OSMOSIS

Osmosis is a natural process characterized by the transfer of water molecules from a low to

a high concentration solution over across a semi-permeable membrane. Water and a

fraction of ions can pass across the membrane, but nearly all ions and dissolved solids are

rejected. This process (water moving across) continues until osmotic equilibrium is

established, or the chemical potential on both sides of the membrane is equal (Figure 1).

When equal chemical potential is reached, there exists a height difference between the two

compartments. The difference in level of the liquids represents the difference in osmotic

pressure between the two liquids. (Lanxess)

Figure 1: Principle of osmosis and reverse osmosis (Lanxess)

REVERSE OSMOSIS

Reverse osmosis is a method for purifying water that involves removal of ions, molecules,

and large particles from drinking water using a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse

osmosis can remove a wide range of dissolved and suspended species from water, including

bacteria. As a result, the lump (solute) is trapped on the pressured side of the membrane

while the pure solvent is permitted to pass through. The membrane is expected to be
selective, resulting in drinking purified water that has reduced levels of many disinfection

by-products and trace organic contaminants as possible. The anisotropic RO membrane,

which coupled effective desalination with appropriate permeate flux at a suitable

hydrostatic pressure, took a quantum leap to reality in 1960. As a result, today's RO plants

are small and easy to operate, and they can take advantage of the fact that no phase change

is necessary in RO. As a result, the needed energy input is minimum, an advantage that no

other desalination process can match. It is a phenomenon which occurs when osmotic

pressure is exceeded by a greater pressure applied to the concentrated solution (Lanxess).

Water is forced to flow from the concentrated to the diluted side, and solutes are retained

by the membrane (Figure 1). Most commonly used arrangement, dead-end filtration (Figure

2a), a solution is passed through a filter, leaving behind one or more components. (Brett,

2006) The configuration used for membrane separation with a RO membrane is cross flow.

The feed water stream enters the membrane in a tangential direction. A small portion of the

water in this feed stream penetrates through the membrane, with the rest flowing over the

surface. As a result, two streams are collected (Figure 2b): permeate, purified water with

low ion concentrations; and concentrate, containing a large number of tiny particles and

dissolved ions(this configuration decrease buildup of residue at the membrane surface since

most of the material is swept downstream.).

 Feed

Solute
retained
Semi
permeable
membrane

Permeate

Figure 2a: Dead-end flow (Brett, 2006)

Figure 2b: Cross flow of RO membrane (Dupont, 2020)

RO SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Most RO systems are made of the following elementary parts. The design for each

component varies by are of application, quality of feed water, and the product quality.

1. Pre-filter(s): It is standard to pretreat the feed water supply before it enters an RO

system. Sediment filters extensively used to remove sand, silt, dirt, and other sediment.

Organic compounds and chlorine present in the water can be removed by carbon filters.
2. Reverse osmosis membrane: The RO membrane is the key structure of the system. The

membrane is where the solid residues are trapped in the concentrate as water move across

producing clean water.

3. Pressure vessels: A pressure vessel is a sealed hollow tube that holds the RO membrane

elements. Pressure must be applied to push water through a semi-permeable membrane to

overcome the osmotic pressures of both feed and permeate.

4. Pumps: Pumps are required to push the water through the RO system. They must be

designed to meet the operating pressure and flow rate of the system. These pumps consume

the most energy throughout the system.

5. Valves: Valves are needed for effective control of flows and pressure of fluids in the RO

system. The valves are usually found on pipes the carry feed and concentrate fluids.

6. Storage tank: The fresh water produced is stored in tanks for further use.

7. Drain line: This is used to dispose of the concentrated fluid from the RO membrane to a

drain. (PNNL, 2013)

Figure 3: The fundamental component of an RO System (PNNL, 2013)

WORKING OF RO (REVERSE OSMOSIS) SYSTEM

A Reverse Osmosis system works by applying pressure to the feed stream using a high

pressure pump. This increases the pressure on the salt side of the RO to overcome its

natural osmotic pressure and drive the feed water across the semi-permeable membrane.

Due to nature of RO membranes, most dissolved salts behind in the concentrate stream. The

amount of applied pressure needed is directly proportional to the concentration of dissolved

salts. The more concentrated the feed water, the more pressure is required to overcome the

osmotic pressure. The produced fresh water is called permeate (or product) water. (RDSO,

2015)

MEMBRANES

In the 1960s, high performances membranes were invented making them an integral

component for producing clean water. The different types of membranes are:

microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), reverse osmosis (RO), and nanofiltration (NF)

membranes (Figure 4). MF membranes reject large particles due to their very large pore

size. UF membranes follows after MF membranes, they reject macromolecules like

proteins. RO membranes have very minute pore size and thus reject most particles and even

compound with low molar masses like salt ions. NF membranes unlike RO membranes

which removes all solute, can work under low pressures and selectively reject particles

bades on size and charge. Their performance lies between that of RO and UF. They are

actively used for water softening; to remove Ca2+ and Mg2+. (Sagle et. al)
Figure 4: Pore sizes of the different types of membranes

MEMBRANE MODULES

Membrane modules come in four forms. They are: plate-and-frame, tubular, spiral wound,

and hollow fiber (Figure 5)

Figure 5: Schematic of a) plate and frame, b) tubular, c) spiral wound and d) hollow fiber modules

The plate-and-frame module consists of two end plates, the flat sheet membrane, and

spacers. Tubular modules have their membranes inside a tube which requires that the feed

water is pumped through the tube. The spiral module is the most popular as a result of its
frequent use in reverse osmosis and Nano filtration processes. The spiral module is made of

flat sheet membrane wound around a perforated permeate collection tube (Figure 6).

Deionized water is collected inside the tube. Hollow fiber modules consist of high packed

density bundles of hollow fibers in a pressure vessel. They are prone to high clogging and

fouling due to their very small internal diameter. (Baker, 2004)

6b
6a

6c

Figure 6: Spiral-wound element construction: 6a shows the internal components, 6b shows

how these are rolled into an element, and 6c shows a final spiral-wound element. (Wiles et

al., 2018)

ADVANTAGES OF REVERSE OSMOSIS

• Reverse osmosis is an energy saving operations compared to other desalination

methods.

• Reverse osmosis does not involve phase change between fluid fed hence can be

undertaken at room temperature.

• Reverse osmosis is a very eco-friendly operation. It hardly involves or release chemical

reagent into the environment.

• It can boast of a very high efficiency and water quality.

• It does not require lot of space and has a simple operation.

DISADVANTAGES

 Reverse osmosis is non-selective in its rejection of solute and as such removed essential

minerals that may be needed by humans. Some studies have shown the long term health

effect of drinking demineralized water. (Ahamefula et al., 2018)

 It requires that the pressure of the system should be close to that the membrane can

operate at.

REFERENCES

1. Baker, R. W., Membrane Technology and Applications, 2nd ed.; John Wiley & Sons,

Ltd.: Chichester, 2004.

2. Wiles Lyndsey, Elke Peirtsegaele, Reverse Osmosis: A History and Explanation of the

Technology and How It Became So Important for Desalination, 2018, MICRODYN-

NADIR, Goleta, CA.

3. Jiang Lei, Yue Tu, Xiangmin Li, Haixiang Li, Application of reverse osmosis in

purifying drinking water, 2018, College of Environmental Science and Engineering,

Guilin University of Technology, China.

4. Ahamefula A. Ahuchaogu, Okonkwo Joseph Chukwu, A. I. Obike, Chitua E. Igara,

Innocent Chidi Nnorom, John Bull Onyekachi Echeme, Reverse Osmosis Technology,

its Applications and Nano-Enabled Membrane, International Journal of Advanced

Research in Chemical Science (IJARCS), 2018.

5. Sagle Alyson, Benny Freeman, Fundamentals of Membranes for Water Treatment,

2005.

6. Brett Mareth, A Reverse Osmosis Treatment Process for Produced Water:

Optimization, Process Control, And Renewable Energy Application, August 2006.

7. Principles of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Separation, LANXESS Deutschland GmbH,

Business Unit Liquid Purification Technologies, November 2013.

8. DUPONT (2020) FILMTEC™ Reverse Osmosis Membranes Technical Manual. In:

Water solutions (ed), pp. 207.

9. Reverse Osmosis Optimization, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),

August 2013.

10. Guidelines on Water Purification Reverse Osmosis (RO), Research Design and

Standards Organization, Lucknow, January, 2015.