Chapter 2

Reverse Osmosis Principles and System Components

Syed Javaid Zaidi, Haleema Saleem
Qatar University, Qatar
Presented by : Hammad Siddiqui

Date: 9th November 2022

Reverse Osmosis Systems - 1st Edition (elsevier.com)

 REVESE OSMOSIS PRINCIPLE

• The flow of water proceeds until the chemical potential equilibrium of the solvent is
developed.

• The pressure difference between both sides of the membrane is the same as the solution
osmotic pressure, at the equilibrium condition

• In order to reverse the solvent (water) flow from higher concentration to lower concentration
pressure in excess of osmotic pressure is applied

• Subsequently, the water separation from the solution happens due to the fact that pure water
passes from the high concentration side to the low concentration side
 REVESE OSMOSIS PRINCIPLE

Sl. No. Types of Water TDS range (mg/L or ppm)

1 Seawater 15,000 to 50,000 • Seawater has high osmotic pressure (greater

than 25 – 28 bar)
2 Brackish water 1,000 to 15,000
• Osmotic pressure increases with feed water
3 River water 500 to 3,000
salinity
4 Wastewater (treated domestic) 500 to 700

5 Wastewater (untreated domestic) 250 to 1000

6 Pure water Much less than TDS 500

The osmotic pressure is determined by applying van t’ Hoff’s law as

follows:
-------(2.2)
or -------(2.3)
where, – the entire solute amount present in solution in mol, C - total solute
concentration in mol/L, and V - the volume of solvent in L, π is the osmotic
pressure in bar, R is the ideal gas constant (0.083145 L·bar/mol·K),
WATER FLUX EQUATION
In the case of RO process, the water and salt will permeate by the solution-diffusion
model as the phenomena of separation is by diffusion.

Diffusion is the natural movement of a substance from a high-concentration area to a

low-concentration area

According to this model, the water molecules will diffuse across the dense membrane

The water flux, , is related to the pressure and concentration gradient across the
membrane as per the below equation:

where - mass transfer coefficient for water flux, L/(m 2.h.bar), - pressure difference
across the membrane, - osmotic pressure differential across the membrane, and –
water volumetric flux in L/(m2.h).

As Eq. shows when , then the water flows from the higher concentrated solution to the
lower concentrated solution, and when there will not be any flow happening.

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 SOLUTE FLUX, REJECTION, AND RECOVERY EQUATIONS
The solute flux or salt flux could be determined using the below equation

where - mass flux of solute, mg/(m2·h), Ks - solute or salt permeability coefficient in

L/(m2.h) or m/h, - solute or salt concentration on the feed side of the membrane, and
- solute or salt concentration on the permeate side of the membrane.

The membrane selectivity could be expressed in terms of the rejection “R”:

The recovery can be determined as the ratio of permeate flow to feed water flow.

-------(2.11)

where Q is the flow in m3/s and r is the recovery (dimensionless).

The solute concentration in the product water is determined as the ratio of the solute
flux and the water flux, and is presented as
PROBLEM AND SOLUTION
The feed water containing 6000 mg/L of total dissolved solids is treated with the
reverse osmosis process for removing the salts. The water flux through RO
membranes was found to be 30 L/(m 2.h). Calculate salt concentration in the product
water and also the salt passage. Ks value is 2.5 ((mg/m 2h)/(mg/L)).

Solution:
In 1 hour, 30 L water is produced by 1 m2 membrane surface area
In 1 hour, the following amount of salts will pass 1 m 2 membrane

From equation,

Js= 6000 mg/L x 2.5 ((mg/m2h)/(mg/L))

= 15,000 mg/m2.h

This amount of salt arrives in 30 L/m 2h

From equation,
= 500 mg/L

Salt passage = = % = 8.33%

= 100% - 8.33% = 91.67%
 CONCENTRATION POLARIZATION

This concentration polarization will have many The accumulation of solutes nearby the surface
adverse impacts on the efficiency of the RO process: of the membrane is termed as the concentration
polarization.
• Low water flux
This will act as a barrier to the water flow
• Low rejection across the membrane thereby decreasing the
efficiency of the membrane

According to this model, the water molecules

will diffuse across the dense membrane
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RO-BASED MEMBRANE DESALINATION PLANT PROCESS
• The plant typically collects water through open seawater intake,
and subsequently conditioned by coagulation as well as
flocculation processes

• Then, filtered using granular media pretreatment filters for

removing majority colloidal solids, particulates, certain organic
foulants and microbial foulants.

• This filtered water will be transported using a transfer pump to

a micron-sized filter or cartridge filter into the suction header of
a high-pressure pump(HPP).

• This HPP pumps the filtered water to the reverse osmosis

membrane vessel at a net driving pressure suitable for
producing the required water quality as well as water flow.

Diagrammatic representation of various processes in • In the post-treatment stage, the product water produced by the
a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant reverse osmosis process is stabilized by adding lime or by the
addition of carbon dioxide (CO2) for providing a satisfactory
level of alkalinity as well as hardness, for protecting the
permeate distribution system against corrosion.

A comprehensive review of solar‐driven desalination technologies for off‐grid greenhouses Article

 REVERSE OSMOSIS SEPARATION SYSTEM

• The smallest unit of production capacity in a reverse osmosis

membrane plant is termed as a membrane element.

• This membrane element will be enclosed in PV mounted on a

skid, which has piping connection for reject stream, product
stream, and feed stream.

Schematic representation of an array (4 Pressure • A certain number of pressure vessels (PVs) arranged in parallel
vessels x 5 membrane elements) are termed as a stage

A comprehensive review of solar‐driven desalination technologies for off‐grid greenhouses Article

RO SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Spiral-Wound
Filtered Water High-Pressure Polyamide
Pressure Vessels
Transfer Pump Feed Pumps Membrane
Elements

Membrane
RO skids and Systems for
RO System Piping Flushing &
trains Energy Recovery
Cleaning Systems

Instrumentation
and Controls
 FILTERED WATER TRANSFER PUMP
Filtered water from the water intake system or plant
pretreatment system can follow two flow patterns:
desalination system with direct flow-through pattern or
interim pumping desalination system

RO-based desalination system with direct flow-through pattern

RO-based Desalination system with interim pumping.

 HIGH-PRESSURE FEED PUMPS
• These type of feed pumps are designed for delivering the There are two most widely used pumps for reverse osmosis systems, namely,
source feed water to the reverse osmosis membranes at a centrifugal pumps and reciprocating (piston) pumps
pressure that is needed for effective membrane
separation of the fresh water from the salt solution or
saline water.

• This pressure is generally in the range of 55 to 85 bars

Reciprocating Centrifugal
for seawater reverse osmosis desalination and 5 to 25 HPPs Pumps
bars for brackish water reverse osmosis desalination,
depending on feed water temperature and salinity

• These pumps can be utilized for

desalination plants of all sizes.
• They are normally employed for small-sized
• The main drawback of centrifugal
desalination plants of capacity of about 4000
pump as compared to the
m3/day, or lower.
reciprocating HPP is that the
• For these pumps, the motor’s rotating motion is
pressure delivered varies with the
transformed into reciprocating motion that forces
flow and vice versa
the pump piston.
 SPIRAL-WOUND POLYAMIDE MEMBRANE
ELEMENTS
Some of the commercially available Membrane element models
• Common size spiral-wound PA-based RO membrane
elements are commercially available from different
membrane manufacturers such as DuPont-Filmtec, Element Models Feature Active Permeate Maximum Stabilized Stabilized
Hydranuatics-Nitto Denko, Koch Membrane Systems, Area Flowrate Operating boron salt rejection
(m2) (m3/d) Pressure rejection (%) (%)
Toray Membranes, and others (bar)
FilmTec™ Element High rejection seawater 37 23 83 93 99.82
• SW30XHR-400 RO elements, Very high
Seawater RO membranes could also be categorized into NaCl and boron
4 major groups depending on their performance: (i) low- rejection
energy, (ii) high-rejection, (iii) high-productivity, and
FilmTec™ Element High salt rejection, 35 23 69 90 99.7
(iv) low-fouling SW30HR-380 highest boron rejection

FilmTec™ Element high flow rates, high 37 41.6 83 89 99.7

SW30ULE-400i rejection of NaCl and
boron
FilmTec™ Element Lower operating cost 41 30.2 83 92 99.8
SW30HRLE-440i through reduced energy
consumption, High NaCl
and boron rejection

Hydranautics SWC4+ High Salt rejection 37.1 24.6 82.7 - 99.8

Hydranautics SWC4B High Salt rejection 40.8 27.3 82.7 - 99.8

MAX
Hydranautics SWC6 High Salt rejection, High 40.8 50 82.7 91.0 99.7
MAX Flow

Toray TM820K-400 High Salt rejection 37 21.9 82.7 96 99.86

 MEMBRANE FLUSHING & CLEANING
SYSTEMS
• RO system will be normally well-equipped with a
perpetually piped membrane flushing unit for
automatically flushing vessel in the RO train on
shutdowns to eliminate residual brine and prevent the
fouling as well as deterioration of RO membrane.

Diagrammatic representation of a clean-in-place(CIP) unit for the cleaning of

reverse osmosis membranes
 REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM TYPES
On the basis of the number of sequential reverse osmosis
systems for product water treatment and brine treatment, the Since each RO pass offers
reverse osmosis system configurations can be categorized extra treatment of product
into two types: (i) single-pass and multi-pass reverse water produced by the
osmosis systems, and (ii) single-stage and multi-stage preceding RO system
reverse osmosis systems product water quality
improves with each pass

Single-pass and multi-pass Reverse Osmosis Systems

To decrease the total brine volume from the same

volume of feed water, the brine produced by
individual RO passes could be undergone
treatment by a distinct RO system, termed as a
stage

Single-stage and two-stage reverse osmosis

Systems
 PROCESSES IN RO PLANTS BASED IN GCC
Ras Abu Fontas 3 Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant

This plant is divided into two sub-reverse

osmosis desalination plants SP1 and SP2.

The SP1 is designed for delivering 22.0

Million Imperial Gallons per Day, whereas
SP2 is designed for delivering 14.0 Million
Imperial Gallons per Day.

The plant has the areas such as a)

Dissolved Air Flotation b) Disc Filters
c) Ultrafiltration d) Reverse Osmosis
High-Pressure pumps e) Reverse
Osmosis Racks f) Remineralization g)
Auxiliary equipment h) Chemical
dosing system.
 PROCESSES IN RO PLANTS BASED IN GCC
Umm Al Houl plant

Umm Al Houl plant will produce 284,000 m 3/day

of seawater desalinated by RO process.

1) Seawater feed
2) Pretreatment
It includes pH correction (sulfuric acid), coagulant dosing, mixing
and flocculation, DAF, and intermediate water pumping station
• Filtration stage through disc filters.
• Filtration stage through ultrafiltration membranes
3) RO system
4) Wastewater treatment
 PROCESSES IN RO PLANTS BASED IN GCC
Barka II seawater RO desalination plant (Oman)

• Pretreatment: Two-stage filtration

Umm Al Houl plant will produce 284,000 m 3/day
of seawater desalinated by RO process.
• 2 stages of dual-media filter in series

• Safety filtration by means of 14 cartridges filters (5μm)

• RO: 2-pass configuration

• Post-treatment (Water remineralization , Disinfection)

IN THIS CHAPTER
Basics of osmosis as well as reverse osmosis discussed

The equations for water flux, salt flux, rejection, recovery were also explained

The different processes in RO-based desalination plants, such as plant intake, pretreatment, RO
separation system, and post-treatment processes were briefly discussed

Different RO system components such as pumps, membrane elements, piping, pressure vessels,
trains, skids, energy recovery systems, membrane flushing system, and membrane cleaning
system, RO system types, instrumentation and controls were presented

In the end, the various processes in different seawater desalination plants in the Gulf region were
discussed
 Acknowledgem
ents

 Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University

Thank You