IJSRP, Volume 3, Issue 10, October 2013 Edition [ISSN 2250-3153]
Tanmoy Dey, Ganesh C. Sahoo, Somendra N. Roy, Sibdas Bandyopadhyay
Abstract:
The pre-requisite for operation of a RO plant requires feed pre-treatment for removal of suspended solids, bacteria, colloidal particles, etc, which would otherwise lead to fouling of RO membrane. In recent years, the performance of polymeric membranes for seawater pre-treatment has improved significantly. This enables a more advanced SWRO system design by providing good quality feed for RO system, which results in increased reliability and lower water cost. However, use of disposable polymeric cartridge leads to higher running cost and increased plant downtime because of the need of frequent replacement.
The present study describes the pilot scale performance obtained on Arabian coastal sea water using tubular ceramic membrane (average pore diameter 0.1 µm) of 19-channel configuration as a pre-treatment system for RO. The MF pilot unit operated at fixed TMP of 1.2 bar with 40 hrs continuous run, using filtrate water of pressure sand filter (PSF) as feed. Flux obtained was around 350-370 LMH. Turbidity came down to 1.0 NTU and SDI value to less than 3. The filtrate obtained was virtually free from any suspended solids, colloids and bacteria, etc.