Jordan University of Science & technology JUST

Chemical Eng. Dept.

Summer 2023
Introduction

Six different membrane technologies are applied for the production of drinking
and industrial water, namely:
1. Microfiltration (MF).
2. Ultrafiltration (UF).
3. Nano filtration (NF).
4. Reverse osmosis (RO).
5. Electro-dialysis (ED).
6. Electro-deionization (EDI).
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 Reverse osmosis has main applications in seawater and brackish water
desalination.
 Electrodialysis is applied in desalination of brackish water
 Nanofiltration is mainly applied for removing of sulphate, hardness and natural
organic matter
 Ultra- and micro-filtration are applied for removing suspended and colloidal
matter and for disinfection of drinking water
Table 1 summarizes a comparison of the removal capacities of various membrane technologies

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Table 1 Comparison of removal of inorganic and organic compounds, micro-organisms, and
suspended and colloidal matter by different membrane technologies
Osmosis is the movement of a solvent across a
semipermeable membrane toward a higher concentration of
solute in the direction that tends to equalize the solute
concentrations on the two sides.
To understand what is meant by the terms osmosis and osmotic pressure it
is useful to introduce the term chemical potential which is the difference in
salt concentrations between the pure water (permeate) and water in the feed
solution (feed water) which is the driving force behind osmosis.

The chemical potential of water in a salt solution depends upon:

 Concentration of Solute
 Absolute temperature
 Total pressure
At constant temperature and
pressure, the chemical
potential of water in a solution
is reduced as the concentration
of solutes is increased.

Water tends to move from

areas of higher chemical
potential (lowest concentration)
to areas of lower chemical
potential (higher concentration).
If there are two solutions of
differing concentration
separated by the membrane;
the water permeates from
lower to higher concentration
until the salt concentration on
the both sides of the semi
permeable membrane are
equal.
 One way of changing the
chemical potential of the
01 solution, is to equalize the salt
concentration on both sides of
the membrane.

02 Another way of changing the

chemical potential of a
solution is by changing the
pressure of the concentrated
solution ( by applying
pressure hydraulically using a
pump on the concentrated
(feed water) solution).
 Osmosis can be prevented or reversed by increasing the
chemical potential in the more concentrated solution.
The second way to
The first way to
change the chemical
change the
01
chemical potential:
02 potential:

05 03

04
 Reverse osmosis (RO) : is a process utilize
hydraulic pressure to remove water from a
solution by forcing it through a semi–
permeable membrane, leaving contaminants
behind in a more concentrated form.

 Reverse osmosis (RO) has the ability to

separate dissolved salts from the water in the
feed solution, thereby reducing total dissolved
solids (TDS) in the product or permeate
stream.

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 When the pressure is increased more than the
osmotic pressure, reverse osmosis will occur and
produce permeate water.
The osmotic pressure reduces the effect of hydraulic pressure; as a
consequence, the effective pressure or net driving pressure (NDP) is equal to
the hydraulic pressure minus the osmotic pressure.
where:
ΔP :Differential hydraulic pressure (pressure
feed – pressure permeate) (bar)
Or by approximation
ΔP = Pf – Pp
Δπ :Differential osmotic pressure (osmotic
pressure feed – osmotic pressure permeate)
(bar)
Δπ = πf – πp
In membrane filtration,
the osmotic pressure
hinders the water flow
as illustrated in Figure
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 The applied pressure must overcome the osmotic pressure of the dilute
water solution in order to produce water.
 To determine how much pressure must be applied before you begin
making permeate water, the osmotic pressure must be determined.

In practice, feed water can be classified according to the amount of salts it

contains as follows:
 Brackish water with salts up to 10,000 mg/L.
 Seawater with salts content higher than 30,000 mg/L.
 SIMPLIFIED EQUATION

The following simplified equation is used when calculating the average osmotic pressure in the feed-
concentrate stream as a function of salinity.

 For Cfc < 20,000 mg/L, the osmotic pressure in bars:

Where:
T : temperature (°C)
Cfc : salt feed-concentrate
 For Cfc > 20,000 mg/L, the osmotic pressure in bars:
concentration (mg/L)

𝐶𝐶𝑓𝑓 + 𝐶𝐶𝑐𝑐
𝐶𝐶𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 =
2

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 A general rule is to use 0.8 bar for
01 every 1000 mg/l of TDS to calculate the
estimated osmotic pressures.

if we used a low TDS water supply for

02 our system, we would expect a low
osmotic pressure.

Net Osmotic Pressure =

03 0.56-0.08 = 0.48 bar.
The figure below illustrates the various components of a RO desalination plant, including
the pretreatment, the high pressure pump units, the assembly of RO elements in pressure
vessels, and the post-treatment required to re-mineralize the RO permeate water.

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Pre-treatment needs to guarantee that the RO feedwater has a value of a silt density index
(SDI) less than 5 but preferably less than 3. Post-treatment will introduce back minerals
in the RO permeate and will make sure the final water is fit for purpose.

The figure below illustrates the placement of the RO elements inside a RO pressure
vessel. O-rings and brine seals make sure that there is no mix between the various water
streams. Typically, in seawater RO, the recovery ranges 40 to 50 % with 6 to 8 elements
placed in series in one stage.

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Reverse osmosis (RO) systems are capable of separating dissolved ions from a feed
stream based on salt diffusion mechanism.
In RO systems, feed water is split into two streams:
1. One with a (very) low salinity: Permeate or product water
2. One with a high salinity : Concentrate, brine, or reject.

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The quantity of water (Qw) flowing through a membrane is proportional to the differential
pressure feed-permeate (ΔP), membrane surface area (A) and permeability of the
membrane (Kw). This relationship is expressed with the following equation:

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The quantity of water (Qw) flowing through a membrane is proportional to the differential
pressure feed-permeate (ΔP), membrane surface area (A) and permeability of the
membrane (Kw). This relationship is expressed with the following equation:

(ΔP – Δπ)= NDP

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The salt rejection (SR) is by definition the ratio of the salt concentration in the feed water
minus the salt concentration in the product water over the salt concentration in the feed water
and it is expressed as percentage, as follows:

Where:
Cf : The salt concentration in the feed water
Cp : The salt concentration in the product water.

The salt passage (SP) is by definition the ratio of the salt concentration in the product water to
the salt concentration in the feed water expressed as percentage, as follows:

Salt passage is the opposite of salt rejection

SP=100%– SR
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Given that

Find KW Solution:

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 Water can pass a reverse osmosis membrane; salts as well, however, at a much lower rate.

 The salinity of the product water (Cp) depends on the relative rates of water and salt transport
through a membrane. This relationship is expressed by the following equation:

Where Qs is defined by the following equation:

Qs = ΔC · Ks · A
ΔC = Cf – Cp
Where:
Js= Qs /A Salt flux
Qs :Flow rate of salt through membrane (kg/s)
ΔC :Salt concentration differential across membrane (kg/m3) = Cf – Cp
Cp ≪ Cf so Cp can be neglected in this formula
Ks :Membrane permeability coefficient for salt (m3/m2.s)
A :Membrane area (m2)
Cf :Feed concentration (mg/L)
CpSalaheddin
:Permeate concentration (mg/L)
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 Replacing the formula of Qs in the formula of Cp, we have:

Replacing terms

Dividing the whole equation by Cf, and rearranging the equation, we have the salt passage:

Then

Looking at the right side of the equation As a consequence, the salt passage (SP = Cp / Cf) is
above, since Cp is small compared to Cf, the lower at high pressure (Pf) and vice versa. This is
ratio Cp / Cf is much smaller than 1, therefore because the same quantity of salt (Qs) will be
the salt transport (Qs) is constant at a certain diluted by a larger volume of (product) water and
Cp and is independent of the pressure. vice versa.
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The salinity product/permeate of a stage (or unit) follows from
Cp = Cfc (1-SR) or

SR = 1 – SP and

Cp = Cfc × SP
Or more accurately, because SR depends on flux:

Cp = Cfc (Ks) / J

Where: Cfc = (Cfc + Cc) / 2

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 What are the effects of Recovery?

 Recovery affects salt passage & product flow.

 As recovery increases, the salt concentration on

the feed concentrate side of the membrane
increases, which increases the salt transport
and the permeate salinity (Cp).

 High salt concentration in the feed‐concentrate

solution increases the osmotic pressure, which
consequently reduces the Net Driving Pressure
(NDP). As a result, the product water flow rate is
reduced and the permeate salinity (Cp)
increased.
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Example (9)

Example (10)

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Example (11)

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To pressurize water cost energy. The theoretical minimum energy can be calculated with the formula:

E = 0.0275 · P Taking into account the efficiency of the pump the formula changes into

0.0275 P
𝐸𝐸 =
𝑁𝑁pump
In RO and NF the recovery is less than 100%. As a consequence, the energy consumption per m3 water
produced will be higher according the formula:

0.0275 P
𝐸𝐸 =
𝑁𝑁pump ∗ 𝑅𝑅

Where:
E = energy consumption in kWh/m3 P = Feed pressure in bar Npump = efficiency pump + motor
R = recovery

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Example (12)

As a reference, in Table below, the energy to just overcome the osmotic pressure seawater is
presented. At 50 % recovery, the theoretical minimum energy is about 1 kWh/m3. In brackish
water this energy is much lower.

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In practice, energy recovery devices are applied to optimize the energy consumption in RO plants.

The energy consumption can be reduced by e.g., recovering energy from the brine with a turbine:

Where:
Pconc = Pfeed - ΔP ; (ΔP = brine pressure loss through the RO plant)
Np = pump /generator efficiency
Nt = turbine efficiency

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o Temperature has an effect on Kw. The higher is the water temperature the higher the permeability
will be. The change in permeability is about 3 % per °C. Kw is linked with the viscosity of water.

When dealing with the membrane permeability, the correction will be as follows:

As a result of the temperature effect of

viscosity and therefore on membrane
Where: permeability, the required pressure to
TCF : Temperature correction factor
achieve or keep a certain flux (capacity)
t: Temperature in °C will be lower at higher temperatures.
Kwt : Membrane permeability at temperature “t”
Kw25 :Membrane permeability at 25 °C

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o A frequently applied formula for normalizing the salt permeability is:

Where:
Kst :Salt permeability at temperature “t”
Ks25˚C : Salt permeability at 25 °C
t :Temperature in °C

o Similar to the effect of temperature on required pressure, the effect on salt passage can be
derived:

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Example (13)

Where does the TFC come from?

Example (14)

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Example (15)

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The permeate flux and the RO membrane salt rejection are important operational performance
parameters of a reverse osmosis system. The parameters influencing the flux and salt rejection
could be summarized as follows:

Impact of pressure Impact of Temperature

With increasing effective feed With increasing temperature (and all other
pressure, the permeate salinity will parameters are kept constant), the
decrease (increased salt rejection) permeate flux and the salt passage (less
while the permeate flux will increase salt rejection) will increase.

Impact of Recovery Impact of feed water salt concentration

With increasing recovery, the permeate
flux will decrease and stop if the salt
concentration reaches a value where The salt rejection will reduce (more salt
the osmotic pressure of the passage) with increasing recovery.
concentrate is as high as the applied
feed pressure.
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The figures below are qualitative examples of RO performance and based on the
solution-diffusion model.

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43

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