Design consideration of RO units: Case studies

The reverse osmosis process accounts for close to 50% of all desalination processes. The reverse osmosis process is applied to desalination of various types of water that includes brackish and seawater as well as specific types of wastewater. This paper concerns design considerations in the RO process and performance of a number of case studies. The systems considered in this study include the single stage RO unit, the two-stage system, and the two-pass configuration. The design calculations are performed as a function of the feed salinity and temperature. The design calculations are made using actual types of RO membranes. The results show increase in the product salinity upon the increase in the feed salinity and temperature. System selection is subject to the desired salinity of the product.