Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46

Reverse osmosis in water treatment for boilers

Pavel Čuda, Petr Pospíšil*, Jaroslava Tenglerová
Hradec Králové Branch, MEGA a.s. Praha, Veverkova 1343, 500 02 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
Tel. / Fax: +420 (498) 500-393; email: petr.pospisil@mega.cz, www.mega.cz

Received 3 November 2005; Accepted 22 December 2005

Abstract
Intense treatment of feed water solves high demands on a demineralized water quality in the processes involving
hot water/steam boilers. There are various demands on water quality parameters — its hardness, alkalinity, pH value,
carbon dioxide and oxygen content, etc. — according to the type of boiler and its working pressure. Collectively,
efficient demineralization and/or softening are always inevitable. Every desalination water treatment unit consists
of a standard pre-treatment part and a demineralization part. Arrangement of the pre-treatment part depends on the
kind of water source (well, surface, or tap water) and its individual analysis. This part of a water treatment unit is
essential to protect the plant. Thereafter, the demineralization part of a water treatment unit is chosen and designed
to meet product water quality demands. There are two basic methods used for brackish water desalination in the
Czech Republic: reverse osmosis and ion exchangers. An application is presented of the Mega Company’s reverse
osmosis units in the area of water treatment for boilers. It describes some installations and their properties — source
water quality, pre-treatment techniques, and product quality. A brief comparison of the reverse osmosis process and
ion exchangers is also presented.

Keywords: Reverse osmosis; Boilers; Ion exchange; Demineralized water; Brackish water

1. Introduction important role in industrial processes and even in

local ecology. Thus, a question of proper water
Water treatment serves as supplementary tech-
treatment with respect to economical or environ-
nology in all industrial applications. The quality
mental aspects is discussed. An application of
of technological water or wastewater plays a very
advanced membrane processes enters the indus-
trial playground nowadays.
*Corresponding author.

Presented at the 2nd Membrane Science and Technology Conference of Visegrad Countries (PERMEA),
Polanica Zdroj, Poland, 18–22 September 2005.
0011-9164/06/$– See front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.09.007
42 P. Čuda et al. / Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46
This paper describes an application of reverse
osmosis (RO) in the area of water treatment for
boilers and cooling systems. Two examples of
RO water treatment units built by Mega are
presented. A brief comparison of the RO process
and ion exchange (IE) process is also given.
Demands for boiler water quality are different
for various types and working pressures of
boilers. There is also a question of usage of water
in boiler circuits: water can be used as circulation
water or feed water to cover sludge blow-off and
surface blow-down losses. Generally, clear and
colourless water must be assured, without sus-
pended solids, oils and aggressive chemicals.
Other parameters of product water are low
content of hardness, alkalinity, carbon dioxide,
oxygen and SiO2, and pH value above 8.5 [1].
This paper deals only with treatment of brack-
ish water. There are some applications of RO
technology in seawater treatment around the
world [2,3], successfully competing with thermal
desalination processes [4,5]. River water treat-
ment by RO technology is combined with
ultrafiltration in newer installations instead of
clarification and sand filtration processes [6,7].
Furthermore, the application of membrane pro-
cess pre-treatment and the RO process for puri-
fication and reuse of secondary treated effluent
have been installed to the cover fresh water
requirements of power stations in Australia [8].
2. Water treatment
Water treatment units with desalination can be
divided into a pre-treatment part, desalination part
and post-treatment part. Pre-treatment of the
source water plays a significant role in efficiency,
the economical aspects and life-span of a desali-
nation unit. When the investment costs of a new
water treatment unit are calculated, the price of
pre-treatment is nearly constant irrespective of
desalination method applied.
The set-up of the pre-treatment depends on the
type of source water. In greater capacities surface
water can be treated; in small capacities it is well
or tap water which is usually treated. The aim of
the desalination and post-treatment parts of water
treatment plants is to reach a composition of the
water according to regulations for the type of
boiler and its working pressure. The following
methods can used to produce water of standard
parameters for boilers from brackish waters in the
Czech Republic:
C IE filters (softening, decarbonization),
C one-pass RO followed by IE demineralization,
C oneppass RO followed by electro-deionization
(EDI),
C two-pass RO.
IE filters are a conventional method for water
demineralization, softening and decarbonization.
It seems now that their disadvantages (e.g., high
consumption of regeneration chemicals together
with production of salty wastewaters) pre-
dominate over their advantages (e.g., low invest-
ment cost). RO, a well established process for
water demineralization, can be introduced here
due to its advantages. By using two-pass RO or a
combination of RO with a complementary desali-
nation process, it is possible to obtain product
water with conductivity less than 0.1 µS/cm.
3. Comparison of desalination methods
A comparison can be drawn among desali-
nation methods in connection with various atti-
tudes. Generally, the most important are:
C investment costs,
C operational costs, which can be roughly sort
out on costs of electric energy, chemicals and
operators,
C ecological impact of proposed technology.
As said above, investment costs of pre-treatment
are practically identical regardless of desalination
method, and this can be also said about its
operational costs. Thus, a comparison of desali-
nation methods is of interest. When the criterion
 P. Čuda et al. / Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46
Table 1
Comparison of chemicals costs for two technology arrangements (tap water, TDS 730 ppm; production of boiler water,
8 m3/h)
Process order
RO ÷ IE
Cons. (kg/m3) Unit price (€/kg) Cost (€/m3)
38% H2SO4 for RO 1.060 0.113
100% NaCl for IE 0.008 0.267
Cost on 1 m3 of product
for choosing the right desalination technology is
volume of treated water and its salinity, then:
C RO is better in treatment of large capacities
and waters with higher levels of TDS.
C IE filters are better in small capacities and
waters with low TDS.
This contention is based on experience and on
calculation of costs [9]. It can be seen from the
following example where the chemicals costs
have been calculated for RO and IE softening that
the ordination of joint technologies in desali-
nation is also important.
RO units are still more expensive for treatment
of both large and small capacities, but total ope-
rational costs are lower than chemicals costs of IE
filters, but no word about their environmental
impact. The consumption and cost of chemicals
in the Czech Republic are compared for a
relatively small capacity in Table 1. This is the
case of a potential customer who has had an old
water treatment plant with softening by IE to
produce boiler water. Because of the need for
product quality, they required a RO unit as a
second step to the IE unit (see Fig. 1a). The
chemical costs were calculated for this demand
and compared with the chemical costs of
technology where the order of desalination
methods is reversed (see Fig. 1b). It seems better
from the point of view of the environment to
decrease the TDS of tap water on the RO unit
43
IE ÷ RO
Cons. (kg/m3) Unit price (€/kg) Cost (€/m3)
0.120 0.093 0.113 0.011
0.002 1.564 0.267 0.417
0.122 0.428
Fig. 1. Technology set-up: (a) demanded by customer,
(b) proposed by Mega.
with a relatively higher electrical energy cost and
then remove the remaining calcium and mag-
nesium content on an IE softening filter with a
very small capacity and with low consumption of
chemicals. Nevertheless, the investment costs
were more important in this case than the opera-
tional costs with a negative environmental impact
of softening by IE; thus, the technology was
designed according to the original demand of the
customer by a competitor.
The advantages of the set-up shown at Fig. 1b
compared to 1a are:
C smaller osmotic pressure of feed water for RO,
which means low pump pressure and therefore
low operational costs,
C lower alkalinity of the product,
C lower concentration of dissolved solids (TDS)
in product,
C lower concentration of dissolved solids (TDS)
in RO concentrate, and a small volume of
wastewater from regeneration of the IE filter.
44 P. Čuda et al. / Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46

4. Reverse osmosis application

Application of the IE desalination process for

water treatment for boilers is widely spread in the
Czech Republic. Low mineralized well or surface
water is commonly treated so the IE process
sometimes seems economical [9]. The ecological Fig. 2. Technology set-up at Saint-Gobain Vertex,
impact of IE is overcome by the investment costs Litomyšl.
of new desalination processes, although they are
becoming less expensive. Even the operation
costs of new desalination processes are lower
with new types of low-pressure membranes (in
the case of RO) and low electrical resistance
membranes (in the case of electrodialysis and
electrodeionization processes) introduced into the
market.
When new boiler rooms are built or some
older ones are reconstructed, it can be observed
that RO is a promising alternative. IE deminerali-
zation is also sometimes used as a supplementary
second stage of demineralization after RO. Fig. 3. RO unit in Saint-Gobain Vertex, Litomyšl.
Mega has designed two RO units for appli-
cations in water treatment for boilers in recent
years [10]. Both technologies serve as a sub- aeration tower where CO2 is removed. The pH of
stitute of IE desalination units treating well water. permeate is adjusted to the proper value by an
In the first application the production of addition of NaOH solution and residual ions are
demineralized water was 2.1 m3/h; the second removed in a IE softening filter.
application produced 60 m3/h of demiwater. The RO unit pressure vessels are filled with
The first application in Saint-Gobain Vertex nine Hydranautics ESPA2-4040 membrane
(Litomyšl, Czech Republic) was designed in modules in 3×2 + 3×1 configuration. The
1999. The simple set-up of technology is shown working pressure of the unit is 13 bar.
in Fig. 2, which gives a diagrammatic repre- Overview of technology at Saint-Gobain
sentation of the system. Well water enters the Vertex:
treatment plant through the ball valves with a C treatment of well water, TDS 535 ppm
bypass. Then a protective cartridge filtration C pre-treatment: cartridge filtration, acid dosing
follows. Before well water enters the RO unit, pH C RO unit: permeate flow of 2.1 m3/h, recovery
is adjusted to the proper value by an addition of 66%
H2SO4 solution. The acid dosing is controlled C post-treatment: aeration to remove CO2, IE
according to the pH value measured by the demineralization, alkalization, and thermal
through-flow pH detector placed behind the degasification
dosing. The RO unit (Fig. 3) divides the feed
water into the permeate stream and the con- The composition of the waters in Saint-Gobain
centrate stream. The concentrate stream is drained Vertex is shown in Table 2, Col. A. The main
off and the permeate stream passes into the ions in the well water are calcium and
 P. Čuda et al. / Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46 45

Table 2
Comparison of water composition, Saint-Gobain Vertex,
Litomyšl, Czech Republic
Fig. 4. Technology set-up at Saint-Gobain Vertex,
Litomyšl (Perla a.s. Ústi nad Orlicí).
Indicator Col. A Col. B Col. C
Well water IE RO + IE
2+ !1
Ca (mg l ) 124.0 1.0 0.38
Mg2+ (mg l!1) 4.7 0.1 0.03
Na+ (mg l!1) 4.6 154.5 2.56
K+ (mg l!1) 2.7 2.7 0.07
NH4+ (mg l!1) < 0.05 < 0.05 < 0.05
HCO3! (mg l!1) 243.4 243.4 6.1
SO42! (mg l!1) 70.0 70.0 0.4
Cl! (mg l!1) 31.0 31.0 < 0.2
NO3! (mg l!1) 44.2 44.2 < 3.0
SiO2 (mg l!1) 5.0 5.0 < 0.1
pH 7.45 7.45 7.0
TDS (mg l!1) 535.0 557.0 12.0
Conductivity 827.0 768.0 13.4
(µS/cm!1) Fig. 5. RO unit in Perla, Ústí nad Orlicí.

bicarbonate. Water produced by previous tech-
nology (col. B) was characterized by low hard-
ness but an increased content of sodium and
bicarbonate. It led to frequent surface water blow-
downs. With the new technology, the blow-off is
reduced to a minimum so heating energy is also
saved. The composition of boiler water treated by
new technology is presented in Col. C.
A second application of the Mega RO unit for
production of water for boilers is installed in
Perla, Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic. It was
built in 2004. A simple set-up of the technology
is shown in Fig. 4 which gives a diagrammatic
representation of system.
Well water enters the treatment plant through
the ball valves with a bypass. Then the pH is
adjusted to the proper value by an addition of
H2SO4 solution. The acid dosing is controlled
according to the pH value measured by the
through-flow pH detector placed behind the
dosing. The RO unit (Fig. 5) divides the feed
water into the permeate stream and the con-
centrate stream. The concentrate stream is drained
off and the permeate stream passes into the
aeration tower where CO2 is removed. The pH of
permeate is adjusted to the proper value by an
addition of NaOH solution.
The RO unit pressure vessels are filled with 30
Hydranautics ESPA2-7 membrane modules in a
4×5 + 2×5 configuration. Working pressure of the
unit is 12 bar.
Overview of technology at Perla:
C treatment of well water, TDS 508 ppm
C pre-treatment: acid dosing
C two RO units: permeate flow 2×30 m3/h,
recovery 75%
C after-treatment: aeration to remove CO2, par-
tial alkalization, thermal degasification
5. Conclusions
RO is very promising technology in the
preparation of water for boilers. Its application
allows reduction of operating costs and the
introduction of a higher level of automation of the
46 P. Čuda et al. / Desalination 198 (2006) 41–46
water treatment process. It also improves eco-
logical indices of power plants by reducing the
amount and salinity of wastewaters. RO, followed
by IE, can be used to prepare completely mineral-
free water.
When the decision between RO and IE for
demineralization of water is made, then it is
necessary to consider the capacity of the plant,
feed water salinity and requirements of product
quality. When the feed water has medium or high
mineralization and the capacity of the water
treatment plant is planned to be large, then it is
advantageous to install RO technology. When the
feed water has low mineralization, the capacity of
the plant is small and product water does not need
to have low TDS and conductivity, it is advan-
tageous to install IE softening. IE deminerali-
zation is not good in any case due to the high
consumption of regeneration chemicals and
production of great volumes of waste water from
regeneration.
The future of water demineralization probably
belongs to combination of RO and EDI where the
chemical cost and production of wastewater are
lowered to a minimum. EDI, which combines the
advantages of electrodialysis and IE resins, can,
in combination with RO, produce ultra-pure water
of very high quality.
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