MEMBRANE SEPARATION

INTRODUCTION

• Membrane processes cover a group

of separation processes in which the
characteristics of a membrane (porosity,
selectivity, electric charge) are used to separate
the components of a solution or a suspension.
In these processes the feed stream is separated
into two: the fraction that permeates through
the membrane, called the permeate, and the
fraction containing the components that have
not been transported through the membrane,
usually called the retentate 
 Classification of Membrane Separation Processes

Name of Process Driving Force Separation Size

Range
microfiltration Pressure gradient 10 – 0.1 µm
ultrafiltration idem < 0.1 µm – 5 nm
Reverse osmosis idem < 5 nm
Electrodialysis Electric field gradient < 5 nm

Dialysis Concentration gradient < 5 nm

REVERSE OSMOSIS
 Introduction
• Osmosis is defined as the process of molecules
passing through a semi-permeable membrane from a
less-concentrated solution into a more-concentrated
solution.

• Reverse osmosis is simply the opposite of that

process.
PRINCIPLE
 How does reverse osmosis work ?

Reverse osmosis work by using a high pressure pump to

increase the pressure on the salt side of the RO and force the
water across the semi permeable RO membran leaving almost
all (around 95 – 99% of dissolved salts).

The amount of pressure required depends on the salts

concentration of the feed water. The more concentrated the
feed water, the more pressure is required to overcome the
osmotic pressure.
There are three main problem associated with
Reverse Osmosis :
1. Fouling
2. Scaling
3. Degradation of RO membrane
 Fouling

Fouling occurs when contaminants accumulate on the

membrane surface effectively plugging the membrane.

Fouling can be caused by the following :

1. particulate or colloidal mater (dirt, silt, clay , etc)
2. organics (humic/fulvic acids, etc)
3. microorganisms (bacteria, etc)
4. Breakthrough of filter media upstream of the RO unit
• The primary methods used to combat fouling
are mechanical processes that physically
remove the suspended solids or chemical
treatments the deactivate the foulant. 

• Coagulation process using cationic polymers,

inorganic salts, and aluminum and iron salts
 Scaling

• Scaling can occurs if certain dissolved (inorganic)

compounds exceeded their solubility limit and
precipitate on the membrane surface.

• The results of scaling are a higher pressure drops across

the system, higher salt passage (less salt rejection), low
permeate flow and lower permeater water quality.

• an example of a common scale that tends to form of an

RO membrane is calsium carbonate (CaCO3)
• In order to minimize scaling, pretreatment
methods involving chemical or ion exchange
techniques and acidification are used.
• a chemical process can reduce the hardness
• Lime, soda, ash, and NaOH are used to
convert soluble calcium and magnesium to
insoluble calcium carbonate and magnesium
hydroxide.
• Another softening procedure involves zeolite in an
ion exchange process

• Acidification can reduced the crystallization of

calcium carbonate. Sulfuric acis is most commonly
used in this process, but can often increase the
formation of sulfate scale.

• Antiscalants are chemicals added to minimize

carbonate or sulfat scale. They consist of acrylates
and phosphonates.
 Membrane Degradation

• It occurs when the membranes are exposed to

conditions that destroy the polymers used to create
the membrane

• To prevent membrane degradation by acidic or alkaline

waters, a corrective amount of acid of base should be
added to the feedwater to make the pH approximately
neutral.

• To prevent oxidation reactions, dechlorination is used

Process Flow Diagram - RO
 Application of Reverse Osmosis

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a modern process technology to

purify water for a wide range of applications, including :

• semiconductors
• food processing
• biotechnology
• pharmaceuticals
• power generation
• seawater desalting, and
• municipal drinking water.