Professional Documents
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Operation
Chapter: 4
Presented by:
Sujit Dahal
Pressure vessels
Inside pressure vessels (housings), six to eight membrane
elements are installed in series
Elements are interconnected with short plastic, spool pipe
segments with sliding rubber seals (O-rings) or via specially
designed interlocking interconnectors.
One pressure vessel houses 6-8 RO membrane elements; 8 is
more beneficial especially for medium and large plants because
of smaller number of pressure vessel housing
Could also yield lower overall concentration polarization factor
due to higher feed, beneficial in terms of fouling too.
Need slightly high feed pressure
Minimum feed flow= 10 and maximum flow= 17 CMH
Minimum recommended flow of concentrate per vessel= 2.7CMH
Pressure vessels
RO System Piping
High quality stainless steel piping is typically used for high-pressure feed.
Higher the source water salinity and brine concentration, higher the quality of
steel required to prevent from corrosion
Copper-nickel alloys are also used for brackish and seawater intake screens
and other facilities
Fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) and HDPE piping are also used for lowpressure applications
Quality of steel is measured as a function of %content of Cr, Mo, and N
contained in steel termed as pitting resistance which is given by:
PREN = %Cr + 3.3%Mo+16%N
Reinforced flexible tubing could be used for NF and low-salinity BWRO systems,
but its useful life is shorter and has higher replacement costs.
PVC (schedule 80), is commonly used for low-pressure permeate piping and
valves.
Flexible tubing should be covered with UV resistant coatings and need to be
replaced every 24-48 months.
RO System Piping
General velocity recommendation for different pipe materials:
RO System Piping
RO Skids
Pelton Wheel
Concentrate pressure is
converted to rotational kinetic
energy which is applied to
shaft of wheel
Concentrate discharge is done
by gravity
Energy conversion rate is
about 80-90%
Max. size of RO train is equal
to size of pelton wheels and
max. size available
commercially is 21000 CMD
Simple to operate, more
compact and less costly than
isobaric ERDs.
But are more costly and less
efficient than turbochargers for
small size installations.
Turbochargers
DWEER
Lower concentrate/filtered water mixing
than PE
Latest DWEER system are cost
effective compared to older ones
Have more moving parts, take longer to
commission, and are more
maintenance intensive.
1. Closing concentrate flow control valve which increase source flow through membrane
2. Opening pressure control valve which increases feed pressure within limit of pump
capacity
Product water quality can controlled by increasing feed pressure and by operation at
high recovery (increasing membrane flux)
This accelerates membrane fouling and hence there is need to increase pressure or
flux to overcome accelerated fouling
This leads to permanent loss of long term production capacity of RO membranes.
Alternative way is to adjust permeate backpressure valve and closing it reduces
concentrate polarization.
During periods of RO shutdown this may lead to thin film delamination if permeate
backpressure exceeds 0.3 bar.
Running the RO
system at constant
near max. pressure
of RO feed all the
times
RO system startup
Key system components to be set before
starting RO trains are:
1. Calibration of all instruments
2. Verification of pressure relief protection is in place
3. Open permeate drain line
4. Open concentrate control valve
5. Set the pressure control valve to partially (<50%) open position.
6. Increase gradually the feed pressure of the high pressure
pumps until target pressure is reached
7. Gradually close concentrate valve to achieve desired Ro train
recovery
Performance Monitoring
Performance Data Collection
Typical Performance Parameters of RO systems
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Performance Monitoring
Performance Data Collection
Typical conditions for shutdown of Individual RO Trains
Initiated automatically or manually under these conditions:
1. Membrane feed pump low suction or high discharge pressure
2. ERD system is shut down/malfunctioning
3. Train recovery rate is out of range
4. Train concentrate flow is low
5. Train permeate flow is out of range
6. Train permeate pressure is too high
7. Water level in product water clear well or finished water storage tank
reaches preset high level
8. Loss of individual RO train power
Performance Monitoring
Performance Data Collection
Typical conditions for shutdown of Entire RO Trains
Initiated automatically or manually under these conditions:
1. Pump run failure at intake, critical chemical feed pumps or product transfer
pumps
2. Source water pressure below a preset minimum
3. Feed water pH, ORP, chlorine residual, temperature, or turbidity are above
maximum acceptable preset design levels.
4. Water level in product water clear well reaches preset high level
5. Loss of power
Performance Monitoring
Suspended solids
Silt and colloids
Organics
Oil and grease
Mineral scaling foulants
RO system recovery
RO feed pressure
Feed
pressure
NDP
Membrane
flux
Membrane compaction
factor
RO system maintenance
1. Membrane Flushing and preservation
RO system maintenance
1. Membrane Flushing and preservation
RO Membrane Cleaning