Assessment of silt density index (SDI) as fouling propensity parameter in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination systems

Rachman, Rinaldi; Ghaffour, Noreddine; Wali, F.; Amy, Gary L.

doi:10.1080/19443994.2012.699448

Cited by 30 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Red Sea water collected from the SWRO commercial plant at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) intake pipe (before pretreatment) [42] was used as feed for all DCMD experiments. Seawater was filtered through a 10 µm filter in the lab to remove large suspended solids and used as MD feed without any additional pretreatment.…”

Section: Feed Water and MD Product Characterization And Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

Francis

Ghaffour

Alsaadi

et al. 2014

Journal of Membrane Science

Self Cite

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The flux performance of different hydrophobic microporous flat sheet commercial membranes made of poly tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and poly propylene (PP) was tested for Red Sea water desalination using the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process, under bench scale (high ΔT) and large scale module (low ΔT) operating conditions. Membranes were characterized for their surface morphology, water contact angle, thickness, porosity, pore size and pore size distribution. The DCMD process performance was optimized using a locally designed and fabricated module aiming to maximize the flux at different levels of operating parameters, mainly feed water and coolant inlet temperatures at different temperature difference across the membrane (ΔT). Water vapor flux of 88.8 kg/m 2 h was obtained using a PTFE membrane at high ΔT (60 °C). In addition, the flux performance was compared to the first generation of a new locally synthesized and fabricated membrane made of a different class of polymer under the same conditions. A total salt rejection of 99.99% and boron rejection of 99.41% were achieved under the extreme operating conditions. On the other hand, a detailed water characterization revealed that low molecular weight non-ionic molecules (ppb level) were transported with the water vapor molecules through the membrane structure. The membrane which provided the highest flux was then tested under large scale module operating conditions. The average flux of the latter study (low ΔT) was found to be eight times lower than that of the bench scale (high ΔT) operating conditions.

show abstract

Section: Feed Water and MD Product Characterization And Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

Francis

Ghaffour

Alsaadi

et al. 2014

Journal of Membrane Science

Self Cite

126

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bio-fouling of membranes can never be prevented and poses a significant problem in the RO process [6,20,40,41]. Conventional cleaning agents, which contain chlorine, not only remove bio-fouling agents, but also attack currently used polymer membranes, limiting their useful lifetime.…”

Section: Cleaning Of Bio-fouled All-carbon Membranementioning

confidence: 99%

Designing an All-Carbon Membrane for Water Desalination

Tománek

Kyrylchuk

2019

Phys. Rev. Applied

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We design an all-carbon membrane for the filtration and desalination of water. A unique layered assembly of carbon nanostructures including graphite oxide (GO), buckypaper consisting of carbon nanotubes, and a strong carbon fabric provides high mechanical strength and thermal stability, resilience to harsh chemical cleaning agents and electrical conductivity, thus addressing major shortcomings of commercial reverse osmosis membranes. We use ab initio density functional theory calculations to obtain atomic-level insight into the permeation of water molecules in-between GO layers and across in-layer vacancy defects. Our calculations elucidate the reason for selective rejection of solvated Na + ions in an optimized GO membrane that is structurally stabilized in a sandwich arrangement in-between layers of buckypaper, which are protected on both sides by strong carbon fabric layers. arXiv:1908.02225v2 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

show abstract

“…However, increasingly the value of this test to predict the rate of fouling in RO systems due to particle deposition is being questioned. The limitations of the SDI test are well documented [1,2,5,21,23,29,33] and include: no correction for test water temperature; the result is heavily dependent on the test membrane permeability; not applicable for testing high fouling feed water e.g., raw water -ASTM recommends that turbidity should be b 1 NTU;…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Modified Fouling Index Ultrafiltration constant flux for assessing particulate/colloidal fouling of RO systems

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A safe MFI value has been defined for RO feed water.• A new portable set-up can perform MFI-UF tests at constant flux filtration.• Low filtration flux and membrane pore size are important variables in the test.• The MFI-UF constant flux can assess pre-treatment of RO systems.• Measuring the deposition factor is important to estimate the rate of RO fouling. a b s t r a c tReliable methods for measuring and predicting the fouling potential of reverse osmosis (RO) feed water are important in preventing and diagnosing fouling at the design stage, and for monitoring pre-treatment performance during plant operation. The Modified Fouling Index Ultrafiltration (MFI-UF) constant flux is a significant development with respect to assessing the fouling potential of RO feed water. This research investigates (1) the variables influencing the MFI-UF test at constant flux filtration (membrane pore size, membrane material, flux rate); and (2) the application of MFI-UF into pre-treatment assessment and RO fouling estimation. The dependency of MFI on flux, means that to assess accurately particulate fouling in RO systems, the MFI should be measured at a flux similar to a RO system (close to 20 L/m 2 /h) or extrapolated from higher fluxes. The two studied membrane materials showed reproducible results; 10% for PES membranes and 6.3% for RC membranes. Deposition factors (amount of particles that remain on the surface of membrane) were measured in a full-scale plant ranging between 0.2 and 0.5. The concept of "safe MFI" is presented as a guideline for assessing pre-treatment for RO systems.

show abstract

Assessment of silt density index (SDI) as fouling propensity parameter in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination systems

Cited by 30 publications

References 29 publications

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

Performance evaluation of the DCMD desalination process under bench scale and large scale module operating conditions

Designing an All-Carbon Membrane for Water Desalination

The Modified Fouling Index Ultrafiltration constant flux for assessing particulate/colloidal fouling of RO systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About