Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination will produce, by 2025, more than 2,000,000 end-of-life membranes annually worldwide. This review examines the implementation of circular economy principles in RO technology through a comprehensive analysis of the RO membrane life cycle (manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life management). Future RO design should incorporate a biobased composition (biopolymers, recycled materials, and green solvents), improve the durability of the membranes (fouling and chlorine resistance), and facilitate the recyclability of the modules. Moreover, proper membrane maintenance at the usage phase, attained through the implementation of feed pre-treatment, early fouling detection, and membrane cleaning methods can help extend the service time of RO elements. Currently, end-of-life membranes are dumped in landfills, which is contrary to the waste hierarchy. This review analyses up to now developed alternative valorisation routes of end-of-life RO membranes, including reuse, direct and indirect recycling, and energy recovery, placing a special focus on emerging indirect recycling strategies. Lastly, Life Cycle Assessment is presented as a holistic methodology to evaluate the environmental and economic burdens of membrane recycling strategies. According to the European Commission’s objectives set through the Green Deal, future perspectives indicate that end-of-life membrane valorisation strategies will keep gaining increasing interest in the upcoming years.

Investigation of efficient corrosion inhibitor during acid cleaning of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant

Reverse osmosis (RO) technology plays a vital role in seawater desalination production, while salt scaling phenomenon is an inevitable problem during operation. Accordingly, glucuronide-substituted catechin (CG) was synthesized and developed here as an eco-friendly inhibitor for the first time, whose corrosion inhibition performances for desalination equipment alloys (i.e., carbon steel, brass, Ni-resist, and 316 L stainless steel) in 2% HCl solution were evaluated by experiments and theoretical calculations. At a concentration of 200 mg/L, CG achieved 97.81% corrosion inhibition for carbon steel, 85.91% for Ni-resist, 92.11% for brass, and 77.95% for 316 L stainless steel in weight loss experiments. The 90-hours static stability test was carried out by weight loss method, and the inhibition performance of CG was compared with that of a commercial corrosion inhibitor used in seawater desalination plant. The structural of the protective film on the metal surface was analyzed by EDX and XPS. Quantum chemical calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) and MD simulations were performed to optimize the CG molecular structure and investigate the inhibitive properties on the theoretical level, which agree well with the experimental results.

Application of Vibrating Reverse Osmosis Technology for Nutrient Recovery from Pig Slurry in a Circular Economy Model.

The rapid growth of the livestock sector in some areas of Europe has caused an imbalance between the generation of livestock manure and the availability of agricultural soil for its direct application as a fertilizer. Since the transport of pig slurry to other areas with nutrient-deficient soils is costly from an economic point of view due to its high water content, the application of new technologies for the concentration of this waste is considered key for reducing management costs. Consequently, the main objective of this study was to demonstrate the potential of vibratory shear enhanced processing (VSEP) operated with reverse osmosis membranes to recover nutrients from the liquid fractions of pig slurry (LF-pig slurry) and digestate (LF-digestate) and obtain concentrated fertilizing products. Use of the VSEP unit permitted reductions in the water contents of the LF-pig slurry and LF-digestate, around 77% and 67%, respectively. Both VSEP concentrates were characterized by their significant nutrient contents and showed a nitrogen fertilizer replacement value similar to that of mineral fertilizer as demonstrated in a barley crop pot-test, although the salinity of the digestate concentrate was identified as a key limitation, negatively impacting the agronomic yield of the test crop.

A Comparative Analysis of Statistical Models and Mathematics in Reverse Osmosis Evaluation Processes as a Search Path to Achieve Better Efficiency

An effective alternative for water purification is reverse osmosis (RO). Laboratory-scale RO modeling is widely applied worldwide, and allows the evaluation of the behavior of the system to find the most convenient operating variables to be applied in future industrial scale-ups. Statistical models provide a wide range of information that allows a statistical prediction of the operation of the plant, and allows us to obtain efficiency indices in its development; these are useful in the planning, operation and monitoring process in RO plants. The mathematical models describe the physical behavior of the membrane and allow the identification of optimal operating conditions, taking into account economic aspects, guaranteeing a greater implementation of RO technology in developing countries which have problems with water contaminated with toxic heavy metals. The present work shows a review of different statistical and mathematical models, and the suitability of these in the analysis of RO in the separation of heavy metals in drinking water that can be applied in countries with serious environmental problems. Bolivia and several river basins, such as the Guadalquivir and Milluni, present this type of problem. A comparative method is proposed to establish the advantages and selection criteria to apply the different models in RO.