Study and Characterization of Seawater Reverse Osmosis Fouled Membranes from Large Scale Commercial Desalination Plant

EasyChair Preprint no. 10729

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the ageing state of a used reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken in Algeria from the Benisaf Water Company seawater desalination unit. The study consists of an autopsy procedure used to perform a chain of analyses on a membrane sheet. Wear of the membrane is characterized by a degradation of its performance due to a significant increase in hydraulic permeability (25%) and pressure drop as well as a decrease in salt retention (10% to 30%).

A used RO (reverse osmosis) membrane was selected at the site to perform the membrane autopsy tests. These tests make it possible to analyze and identify the cause as well as to understand the links between performance degradation observed at the macroscopic scale and at the scale at which ageing takes place.

External and internal visual observations allow seeing the state of degradation. Microscopic analysis of the used membranes surface shows the importance of fouling. In addition, quantification and identification analyses determine a high fouling rate in the used membrane whose foulants is of inorganic and organic nature. Moreover the analyses proved the presence of a biofilm composed of proteins

Keyphrases: Desalination, Fouling, membrane, reverse osmosis, seawater

@Booklet{EasyChair:10729,
  author = {Naimi Oussama and Belatoui Abdelmalek and Ezzine Mohammed Chams Eddine},
  title = {Study and Characterization of Seawater Reverse Osmosis Fouled Membranes from Large Scale Commercial Desalination Plant},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 10729},

  year = {EasyChair, 2023}}