In the Name of ALLAH The Most

Beneficent, The Most Merciful

Reverse Osmosis (RO) Pre-Treatment

By
Shah Muhammad Tanweer (Ex-PGM SQIWPP)

Two day Course on

“Membrane Desalination - Drinking and Industrial Water Treatment”
(5th and 6th Septmeber 2016)
Organized By
Center for Continuing Engineering Education (CCEE)
NED University of Engineering & Technology
 Executive Summary
 In the report & in this presentation the following items have been
discussed

 What needs to be accommodated (Slide # 3)

 Sea Water Threats to Membrane and Parameters to be
measured (Slide # 4 – 6)
 Pre-Treatment Philosophy (Slide # 7 – 8)
 Pre-Treatment Design, Equipment and Cost (Slide # 9 – 15)
 SWRO Membranes Construction, Typical Operational Events &
Performance (Slide # 16-19)
 What is the Outcome of Pre-Treatment Failure (Slide # 20)

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 What Needs to be Accommodated
Feed Water Pre-Treatment
 Foulants that can  Robust Design, not prone
precipitate on surface of to any Failure
membrane  Economical
 Naturally Occurring Soluble  Easy O&M
Solids  Only required items for sea
 Emulsified Oil water to be addressed
Pretreatment is required
 Microorganism, to increase the efficiency and life expectancy of
Bacteria
the membrane elements by minimizing fouling, scaling and degradation
Membrane Conditioned Water
of the membrane.
 Excess pressure
 Properties & Flow regime
 Reduction of surface area due to Fouling or Scaling
 Exposure to chemicals that alter their structure
 Cleaning frequency

Ultimate goal is to get economical and efficient productivity through membrane3 by

extending its life of operation
 Feed Water – Threats to Membrane
 Particulate Foulants
 Mainly suspended solids
and silt
 90% larger than 1micron,
10% larger than 0.1 µ
 Colloidal Foulants
 Both Organic & Inorganic
 Pore size -- 0.001 to 1 µ
 Silica & Iron---?
 Mineral Scale Foulants
 Inorganic compounds
 Reduced Chances if pH
7.6 to 8.3 and recovery
45 to 50%
 Metal & Hydro Oxides--?
 Natural Org. Foulants
 Natural Organic Material
(NOM) Large Mwt
 500 to 3000 Daltons
 Microbial Foulants
 Marine Micro-organism ,
Marine Bacteria &
organic excreted
 Fouling Potential
• Concentration & Spec
• Bio-degradable Contents
• Nutrients Availability
• Inactive to Active State4
 Feed Water – Parameters to be Measured
 Turbidity What It measures
 Content of clay, silt, suspended organic How It is expressed
matter & microscopic marine life SWRO Requirement
 Nephelo-metric Turbidity Unit” (NTU) Normal Reduction
 Maximum 1 (NTU) Method
 Normal Filtration reduces to 0.1 NTU
 Silt Density Index SDI  Organic Carbon Content
 Content of large size  Content of both NOMs and
particulates and colloids easily biodegradable
indicating the particulate organics
fouling potential  TOC & ATP/cm2
 SDI 15 or SDI 25  Values around 100 ppb are
 Values around 4 or Less critical
 Normally achieved through  Coagulation, Granular
Dual Media Filtration (DMF) Activated Carbon Filters 5
 Feed Water – Parameters to be Measured
 Iron
 In reduced form, SWRO membranes can tolerate up to 2
mg/lit of concentration
 If in oxidized form, concentration greater than 0.05 mg/lit
would cause accelerated fouling
 Manganese
 In reduced form, SWRO membranes can tolerate up to 0.1
mg/lit of concentration
 If in oxidized form, concentration greater than 0.02 mg/lit
would cause accelerated fouling
 Silica Oil & Grease Chlorine
 Concentration > Concentration > Concentration >
20 mg/lit can 0.02 mg/lit can 0.01 mg/lit can
cause cause accelerated cause damage to
accelerated organic Fouling Membrane 6
Fouling
 Pre-Treatment– Philosophy
 Dependence
 Feed Qualities & Properties (Important Parameters)
 Tolerances in Membrane
Source Water Quality Recommended Configuration Remarks
Parameter Value
Turbidity NTU < 0.1 Grit Removal
SDI15 <2 Cartridge or Bag Filters only required at
TOC mg/lit <1 Intake
Turbidity NTU > 0.1 & < 5 Single stage Dual Media Filter (DMF) + In UF system
SDI15 <5 Cartridge Filters. Coagulant
Or Micro Filtration (MF) / Ultra Filtration addition is not
TOC mg/lit <1
(UF) required
Turbidity NTU > 5 & < 30 Coagulant
Single stage DMF + Cartridge Filters.
SDI15 >5 addition
Or MF / UF
TOC mg/lit <4 required
Turbidity NTU > 30 &< 50 Sedimentation / DAF +Single stage Sedimentation
SDI15 > 5 Algae DMF + Cartridge Filters. Or ahead of the
TOC mg/lit > 4 oil spill Sedimentation / DAF + MF / UF filtration unit
Turbidity NTU > 50 DAF may not be
SDI15 > 5 Algae High rate Sedimentation / DAF +Two required if Algal
stage DMF + Cartridge Filters. Or High bloom or oil spill
TOC mg/lit > 4 oil spill rate Sedimentation / DAF + MF / UF is no issue 7
Pre-Treatment– Philosophy-- Microbial Control
 Microbial Fouling
Three Factors for can be Controlled
Microbial Fouling to Occur

 Reduction in Biodegradable
Easily Biodegradable Food Source
Food Source
• Bio-degradation
 Metabolically ActiveUpstream – Conventional 30% can be
Marine Growth
enhanced
 Favorable to 60%. MF, Conditions
Hydrodynamic UF to MBR’sat and MBBR’s
Membrane
• Coagulation
• Adsorption Upstream
• Gentle Removal of Algal Bio Mass from Sea water
 Reduction in Bacterial Content
• Strong Oxidants, Disinfectant, UV
• Strong Reducing Agent
 Creation of Hydrodynamic Conditions at Membrane That do
not Favors its Attachment
• Running at relatively Low recovery
• Feed Concentrate Spacer Geometry
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 Pre-Treatment– Design
 Choice from the Philosophy
 Best Fit Principal
• Area Constrain
• Flexibility in Quality
 Operation & Maintenance
• Cost of Product
• Equipment Training
 Economy
• Material
• Size of equipment
 Pre-Treatment– Design--Equipment
 Sea Water Screening  Dosing Pumps
 Conventional Bar and  Scale Inhibitor
band Screen  Disinfectants
 Travelling fine mesh  Sand Removal Facility
band screen
 Grit Chambers
 Intake Wedge-wire
 Sedimentation
screen
 Dissolved Air Flotation
 Drum Micro-screen
 Disc Filtration  Granular Media Filter
 Mixer (Source Water  Cartridge Filter
Conditioning)
 In line Static Mixers
 Mechanical Flash Mixers
 Pre-Treatment– Design--Equipment
 Granular Media Filter Design
 Granular Media
 Anthracite, coal, silica, sand, garnet
 Two stage
 TOC > 6 mg/lit & NTU > 20
 Back Wash
 Concentrate -- 2 to 6% of feed volume
 Time -- 24 to 48 hrs
 Bed Expansion -- 30 to 50%
 Placement
 0.4 to 0.8 meters of anthracite above 1.0 to 1.2 meters of
sand.
 For Losses Cover– additional 3cm to 5cm.
 Pre-Treatment– Design--Equipment
 Granular Media Filter Design
 For removal of soluble organics by bio-filtration
 Deep media of Anthracite 1.5 to 1.8 meters is employed
 For high micro-algae removal
 0.5 to 20 μm or large amount of fine silt, then tri-media
filters with 0.45 to 0.6 meters of anthracite on top, 0.2 to 0.3
meters of sand in middle and 0.1 to 0.15 meters of garnet or
limonite in bottom
 Contact time
 10 to 15 min.
 Loading rate
 8 to 10 m3/m2-hr.
 Loading Rate for Pressure Filter -12 to 30 m3/m2-hr .
 Dual Media
Filter (DMF)

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 Pre-Treatment– Design--Equipment
 Cartridge Filter
 Nominal Size Range
 From 1 to 25 μm,
 Material
 polypropylene.
 Wound (spun) is
commonly used for sea
water applications
 Captures
 Fine sand and particles
left through GMF
 If sand is anticipated in
the feed water, rigid
melt-blown cartridges
are used.
 Average Hydraulic
Loading Rate
 Less than 0.25 lit/s per
250 mm of length.
 Clean Pressure Drop
 Less than 0.2 Bar
 Replacement
 when the differential
pressure increases to
0.7 to 1 bar.
 What happens to SDI
after C.F it Increases
or decreases ???
 Pre-Treatment– Design--Equipment
 Membrane Pre-Treatment
 Advanced technology comprises of hollow fibers, combined
into bundles, installed in standard modulus -- acts as a filter
 The operating cost – comparable as -- 12.5% higher flux
 Higher use of power than GMF (0.25 kw-hr v/s 0.04 kw-hr).
Cost of water in US$ / m3 is 1.038 & with GAC is 1.1
 This system is not effective in removal of organic content
and thus results in lower design flux and recovery
 Source sea water of annual average turbidity lower than 20
NTU could be treated economically without upstream solids
removal
 Source water can contain particles with sharp edges, these
sharp particles can damage membranes while filtration. To
remove these particles micro screenings should be placed
ahead of membrane intake
 Pre-Treatment– Design--Cost
 Pre Treatment Cost Dependency
 Source water quality
 Type of treatment
 Usually US$ 0.5 to 1.5 M/MGD
SWRO Membrane – Typical Events in Operation
Time Performance of RO Element RO Membrane Surface
Clean membrane surface.
Highest Water Flux. Permeate TDS may
Rapid sorption of dissolved
1–8 be high during initial rinsing, then
organics, colloids and
Hours lowers, then rises slightly.
bacteria. Physical
compaction of membrane.
Additional sorption of
Sharp Water flux decline (up to l0-15%).
Colloids and bacteria.
1- 14 Permeate TDS may stay the same, go up
Microbial growth and
Days or may even decrease.
multiplication. Biopolymer
synthesis.
Gradual Flux decline. When end of life
Bio-film gradually develops
water flux reduces by 10% to 15% or
in thickness. Concentration
Feed /concentrate differential pressure
After 2 polarization enhanced.
increases by l0- 15%, a chemical cleaning
Weeks Membrane
is required to bring water flux back to
may deteriorate.
the expected flow rate based upon a
standard gradual flux decline slope 17
 SWRO Membrane – Performance
With Same No Decrease in Flow
Pressure No Increase in TDS

No Need to For Same Through put

Increase
Pressure

 Re-Gaining Performance  Mechanism of

 Flushing Membrane Fouling
 Rate & Reversibility  External or Surface
 Chemical Cleaning Fouling
 Internal Fouling
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 SWRO Membrane – Performance
 Mechanism of Membrane Fouling
 External or Surface Fouling
• Reversed by Chemical Cleaning
• Accumulation of deposits on the surface through three
mechanisms
1) Formation of mineral deposits termed as scale
2) Formation of cake of rejected solids
3) Growth and accumulation of colonies of microorganism

 Internal Fouling
• Mostly Permanent & Irreversible damage
• Structural Changes in Membrane Polymer
1) Long Term Pressure – Temperature – Physical Compaction
2) Chemical – Altering Structure --- Strong Oxidants, Strong Acid and
Strong Base.

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Out Come of the Pre-Treatment Failure

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Any Question ?

smt@sitechinternational.com

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