Reverse Osmosis and Deionization

Systems for Aquaria

Thoram Charanda
Sr. Chemist
Walt Disney World Co.
Life Support
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Reverse Osmosis and Desalination

1. Theory of Osmosis
2. Typical Industry Applications of Reverse
Osmosis (RO), Desalination
3. Practical Considerations for RO in Aquaria
4. Designing an RO System for a Salt Water
Exhibit

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Semipermeable
Membrane

Theory of Osmosis
Pressure

Fresh
Water
Fresh
Water
H2O

Sea
Water
H2O

Sea
Water
(diluted)

H2 O

Fresh
Water

Sea
Water

H2O

Initial Condition
Equilibrium
Reverse Osmosis
The Osmotic Pressure, , is defined as: = MRT
For sea water at 35 ppt, is about 350 psi.
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Key Terms in RO Systems

Permeate The purified product water exiting the
system.
Concentrate The concentrated salt solution exiting the
system. In some system designs this outflow is returned
to the aquarium for salt recovery.
Feed Flow The total flow rate of the source water
pumped in the system.
Recovery - The percentage of permeate achieved in a
system, % Recovery = permeate flow/feed flow x 100.
Rejection The percentage of dissolved solids removed
from the source water by the membrane.
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

RO Membrane Filter Detail

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Industrial Applications of RO
Systems

Purification of potable or fresh water sources: Purified, very low Total

Dissolved Solids (TDS) water is produced for various uses. In the
aquarium industry it can be used for:
- Make up water in fresh and salt water aquariums
- As a pure water base for artificial salt water systems
- As a non-scaling/spotting wash or rinse water for aquarium exhibit
windows.

Desalination of Sea Water:

- Production of potable drinking
- Source water for combustible turbine power plants
- Irrigation and non-potable utility water uses
- It can also be used as a salt recovery system for closed-filtration sea
water aquaria
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

RO System for Fresh Water

300 to 1,000 gallon per day
RO System
Requires a reservoir tank, high
level shut-off switch and
delivery pump
Pre-Filtration: Requires a 5micron sediment filter and a
GAC filter to remove any
chlorine residual and organics
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Desalination RO Systems

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Design Considerations for a Salt

Recovery RO System

Consider your feed water source: Natural or Artificial Sea Water.

Identify the typical range of the water chemistry parameters.
pH
Temperature
Salinity
Silt Density Index (SDI)
Silica
Level of Particulates
Presence of Organics or Residual Oxidizers
What is the desired rate of permeate (fresh water) removal from your
system? This will dictate the required feed flow rate for the RO
system.

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Design Considerations for a Salt

Recovery RO System

Consider any future requirements for system upgrade in fresh water

removal capacity, e.g. system can accept an additional membrane,
high pressure pump is slightly oversized.
Identify the best location in the aquarium filtration pathway to connect
the feed source.
Consider connecting the return filtration line post ozonation.
Identify pre-filtration requirements:
GAC filter to removal residual oxidants, e.g. bromine, ozone
Additional particulate filters for highly loaded systems

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

ROSA 5.4 Reverse Osmosis Design

Software
Specialized software can be used to assist in the initial
design and membrane performance parameters required for a
successful salt recovery system.
A freeware program is offered by DOW Chemical called
ROSA 5.4, that offers the ability to calculate the required
feed, permeate and concentrate rates based on the feed water
chemistry and a given sea water RO membrane type.
The URL for this program is www.filmtec.com.

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

5,000 gpd RO System at Shark Reef, Typhoon

Lagoon

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Shark Reef Salinity Recovery: RO System

32

525,000

Initial Salinity = 30.4

31

500,000

30
29

475,000

Recovered Salinity = 30.3

Salinity
28

450,000

27

Syste
425,000

26
25

400,000

10

12

14

16

18

20

Days
Salinity

Volume (gal)

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Deionization Water Filtration Systems

1.

Principles of Deionization (DI)

2.

Applications for DI Water

3.

Water Chemistry Parameters and Considerations

for a DI System

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Ion Exchange Beads

Ion exchange beads are typically
constructed of a polymeric resin or gel
with an average diameter of 0.3 to 1.2
millimeters. The beads can have
either cationic or anionic functional
groups attached to the surface.

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Types of Ionic Exchange Resins

Strong Acid Resins
- contain functional groups of R-SO3H on the
polymeric resin
Weak Acid Resins
- contain functional groups of R-COOH
Strong Base Resins
- contain functional groups of R-OH
Weak Base Resins
- contain functional groups of R-NH3
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Strong Acid Cationic Resin

Typical Cations
S
R-

-H
3

O
S
R

Polymeric Resin

a
-3 N

Ca2+
Mg2+

R-SO3-H
R-SO

R -S

Na+

K+
H+

Ca 2+

H+

Metals
Cu2+
Fe2+
Zn2+

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Applications for DI Water

Analytical grade water for laboratory use

Essentially salt and micro nutrient free water that can be
used to make artificial sea water
Replenish system water loss due to evaporation
Makeup of specialized water quality environments, ie.
natural waters with very low TDS and specific
concentrations of cations

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Design Engineering of DI Systems

Identify the source water for the DI system
Analyze for the key water chemistry parameters:
pH
Free and Total Chlorine
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
Identify the intended volume of DI required per day
A GAC prefilter is required to remove residual chlorine
and dissolved organics
-typically sized from 0.0283 to 0.057 m3 (or 1 to 2 ft3)
Plan for a reputable company to provide an exchange
service for the mixed resin beds and GAC filter
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Design Engineering of DI Systems

Mixed bed ion exchange capacity = 353,357 grains per m3
10,000 grains per ft3
Example: Your source water is potable city water and you require up
to 400 liters per day of DI water.
Source water TDS: 200 ppm
Equivalent grains per gallon = 11.7 gpg (divide TDS by 17.1)
Planned DI resin exchange frequency = 30 days
Minimum required amount of mixed bed resin = 0.105 m3
3.71 ft3
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Summary

Reverse osmosis systems are a good design choice where:

- Moderate (2,000 liters) to large (+18 m3) volumes of water are
required per event and there is sufficient space for the purified water
reservoir
- Desalinated water source for utilities and as a purified water source
for DI analytical laboratory grade water
- Desalination system for salt recovery

Deionization systems are a good design choice where:

- A relatively fast flow rate (> 35 Lpm) of pure water is required
- Only cost effective for relatively small exhibits, < 2,000 liters
- Analytical laboratory grade water

1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal

Acknowledgements
Dow Chemical Company
GE Water Technologies
Reverse Osmosis of South Florida
US Filter Corporation
David Cohrs, National Aquarium in Baltimore
Kent Semmen, Brooksville Zoo
Eric Kingsley, Monterey Bay Aquarium
1st AQUALITY Symposium, April 2 - 7, 2004, Oceanario de Lisboa, Portugal