Design of RO Plants for Reclaiming of Treated Municipal Water

Ibrahim S. Al-Mutaz 1, Mohammed A. Al-Ghunaimi2, Ali A. Al-Mutlaq3

1

Chemical Eng. Dept. College of Engineering,

King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
2

Operations and Maintenance General Manager, 3 R and D Center Manager,

Riyadh Region Water and Sewerage Authority, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Presented at the Water & Wastewater Europe Conference on May 25-27, 2004 Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
Riyadh Municipal Treatment Plant has a capacity of 200,000 m3/day of wastewater.
Wastewater is screened, de-gritted and aerated in two-parallel basins. The aerated
sewage is then distributed to four primary sedimentation tanks. The clarified liquor is
then subjected to biological treatment based on the activated sludge process with
nitrification/denitrification in a single tank. The liquor passes alternating aerobic and
anoxic zones. The biological treated liquor is then distributed to 12 secondary
sedimentation tanks for separation of clarified water and sludge withdrawal. The
clarified water is treated in sand gravity filters. Finally it undergoes chlorination.
The reuse of treated municipal wastewater for irrigation is the oldest and largest reuse.
However, water with good quality can be produced if reverse osmosis (RO) is used
for the treatment of the tertiary treated municipal water. This will help in preserving
the natural strategic water resources, reducing the environmental pollution as well as
providing alternative resources.
This paper describes the design basics of utilizing a reverse osmosis technology in the
treatment of tertiary treated municipal water. Special emphasis will be made on the
design parameters and membrane characteristics for reclaiming effluent from Riyadh
Municipal Treatment Plant.
Introduction
Wastewater reuse is an essential factor in water resources management in many arid,
semiarid and water-short regions. Saudi Arabia is an arid country with a total land of
2.253 M Km2. The average rainfall is less than 101.6 mm (4 in). Water consumption
increases rapidly. Almost 85% of water consumption is for agriculture. During the
third five-year development plan (1980-1985), Ministry of Planning in Saudi Arabia
estimated water balance in the country as shown in table 1. Wastewater treatment
supplied only 5% of the 1985 Saudi water balance. It increased to about 20% in year
2000[1,2].
The reuse of treated wastewater in Saudi Arabia is essential in view of the limited
availability of natural resources of fresh water and the large decline of groundwater
levels and deterioration of its quality. Wastewater treatment and reuse provide a way
of securing additional water supplies for a variety of uses.

Table 1: Water Balance in Saudi Arabia, million m3/day

Water Resources:
Non-renewable
Renewable
Desalination
Urban Waste
Water Utilization:
Urban & Industry
Rural & Livestock
Irrigated Agriculture
Surplus
Total Resources
Total Utilization

1980

1985

1990

2000

3450
1145
63
--

3450
1145
605
140

3450
1145
794
335

3450
1145
1199
730

502
27
1832
2247
4658
4658

828
28
1873
2611
5340
5340

1211
31
2345
2137
5724
5724

2279
38
3220
986
6523
6523

Although the use of treated wastewater is limited at present in Saudi Arabia, it

represents a potentially important source of water for irrigation and other uses in
industry, public parks, and landscape irrigation. The volume of treated wastewater in
the major urban centers is estimated to be around 1.3 Mm3/day, of which 30-40% is
treated to the tertiary level [3]. The average coverage of sewerage networks in the
major cities is very low (30-40%). A small fraction of the currently treated water about 16%- is being reused mainly for agriculture irrigation.
The sewage collection network in Riyadh covers 48% of the households, providing
service to about 57 % of the population. The Province of Riyadh reuses the largest
amount of treated wastewater in the Kingdom, amounting to 33% of the total annually
treated effluent, mainly for irrigation. The operation started in 1982 with the
establishment of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), with responsibilities in the
operation of the infrastructure and the monitoring of water reuse practices and
compliance of farmers to standards and guidelines.

Description of Riyadh Wastewater Treatment Plant

Figure 1 shows a schematic flow diagram of Riyadh sewage treatment plant
(RSTP). The typical quality of Riyadh wastewater is displayed on table 2.
Wastewater is first screened by mechanically raked fine screens and afterwards
lifted up by archimedean screw pumps to insure a smooth flow through the
complete plant [4]. Degritting is effectuated in two parallel grit chambers
equipped with circular scrapers and grit washing facilities.
The raw sewage is treated in two parallel-aerated basins for oil and fat removal.
The equipment consists of scraper bridges, sand pumps and aeration equipment.
The compressed air is produced by four positive displacement blowers.

The pretreated sewage is distributed to four primary sedimentation tanks which are
equipped with circular scrapers with sludge draw-off facilities and surface scum
removal devices.

Crude Sewage
Mechanical

Screens

Grit
Removal

Primary
Sedimentation
Tanks

Grease
Removal

Secondary
Sedimentation
Tanks

Aeration Tanks
(With Nitrification &
De-nitrification Zones)
Returned
Biomass

Waste Sludge

Recirculation
Wasting

Final Effluent to Ministry of

Agriculture & Water for Reuse

S
lu
d
g
e

Chlorination

Gravity Sand
Filters

Sludge Disposal to
Fertilizer Company
Pre-Thickners

Anaerobic
Digestors

PostThickners

Mechanical
Dewatering
(Belt Filter Press)

Figure 1 Schematic flow diagram of Riyadh sewage treatment plant[4]

Table 2 Typical Composition of Riyadh Wastewater, mg/l

Constituent

Concentration
Influent
Effluent*
Total dissolved solids
1300
1100
Suspended solids
250
35
Settleable solids (mL/1)
3
ND
BOD5, 20C
200
30
COD
450
90
Ammonia - nitrogen
25
25
Nitrates as nitrogen
1
Phosphates
10
10
Chlorides
190
210
Alkalinity
200
190
Grease
100
10
Temperature, C
29
27
Free available chlorine
0
0.8
Total chlorine residual
0
4
pH
7.3
7.4
Dissolved oxygen
0
5
Alkyi benzene sulfonates
12-20
5
Total coliform
Millions/mL
50-100/100 mL
*)

before the tertiary treatment

The clarified liquor is then subjected to the biological treatment based on the
activated sludge process with nitrification/ denitrification in a single tank. The
liquor passes alternative aerobic and anoxic zones. The oxidation/nitrification of
the biomass is performed by injection of compressed air through porous pipes. The
compressed air is produced by 5 turbo compressors. The anoxic zones are
equipped with submersible mixers for avoiding sedimentation and improve
homogenization of the liquid.
The biologically treated liquor is then distributed to 12 secondary sedimentation
tanks which are equipped with circular scrapers with facilities for withdrawal of
sludge and clarified water. The clarified water is treated in sand gravity filters.
The plant consists of 52 filter basins. Filters are regenerated by a backflow of
chlorinated water and scour air, followed by a rinse of water only. The effluent
undergoes chlorination prior to discharge into the wadi.
The withdrawn sludge is recirculated by six archimedean pumps and fed back to
aeration tanks. The excess sludge is conveyed back to the outlet of the grease
removal. The withdrawn sludge from primary clarifiers is conveyed to the digester
tanks by means of six piston pumps. Digestion takes place in 6 unheated tanks
with gas stirring. The digested sludge is then pumped to the six belt filter presses.
Prior to feeding of the sludge in the filter presses the sludge is mixed with polymer
to increase the dewatering characteristics. The dewatered sludge is finally
conveyed to silos for storage before transportation with trucks to sites outside the
plants.
Table 2 also shows the composition of the treated wastewater effluent from
Riyadh sewage treatment plant. The following list displays the basic design
parameters of the plant:

Nominal daily flow rate :

Hourly flow rate
:
Peak flow rate factor
:
Peak flow rate
:
:
Average BOD influent
Average SS influent
:
Average BOD effluent
:
Average SS effluent
:
Average N-NO2 effluent :
Fecal coliforms in effluent :

200,000 m3/d
8,333 m3/h
1.6
13,333 m3/h
300 mg/l 60,000 kg/d
400 mg/l 80,000 kg/d
10 mg/l
10 mg/l
10 mg/l
Average value after 7 days MPN=2.2
no value above 23 after 30 days

RO Process Description
The reverse osmosis process consists of three main steps: (1) pretreatment, (2)
membrane assembly system and (3) posttreatment. Figure 2 shows the basic
arrangements of RO system.

Figure 2 Basic Components of Reverse Osmosis System

The purpose of the pretreatment step is to avoid any risk of clogging, fouling or
scaling of the membrane. Pretreatment is an important aspect of RO system. All RO
devices required pretreatment to remove the suspended solids, scalants, foulants and
colloidal matter.
In the pretreatment system, some chemicals are usually used before the filtration step.
Chlorine is often injected to disinfect feed water. Then copper sulfate is sometime
used to eliminate the danger of membrane damage by chlorine. Sodium bisulfate may
be used to dechlorinate the feed water. Ferric chloride, alum or polymers are the
typical coagulants used at the frefilter stage. In the filtration stage, a gravity filter with
different sand particle sizes is used. Then a fine cartridge filter is used after the sand
filtration. For ground water treatment, sulfuric acid or sodium hexameta phosphate
(SHMP) is often used to prevent carbonate scale. The exact dosage of each chemicals
depends on the chemical analysis of the feed water.
In the posttreatment step, product water passes through a decarbonation system, a pH
adjustment system and chlorine injection to comply with the required quality and use
of the product water. Calcium hydroxide with a concentration of 30-40 ppm is added
to the product water to adjust its alkalinity. The purpose of chlorine addition is to
eliminate the presence of microorganisms during storage and distribution.
Several types of RO membranes are commercially available. These are prepared
either as flat sheet or as hollow fibers made from cellulose acetate (CA) ester or
aromatic polyamide (PA). There are different ways of packing RO membranes. Of
these, three configurations have been produced commercially: tubular, spiral wound
(SW) and hollow fine fiber (HFF). Hollow fine fiber and spiral wound modules have
proved to be appropriate for several types of raw water in RO desalination systems.
Spiral wound has found many applications in the wastewater reclamation. The success
of the spiral-wound device has been related to the capability to package a relatively
large amount of membrane surface area into a relatively small element while
maintaining a certain degree of "cleanability", which, of course, is particularly
important for wastewater processes.

Reverse Osmosis System Configuration

RO configurations include single stage, two stages, and two-pass systems. Selection
among these configurations depends on the desired quality of the product water.
Single stage system gives the simplest layout of all configurations and its use is quite
common on various desalination applications. The two-stage system is quite common
for brackish water use, where it is necessary to increase the overall recovery ratio.
A single stage RO unit with a 99.5% salt rejection ratio would generate a product with
25 ppm for feed water with 5000 ppm salinity. The rejected brine salinity would
10,000 ppm for a product recovery ratio of 50%. To ensure efficient use of the feed
stream, two-stage system might be necessary. The two-pass system is often required
to provide low salinity product. Generally the following factors affect the choice of
the RO units:
1. Salinity and quality of feedwater
2. Feed temperature
3. Permeate recovery and Membrane salt passage
In the membrane system, water and small portion of dissolved salt pass through the
membrane due to the application of high pressure. The flow of water and salts, Qw
and Qs , across the membrane depend on many factors. The flow of water is directly
proportional to the differential pressure across the membrane, P. Part of the
differential pressure across the membrane had to be use to overcome the osmotic
pressure across the membrane, . On the other hand, the salt flow rate is directly
proportional to the differential salt concentration across the membrane, C. The basic
mathematical relations often used in RO system are:

Qw
Qs
Cp
SP

= A ( P - )
= Ks ( C )
= Qs / Qw
= Cp x 100 / Cf

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Where
A is the membrane permeability coefficient for water.
Ks is the membrane permeability coefficient for salt.
Cp is the salt concentration in the product stream.
Cf is the salt concentration in the feed stream.
SP is the percentage of salt passage.

Figure 3 Water Factory 21 wastewater reclamation system flow diagram.

A typical configuration of conventional pretreatment is shown in figure 3[5], which
outlines the tertiary pretreatment process applied at 5 mgd RO reclamation plant
located at Water Factory 21 (WF 21), Orange County, California.
The pretreatment consists of flocculation, lime clarification, recarbonation with CO2
and settling and slow gravity filtration. The biological activity is controlled applying
chlorination. Lime clarification is a very effective process in improving feed water
quality, but is expensive, requires large area and produces sludge, which can be
difficult to disposal. In some smaller systems the lime clarification and gravity
filtration is replaced by in line flocculation followed by two-stage pressure filtration
and cartridge filtration. At Water Factory 21 plant, RO membranes made of cellulose
acetate material, which was membrane of choice for majority of the reclamation
systems, experienced rapid fouling during operation.
The basic water treatment process criteria consist of designing the system to deliver
reclaimed water equal to or better than the current water quality for all constituent
parameters. In general, the following design criteria have to be addressed when
considering the application of RO system to a wastewater application [6]:
1) Chemistry of the soluble solids: One must make certain that precipitation will not
occur after concentration of the feed supply soluble solids. Operation on a stream
containing 500 ppm calcium sulfate, for example, at a l0x factor (90%) recovery will
not work in the long run, for example, since calcium sulfate precipitates at around
2000 ppm.
2) Filtration of insoluble solids: The more insoluble solids removed the better the
operation of a membrane system. Generally, if one can achieve filtration to five
micron, chances of success are greatly improved. It should be noted that simple
filtration using cartridge filters alone is generally not sufficient. Typically, a more
extensive prefiltration followed by 5 micron cartridge filtration is the most workable
design.
3) Recovery per membrane element: The lower the percent recovery per any given
membrane element within the system, the greater the chances for success. Of course,

this must be balanced against the additional expense in pumping power for lower
percent recoveries per element. Twenty percent recovery per element, for example, is
too high. A good design should be well below that level.
4) Flow velocity across the membrane surface: Irrespective of meeting the percent
recovery per membrane element needs, the absolute velocity across the membrane
surface must be considered. Using a typical wastewater design spacer material, a flow
of 20 gpm (75.7 Lpm) exiting from any given eight inch diameter membrane element
in a system is not great enough.
In this regard, a reclamation system has a pretreatment of sand filtration followed by
carbon filter then cartridge filter was studied to treat the tertiary effluent from Riyadh
wastewater treatment plant. RO unit has three stages. Three pressure vessels in the
first stage, two pressure vessels in the second stage and one pressure vessel in the
third stage. So there will be 3 independent reject outlets. No reject circulation is
assumed. Each pressure vessel has two elements. Feed water is maintained at a rate
of 4.67 m3/day. The conversion factor is 60% so total permeated water is 2.8 m3/day.
The computer projection of such a system shows an excellent product quality as
displayed on table 3.
Table 3 Water Analysis for the Assumed System, (mg/l)
Parameter
pH
NHt
K
Na
Mg
Ca
Sr
Ba
HCO3
NO3
Cl
F
SO4
SiO2

Feed
7.11
4.2
0
115
22.9
110.1
0
0
122.1
0
114.5
1.4
350
19

Permeate
5.2
0.2
0
1.5
0.2
0.9
0
0
2
0
1.5
0
0
0.5

Reject 1
7.35
6.1
0
168.6
33.7
161.7
0
0
179
0
167.9
2.1
513.8
27.8

Reject 2
7.35
8.5
0
235.5
47.1
226
0
0
249.8
0
234.5
2.9
718.2
38.7

Reject 3
7.35
10.3
0
285.4
57.1
274.2
0
0
302.6
0
284.2
3.5
871.3
46.8

The quality of reclaimed wastewater desalination by RO meets all the

requirements of drinking water in terms of parameters in all drinking water
standards. Generally, the chemical and physical characteristics of Riyadh treated
wastewater are within the standards required for unrestricted irrigation. Table 4
illustrated the proposed Saudi standards for wastewater effluent as well as the
FAO and USA EPA quality guidelines for unrestricted irrigation.

Table 4 Water Quality Standards for Unrestricted Irrigation

Parameter
BOD
TSS
Aluminium
Arsenic
Beryll ium
Boron
Cadmium
Chromium
Cobalt
Copper
Cyanide
Fluoride
Iron
Lead
Lithium
Manganese
Mercury
Molybdenum
Nickel
Selenium
Vanadium
Zinc
pH
Oil and Grease
Phenol
Fecal coliform
Turbidity
Chloride
Sulfate
Nitrogen
Sod. Ads. Ratio

Proposed Saudi
Standards
10
10
5
0.1
0.1
0.7
0.01
0.1
0.05
0.4
0.05
2
5
0.1
2.5
0.2
0.001
0.01
0.2
0.02
0.1
4
6.0-8.4
Absent
0.002

Maximum contaminant level (MCL), mg/l

EPA
FAO
Agricultural
Landscaping
20
15
5
5
5
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.75
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05
0.05
0.2
0.2
0.2
1
1
2
5
5
5
5
5
5
2.5
2.5
2.5
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.2
0.1
0.1
2
2
2
6.0-9.0
Nil
50

MPN 2.2/lOOmL

MPN 1000/lOOmL

MPN 2.2/lOOmL

2.2 NTU
280
10
-

100-200
200-400
8-18

Conclusions
Revere osmosis units can be used effectively to treat municipal effluent to reduce
contaminants level to potable water quality. Wastewater reclamation by RO offers
great promise for a sustainable reduction in cost, conserving natural resources as
well as marked improvements of pollution removal efficiency.
Reverse osmosis can remove dissolved solids which cannot be removed by biological
or other conventional municipal treatment processes. In addition, RO membranes can
also lower organics, color, and nitrate levels. However, extensive pretreatment and
periodic cleaning are usually needed to maintain acceptable membrane water fluxes.

Reference
1. Ibrahim S. Al-Mutaz, Treated Wastewater As a Growing
Water
Resources For Agriculture Use, Desalination 73, 27, 1989.
2. Ibrahim S. Al-Mutaz, Utilization of Treated Wastewater in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, International Conference on Air/Water and Environmental Pollution
and Hazardous Wastes, Bombay, India, Feb. 11-12, 1988
3. Ali Al-Tokhais, Future of Water Resources and Development Requirements
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Future Vision of the Saudi Economy
Symposium, Ministry of Planning, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2003.
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Process in Riyadh Sewage treatment Plant, Master thesis, Chemical
Engineering Dept., King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2004.
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