Harn R/O Systems Blog

Membrane water treatment is a process that removes unwanted constituents from water. A membrane is a barrier that allows certain substances to pass through while blocking others. Water treatment facilities use various types of membranes and processes to clean surface water, groundwater, and wastewater to produce water for industry and for drinking. It is a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing as a result of increasing concerns about contaminants in water and decline in safe, clean, easily accessible existing water sources.

Topics: membrane treatment system, reverse osmosis, desalination, clean drinking water, membrane filtration

Water quality and purification processes have improved over time, while demand for drinkable water has increased. Today’s membrane treatment plants can be tailored to the overall composition of water to be processed, and the membrane treatment methods used can reduce more possible contaminants. Where the desired outcome is stable, clean water with an appreciable return on the investment, upgrading to a membrane water treatment system is backed by cutting edge industry science.

Topics: water treatment, membrane treatment system, water quality, water purification process

An important part of operating membrane systems is accurate data collection on a daily basis.  The data will help predict normal maintenance schedules and will help determine the cause of any system upsets.  Comprehensive data is very useful in determining when the membranes need to be chemically cleaned, or eventually replaced. It also alerts the operator to changes taking place such as fouling, leaking “O” rings etc.

Topics: water quality, membrane treatment, water treatment, membrane treatment system, silt density index

During normal operation of an R/O water treatment system, the membrane elements will often suffer a reduction in performance due to the accumulation of small particles, colloids, microorganisms, or precipitated salts collecting on the membrane surface. 

Topics: save water, save money, membrane filtration, membrane treatment system, membrane treatment, water treatment

Pretreatment Equipment - Theory of Operation

Some raw feed waters contain suspended particulate material. This material is commonly sand, iron oxides, clay or elemental sulfur.

Introduction of such materials into the membrane system can cause the development of excessive system differential pressure (dP), or even complete blockage of the brine channels with the resultant reduction of permeate flow. It can also cause physical damage to the membranes themselves. This usually results in a decrease of permeate quality and reduction of membrane life. Cartridge filtration is normally a simple and cost-effective way to reduce the amount of particulate matter reaching the membrane surface.

Topics: ro calculations, water quality, membrane treatment, water treatment, membrane filtration, membrane treatment system, membrane plants

RECOVERY RATE

Recovery is the amount of water permeated per unit time - usually in gallons per minute (gpm) and expressed as a percentage of the raw water feed flow rate. The design recovery is calculated as follows:

Topics: membrane treatment, membrane treatment system, water treatment, ro calculations, membrane filtration, water quality, membrane plants