Reverse osmosis
R.O is a membrane process that acts as a filter to remove up to 95 - 99 % of all dissolved minerals, 95 - 97 % of most dissolved organics, and more than 98 % of biological and colloidal matter from water
The water is passed over a membrane under pressure. Depending on raw water quality a larger or smaller part of water goes through membrane, leaving most of the dissolved solids behind. These solids and leftover water (reject) leaves membrane surface and is piped to drain. The water which goes through membrane and gets purified is called permeate. The equipment which accomplishes the process is called a Reverse Osmosis (R.O) Unit
An R.O Unit only passes some of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) through membranes. The percentage which gets through is called TDS-passage or salt-passage. At a given value of salt-passage TDS, or quality of permeate will change as feed TDS changes.
An approximation of TDS in water can be attained by using a conductivity meter.
Along with the amounts of solids passing through membranes, to be considered is the amount of purified water retrieved from feed water. This is called recovery which is usually stated as a percentage. Normal recoveries are in the range of 40 - 80 % for brackish water and 10 - 40 % for sea water.
The recovery of R.O system is preset during commissioning. When recovery is changed, so is the salt-passage. On the other hand, if system is run at a lower recovery, there is a better permeate water quality.
The amount of water passed through membranes is directly proportional to the net pressure on them. Increasing system pressure increases permeate flow rate. Thus, if pressure is raised and reject flow rate is held fixed, the recovery goes up.
Similarly, if system pressure is held fixed and reject flow rate is made to decrease, the recovery also goes up. If, at a constant pressure, reject flow were stopped altogether, the recovery would be 100 %. There must always be enough reject flow to flush out rejected salts. The temperature of feed water can change the output by as much as 50 % in the range from nearly freezing to 40??? C. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to control temperature of the water, which varies depending on the location and time of the year.
Pre-Treatment for R.O Systems
The physical and chemical nature of many natural waters is such that it is not suitable to be treated directly by reverse osmosis. The process and equipment required to condition the feed water are referred to as pre-treatment.
The presence of very fine particles can cause severe blockage to the membranes. A measure of concentration of these fine particles in the feed water can be assessed by performing a 'Silt Density Index' test of the water. To do this an SDI test kit is needed.
Some of the potential problems which may require pre-treatment include limited solubility of some salts, suspended solids and membrane degradation in the presence of, for example, strong acids, excessive concentration of chlorine or biological growth.
Typically, pre-treatment consists of:
coagulation and filtration to remove large particles
adjustment of solubility parameters to prevent precipitation of sparingly soluble salts (scaling) as a result of the concentration action of the R.O process
chemical treatment to prevent biological growth
We provide RO Systems from 250 Liters/hr to 200 m3/hr with Multiple Unit Arrays.
Systems are provided complete with instrumentation for flow, conductivity, pH, TOC, etc. And complete automation with PLC / DCS /SKADA and intigration with up-stream / down-stream equipments.
We also provide the complete Pre-treatment designed as per feed water quality for enhanced and trouble free life of RO unit