Reverse Osmosis (RO) has emerged a reliable method for producing high-purity water. This membrane technology is often used in combination with other technologies such as ion exchange to meet the purity requirements for producing deionized water in the utility, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and electronics industries. If you work with RO, however, you understand that the feed water must be preconditioned to protect the membranes from fouling and premature failure. What factors should be considered when designing an RO pretreatment system? Let’s go back to the basics to find out.
Effective reverse osmosis (RO) cleaning usually requires some knowledge of the type of foulant and the cleaning options available. It is essential to clean membranes at an early stage of fouling. It is often difficult to clean excessively fouled membranes and irreversible damage may occur during the cleaning process. Cleaning is recommended when your RO shows evidence of fouling, just prior to a long-term shut down or as a matter of scheduled routine maintenance. As a rough guide a generally acceptable cleaning frequency is once every 4 – 12 months. If you have to clean more than once a month you should be able to justify further capital expenditure for improved RO pre-treatment, or a redesign of the RO operation. If cleaning frequency is every 1 – 3 months you may want to focus on improving the operation of your existing equipment.
The Paramount Flow is sole Distributor Sales Specialty high preference Chemicals, process aids, Pretreatment plants and test dosage equipment for the water treatment industries. Treatment RO product range is designed to enhance cleaning efficiency. RO cleaning frequency, due to fouling and type of fouling, will vary by site. Unfortunately what often complicates matters is that it is common for more than one foulant to be present on membranes which need cleaning.
Technical aspects of the system design and operation, along with feed water and membrane foulant analysis should be considered before designing a membrane cleaning programme. Step-by-step procedures to include pH, temperature and cleaning duration, along with product selection, sequence and concentration can be providing. Alternatively if you would like to discuss about paramount flow services & products, with a member of our team, contact us now using the contact form on the side of the page and we will get back to you within two working days.