Wastewater concentration by seeded reverse osmosis: A field demonstration in the electric power industry

Waste minimization is a key objective of power plant water/wastewater management. Even though membrane processes, such as reverse osmosis, have been used for makeup water treatment, their applications to waste minimization have been very limited. Although the field test results for a seeded reverse osmosis (SRO) system were not absolutely conclusive, the SRO system offers some unique features which may enable the utility industry to realize the advantages of membrane separation processes for wastewater concentration without extensive pretreatment and the associated costs.