Full Description

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California evaluated alarge-diameter, ultra-low- pressure reverse osmosis (RO) element in an effort tolower the capital cost associated with large-scale desalting facilities. A 16-in.(diameter) x 60-in. (length) RO element was operated in parallel with a standard,commercially available 8-in. x 40-in. RO element to compare differences inpermeate flux and salt rejection. An economic evaluation was conducted todetermine the potential cost savings associated with large-diameter RO elements.While both RO elements exhibited similar salt rejection (greater than 98.5percent), the specific flux of the 16-in. diameter element was 20 percent lessthan the 8-in. diameter element. This flux difference may have resulted fromdesign or manufacturing inefficiencies of this first- generation prototype andmay not be indicative of commercial element performance. Preliminary costestimates indicate that an approximately 24 percent reduction in RO systemcapital costs (excluding brine costs) can be achieved mainly through an 80percent reduction in train piping and vessel support frames. The use of largeelements may have many other benefits, including a reduced number of seals(common sources of failures), a smaller footprint, and reduced maintenancerequirements. Includes 8 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 05/01/2001 Number of Pages: 19File Size: 1 file , 300 KB