Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495

A new method for the treatment of the reverse osmosis

process, with preheating of the feedwater

S. Nisan*, B. Commerçon, S. Dardour

Directorate of Nuclear Energy (DEN), Reactor Studies Department (DER), Innovative Sytems Service (SESI),
CEA Cadarache, F-13108, Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France
Tel. þ33 4 42 25 46 28; Fax þ33 4 42 25 40 46; email: simon.nisan@cea.fr

Received 3 January 2005; accepted 21 February 2005

Abstract
This paper summarises our investigations on the conceptual studies of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) process
with preheating of the feed-water, which is expected to lead to lower specific power consumption and higher
water production, thus further reducing the cost of desalination by this advanced RO process.
There are, however, no adequate calculation methods to take into account the effect of temperature on the
RO system performance parameters such as the recovery ratio, feed pressure, feed flow and the permeate
salinity.
The work presented here tries to fulfil this need through the elaboration of mathematical correlations
expressing the variation of these parameters as functions of the input parameters such as feed temperature,
feed salinity, and the desired production capacity.
The principle of the method used is to first dimension the RO system with the help of the software ROSA
and the membrane SW30 HR380 for a series of calculations (504 cases) giving the variation of the above
performance parameters for a large range of the input conditions.
Numerical methods were then used to obtain the correlations giving the complete variation of the perfor-
mance parameters as functions of the input parameters.
The correlations were then integrated into the desalination cost evaluation code, DEEP, developed by IAEA
and in the course of continued development at CEA.
The revised version of the code was then applied to a specific project of nuclear desalination (the TUNDE-
SAL project), currently being carried out in the context of a collaboration agreement between France and
Tunisia, under the aegis of the IAEA regional cooperation programme.

Keywords: Preheat, RO, RO cost reduction

*Corresponding author.

Presented at the Conference on Desalination and the Environment, Santa Margherita, Italy, 22–26 May 2005.
European Desalination Society.
0011-9164/05/$– See front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
doi:10.1016/j.desal.2005.02.041
484 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495
1. Introduction and background
Reverse Osmosis (RO) system perfor-
mances are in general limited by several fac-
tors, e.g. the feed pressure, the feed salinity
(TDS or total dissolved solids), the permeate
flux (proportional to the desired desalting
capacity), etc. . . . In addition to specific mem-
brane performance characteristics, each of
these parameters is affected, under different
conditions, by the feed temperature (Fig. 1).
From the basic RO system equations, we
know that, for a given membrane, the rate of
water flow is proportional to net driving pres-
sure differential across the membrane.
From a theoretical stand point, as tem-
perature increases, osmotic pressure differen-
tial across the membrane, Dp, increases. If
the hydraulic pressure differential, P , is
maintained at a constant value, the mem-
brane’s net driving pressure, NDP (=P–
p) decreases.
The membrane’s permeability to water is
inversely proportional to feed water viscosity
Fig. 1. Factors influencing the membrane performance the reference [3].
[1]. As temperature increases, water viscosity
decreases and RO membrane becomes more
permeable.
These two effects may then lead to reduced
power consumption and higher production,
with the consequent economic gains in the
water production cost.
Some work on this so-called ‘ROph pro-
cess’ has already been reported in the literature
[2], but no precise methods of calculations,
taking into account the effect of feed-water
temperature on RO performance parameters,
have been reported. In fact individual authors
have developed their own recipes for ROph
calculations (which remain commercially
confidential) in the context of some economic
evaluations. It is thus not surprising that many
specialists in the field are not even convinced
that the preheating of the feed-water in the
RO process may indeed have some advantages
as compared to traditional RO.
The main objective of this paper is thus to
report a new development regarding the
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495
mathematical treatment of the ROph process,
enabling the analysis of the possible advan-
tages and inconveniences of the process. The
successive steps involved in this development
are as follows:
1 Virtual creation of the basic RO design with
the help of the DOW Chemical-FILMTEC
software ROSA, [3] requiring three basic
steps: a). choice of feed-water composition;
(which varied for different feed TDS), feed
temperature and feed TDS. b). setting up of
required N of pressure vessels for a single
stage system and c). calculation of various
parameters such as feed pressure, permeate
flow, recovery ratio, etc..
In this way, a series of calculations were
made for different values of feed temperature
(x), feed salinity (e) and the feed flow (m), as
summarised in Table 1. Combinations of
these then led to 504 calculated ROSA
cases. The membrane retained was SW30
HR380 in view of its high performances.
The main hypotheses used in all calcula-
tions were:
 Constant feed flow for a series of calcula-
tions with feed temperatures and feed TDs
varying. Calculations were then repeated
for several values of feed flows as shown
in Table 1.
 For a given feed flow rate, the number of
membrane elements was constant
 Permeate flow increased with temperature.
 Under these conditions the feed pressure
varied slightly with feed temperature, e.g.
Table 1
Values of input parameters for ROSA calculations
Feed temperature ( C) Feed TDS (ppm)
10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 442 20 000, 25 000, 30 000,
35 000, 40 000, 45 000,
50 000
485
for a 400,000 m3/d feed flow rate, the pres-
sures varied from 68.07 bar at 10 C to
69.16 bar at 44 C at a feed TDS value of
50,000 ppm.
2 ROSA results, in particular the recovery
ratio, the feed pressure, the permeate TDS
and the feed flow were then extracted, with
the help of a specific computer programme,
in the form of a data base from the 504
ROSA result files.
3 The database was then used to elaborate
the correlations expressing, in a consistent
manner, the above parameters as functions
of the input parameters:
Recovery ratio = f(x, e)
Feed pressure = f(x, e, m)
Feed flow = f(x, e, m)
Permeate TDS = f(x, e, m)
2. Principle
2.1. The first method
In an initial attempt we tried to obtain the
correlations characterising the membrane per-
formances by expressing, for example, the
recovery ratio, K, as a third order polynomial
expression in x, e and m
K = a0 þ a1x þ a2e þ a3m þ a4x2 þ a5e2
þ a6m2 þ a7xe þ a8xm þ a9em þ a10x3
þ a11e3 þ a12m3 þ a13ex2 þ a14mx2
þ a15xe2 þ a16xm2 þ a17me2 þ a18em2
It was then possible to formulate a 1919
matrix Ma of the form:
Feed flow (m3/d)
2000, 5000, 10 000,
20 000, 100 000, 200 000,
300 000, 400 000, 500,000
600 000
486 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495

 (1*1)  (1*x)  (1*e)  (1*m) —  (1*em2)

 (x*1)  (x*x)  (x*e)  (x*m) —  (1*em2)
 (e*1)  (e*x)  (e*e)  (e*m) —
 (m*1)  (m*x)  (m*e)  (m*m) —
— — — — — —
— — — — — —
 (em2*1)  (em2*x)  (em2*e)  (em2*m) —  (em2*em2)

And a second matrix, MK (for the recovery ratios) as the vector solution of the system:

 (1*K)
 (x*K)
 (e*K)
 (m*K)
—
—
 (em2*K)

So that, The main reason for this discrepancy

was that in the first method, the implicit
½Ma ½ai  ¼ ½MK assumption is that the performance para-
meters are independent, which is not the
One could thus obtain the 19 coefficients case in practice.
[ai] by using standard numerical methods of
matrix inversion such as the singular value 2.2. The second method
decomposition method (SVD), the low-up
In order to obtain the right correlations, we
method (LU), the improved LU method
then adopted a second method without assum-
with an iterative algorithm and the QR
ing that the input parameters were independent.
decomposition method.
In this method, we consider that the recov-
However, we subsequently discovered that
ery ratio, or the feed pressure or the feed
this first method was not very satisfactory
flow are functions of one parameter only at
because in order to obtain the 19 coefficients
a time:
we only required the 19 selected cases from
For example, in a first step, we suppose
the ROSA database. Even when we chose
that the feed temperature and the feed TDS
representative 19 cases covering the whole
are fixed, and the recovery ratio, K, can be
range of values given in Table 1, the resulting
expressed by a third order polynomial in m:
correlation gave correct values for the cases
with the range of values very close to the
initial 19 cases and absurd results (e.g. nega- K ¼ a0 þ a1 m þ a2 m2 þ a3 m3 ð1Þ
tive recovery ratio!) when the calculated
case was far removed from the initial cases. Recall that in the ROSA database, there are
Subsequent increase of the degree of the 8-values of the feed temperature and 7-values
polynomial expression did not give better of the feed TDS. There will thus be 56 equa-
results. tions of the type (1).
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495
These equations will then allow the calcu-
lation of the coefficients ai, belonging to the
56 families of Eq.1.
In a second step, we looked for the varia-
tion of the coefficients, ai, as functions of feed
temperature for given values of the feed TDS.
To ensure adequate convergence, we were led
to chose a 7th order polynomial expression.
We thus have
a0 ¼ a0 þ a1 x þ a2 x2 þ a3 x3 þ a4 x4 þ . . . . . .
þ a7 x7
a1 ¼ a8 þ a9 x þ a10 x2 þ a11 x3 þ . . . . . .
a2 ¼ a16 þ a17 x þ a18 x2 þ a19 x3 þ . . . . . .
a3 ¼ a24 þ a25 x þ a26 x2 þ a27 x3 þ . . . . . .
In this way, the recovery ratio, K, can be
expressed as a function of two variables, m
and x, for given value of the feed TDS, e
In a third step, we complete the variation
by changing the values of e and expressing
the coefficients ai as polynomial expressions
of the 6th order:
a0 ¼ b0 þ b1 e þ b2 e2 þ b3 e3 þ . . . . . . b6 e6
a1 ¼ b7 þb8 e þ b9 e2 þb10 e3 þ::::::
a2 ¼ b14 þb15 e þ b16 e2 þb17 e3 þ:::::::
a3 ¼ b21 þb22 e þ b23 e2 þb24 e2 þ:::::::
a4 ¼ b28 þb29 e þ b30 e2 þb31 e3 þ::::::
and so on. . . .
In this way the variation of K is obtained
as a function of the three variables x, e and m
The second method thus permits the ela-
boration of the complete correlations, repre-
senting the variations of a given ROph
performance parameter (e.g. the recovery
ratio) by successively solving the three sets
of linear equations for the coefficients a, a
and b. This can be done by using the matrix
inversion methods.
487
3. Development of the computer programmes
Since our basic aim was to obtain the corre-
lations for important parameters from a ‘realis-
tic RO process’ as described by ROSA, we were
led to develop a computer programme
(UMBRELLA) to convert ROSA results in
the text format. This is the basic database
from which other calculations can be made.
A second computer programme (conver-
sion) then reorganises the database and,
after, constituting the appropriate matrices,
resolves them by using the matrix inversion
methods mentioned above.
For the first method, we used all the 4
methods of matrix inversion. Results of ana-
ð2Þ
lysis, however, showed that of these the SVD
method was the most flexible one. It was thus
retained for the second method.
This second method also used the programme
conversion for the initial reorganisation and con-
stitution of the appropriate matrices.
The main programme, allowing the user
the options of choosing a given correlation
(e.g. recovery ratio), then resolves the differ-
ð3Þ ent linear system of equations as explained
above. In the final stage, the programme veri-
fies that all the cases considered are calcu-
lated correctly from the correlation prepared.
The complete architecture of the computer
programmes that we developed is shown in Fig. 2.
4. Results and discussion
The correlations thus developed are in the
process of detailed validation. However, as a
first indication of their soundness, some
results may be presented here.
4.1 Internal consistency and validation
To begin with, we recalculated all the 504
ROSA cases with the new correlations and
compared the results with the ‘real values’
given by ROSA.
488 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495

Fig. 2. Architecture of the complete programme for method 2 giving the correlation for recovery ratio; names of
subroutines are in bold
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495 489

An example of one such comparison, for
the feed pressure correlation, is given in
Table 2, for a feed TDS of 25,000 ppm
and some values of the permeate flow
(approaching the desired water production
capacity) at various temperatures.
We observe (not only for the values in
Table 2, but the whole range of values,
corresponding to combinations in Table 1)
that the relative difference between the calcu-
lated and real values is, indeed, very small
(1.3%).
Similarly the comparisons on the recovery
ratio and on the feed flow give errors between
the calculated and real values of the order of
1.5%. The only exception is the feed flow
correlation results for very low permeate
flow values (850 m3/d), where the relative
may reach 20% in some cases.
Knowing that the desalting capacities of
the modern RO plants are now of the order
of 10,000 m3/d/module, we can consider that
our correlations are valid in the range 2000–
600,000 m3/d.
4.2. Effect of feed-water temperature on RO
performance
Having checked the correlation for internal
consistency, we integrated it in the IAEA desa-
lination code DEEP [4]. Current version of
this code uses erroneous correlations from
data on very old membranes, giving unrealistic
values for membrane performance parameters.
Calculations were then performed for the
TUNDESAL project [5], with the ‘low’ pro-
duction capacity of 60,000 m3/d.
The results obtained are presented in the
figures below for feed TDS values of 25000,
30,000, 35,000, 40,000, 45,000 and 50,000
ppm The feed temperatures were varied
from 15 to 44 C.
Fig. 3 shows the variation of the recovery
ratio, as a function of feed temperature at dif-
ferent TDS values. One observes that for TDS

Table 2
Consistency check (selected results) and validation of the correlation against ROSA

Feed Permeate Calculated Real feed pressure, R Error = C-R/R

Temperature ( C) flow (m3/d) feed pressure, (C) (bar) (%)
(bar)

10 4200 68.857 69.19 0.48

15 4300 63.196 64 1.26
20 4300 58.507 58.75 0.41
25 4099 52.633 52.58 0.10
30 4000 49.042 48.98 0.13
35 3900 45.906 46.05 0.3
40 3800 43.522 43.65 0.29
44 3700 41.755 41.88 0.3
10 42000 68.857 69.19 0.48
15 44000 64.478 65.3 1.3
20 43000 58.792 58.75 0.07
25 41000 52.554 52.59 0.07
30 40000 48.96 48.99 0.06
35 39000 46.084 46.05 0.074
40 38000 43.679 43.65 0.07
44 37000 41.973 41.88 0.22
490 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495

Feed TDS=30000 ppm Feed TDS=35000 ppm Feed TDS=40000 ppm

Feed TDS=45000 ppm Feed TDS=50000 ppm

0.44
0.42
0.4
0.38
0.36
Recovery ratio

0.34
0.32
0.3
0.28
0.26
0.24
0.22
0.2
0.18
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed Temperature (˚C)
Fig. 3. Recovery ratio as a function of feed temperature and TDS.

4000
Feed TDS= 30000 ppm
Feed TDS=35000 ppm
Feed TDS=40000 ppm
3500
Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Feed TDS=50000 ppm
Feed Flow

3000

2500

2000

1500
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Feed Temperature
Fig. 4. Feed flow rate (for constant production) as a function of feed temperature and TDS.
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495 491

70

65
Feed pressure (bar)

60

55

Feed TDS=30000 ppm

50 Feed TDS=35000 ppm
Feed TDS=40000 ppm
45 Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Feed TDS=50000 ppm
40
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature (˚C)
Fig. 5. Feed pressure as function of feed temperature and feed TDS.

Feed TDS=25000 ppm Feed TDS=30000 ppm Feed TDS=35000 ppm

Feed TDS=40000 ppm Feed TDS=45000 ppm Feed TDS=50000 ppm
40
Osmotic Pressure (bar)

35

30

25

20

15
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature (˚C)

Fig. 6. Variation of the osmotic pressure with Feed temperature and TDS.
492 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495

55
Feed TDS=30000 ppm
Delta P = Δp - Δπ
50 Feed TDS=35000 ppm
Feed TDS=40000 ppm
45 Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Feed TDS=50000 ppm
Delta P (bar)

40

35

30

25

20
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature (˚C)
Fig. 7. Variation of DP with feed temperature and TDS.

470 Feed TDS=30000 ppm

Feed TDS=35000 ppm
420 Feed TDS=40000 ppm
Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Permeate TDS (ppm)

370
Feed TDS=50000 ppm"
320

270

220

170

120

70
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature (˚C)
Fig. 8. Permeate TDS as a function of Feed temperature and TDS.
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495 493

8
Specific power consumption (kWhe/m3)

4 Feed TDS=30000 ppm

Feed TDS=35000 ppm
Feed TDS=40000 ppm
3
Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Feed TDS=50000 ppm
2
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature (˚C)
Fig. 9. Specific power consumption as a function of feed temperature and TDS.

feed TDS=25000 ppm

Feed TDS=30000 ppm
0,7000
Feed TDS=35000 ppm
Desalination cost ($/m3)

Feed TDS=40000 ppm

0,6500 Feed TDS=45000 ppm
Feed TDS=50000 ppm
0,6000

0,5500

0,5000

0,4500
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Feed temperature

Fig. 10. Desalination costs as a function of feed temperature and TDS.

494 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495
values between 30,000 and 40000 ppm, the
recovery ratio passes through a maximum,
which moves towards higher temperatures as
the TDS is increased. At high TDS values (e.g.
45,000 and 50,000 ppm), the maximum is prob-
ably beyond the temperature limit of 44 C that
we retained for our studies.
It is also observed that that the absolute
value of the recovery ratio decreases with
increasing TDS at a given temperature.
Since,
Qp
K¼
Qi
Where Qp and Qi are, respectively, the pro-
duction and feed-flow rates, for a constant
production (of 60,000 m3/d in our case), Qi
should behave in an inverse manner and show
the corresponding minima as the feed tem-
perature and feed TDS are increased. This is
indeed shown in Fig. 4.
We also have,
Qp ¼ A S  ðDP  DpÞ
Where A is the membrane permeability, S is
the membrane active area, p is the high
head pump pressure rise (feed pressure) and
A*S is the osmotic pressure rise.
P normally decreases with temperature
and increases as TDS is increased. At very
high TDS values (40,000–50,000 p.p.m),
because of the saturation phenomenon, the
feed pressure is almost constant with tem-
perature. This is shown in Fig. 5.
p on the other hand increases steadily
both with the temperature and the TDS.
This is shown in Fig. 6.
It is for this reason that the behaviour of the
term P–p is rather complex as shows the
Fig. 7. Coupled with the complex behaviour of
the term A*S, we obtain the resultant variation
of the recovery ratio as shown in Fig. 3.
In a similar manner, the permeate TDS
systematically increases as the feed tempera-
ture and TDS are increased (Fig. 8).
4.3. Economic analysis
When the feed temperature is increased in
a ROph system, the feed pressure generally
decreases and the osmotic pressure is
increased. This then leads (for a given TDS)
to the reduction of the net driving pressure,
which then results in the reduction of specific
power consumption of the system. This is
indeed shown in Fig. 9.
A direct consequence of this reduction is
the lowering of the desalination costs with the
increase of feed temperature, as shown in Fig.
10. Naturally, for a given temperature, the
desalination costs increases with the feed
TDS. The ROph system thus needs to be
optimised for given site conditions.
5. Conclusions
The basic aim of investigations presented
in this paper was to understand the beha-
viour of the RO system, with the preheating
of the feed-water. It is for this reason that we
established appropriate correlations for
basic performance parameters of the system
through a mathematical treatment of a large
number of cases, as obtained from design
calculations for the Filmtec SW30 HR380
membrane.
Rather than making theoretical calcula-
tions, we put ourselves in a practical config-
uration in which the objective was to
produce a given amount of water through
seawater desalination with RO (e.g. a pro-
duction capacity of 60,000 m3/d, as required
for the La Skhira site in Tunisia). The only
restriction that we imposed in ROSA design
calculations was to use the single pass sys-
tem. This limited the feed temperature to
about 44 C.
 S. Nisan et al. / Desalination 182 (2005) 483–495
The correlations for the recovery ratio, feed
pressure and feed flow were then integrated into
the DEEP code, which allowed further eco-
nomic calculations for the ROph system as
function of feed temperature and feed TDS.
The results of these calculations, as illu-
strated in the figures above (section 4.2)
show that the feed pressure is reduced when
feed temperature is increased. This then leads
to a reduction of the specific power consump-
tion, as relatively lesser energy is required to
produce the same amount of water.
Contrary to intuitive expectations, the
recovery ratio does not continue increasing
with increasing feed temperature. In fact we
observe, a maximum value at a given feed
temperature, which depends on the feed
TDS. (e.g. the maximum is at 30 C, for a
TDS of 40,0000 p.p.m). After this value, the
recovery ratio begins to decrease. An ROph
system will therefore have an optimal range
of temperatures for the optimal water pro-
duction (in our case 30 C for the la Skhira
site), depending upon the local conditions.
Economic studies have shown that ROPH
could be a very interesting method for redu-
cing desalination cost. As for the recovery
ratio, the desalination cost is minimal at a
495
given temperature (for a given TDS), after
which it remains constant as the feed tem-
perature is increased.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to
Filmtec/Dow Chemical Company for the
availability of their software ROSA on the
internet. We would in particular like to
thank M. Kim of Dow Answer Centre for
many useful discussions on the behaviour of
SW30 HR380 membrane.
References
[1] Hydraunautics. Terms and Equations of Reverse
Osmosis. Internet: http://www. membranes.com.
[2] J.R. Humphries, K. Davies and J. Ackert,
An advanced reverse osmosis technology
for applications in nuclear installations
ICAPP Meeting, Hollywood, Florida, USA
(June 10–13). (2002).
[3] Filmtec website: http://www.dow.com/liquidseps/
news/20020607b.htm
[4] P. Gowin and T. Konishi, Nuclear Desalination –
IAEA Activities and Economic Evaluation
for Southern Europe. Desalination, 126 (1999) 301.
[5] S. Nisan, S. Dardour, Y. Dumont, N. Reguigui
International Journal of Nuclear Desalination, 1
(2000) No.3.