Implementation of membrane models on a CAPE-OPEN tool to simulate a process including RO membranes

Process simulators are a useful tool for evaluating different configurations of chemical processes and developing new ones. Although these programs include many standard units like reactor or distillation towers, membrane units are not usually included. In this paper, it is shown the possibility to implement a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane unit in the free process simulator COCO, using input membrane parameters. The RO modeling is based on the coupling of the solution diffusion model with a model for concentration polarization. The model was implemented as a Matlab CAPE-OPEN unit operation. In order to show the functionality of the developed application, a rinsing process adapted from literature was implemented to test different configurations. In this way, the combined use of the COCO simulator and the model of a reverse osmosis unit proved to be a useful tool for comparing the performance of different process configurations. The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness is kindly acknowledged (Project CTM 2010-20248). Gozálvez Zafrilla, JM.; Santafé Moros, MA.; Sanchis Sebastiá, M.; Gomis Fons, J. (2014). Implementation of membrane models on a CAPE-OPEN tool to simulate a process including RO membranes. Desalination and Water Treatment. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2014.995718 Sharaf Eldean, M. A., & Soliman, A. M. (2013). A new visual library for modeling and simulation of renewable energy desalination systems (REDS). Desalination and Water Treatment, 51(37-39), 6905-6920. doi:10.1080/19443994.2013.777369 Choi, Y.-J., Hwang, T.-M., Oh, H., Nam, S.-H., Lee, S., Jeon, J., … Chung, Y. (2011). Development of a simulation program for the forward osmosis and reverse osmosis process. Desalination and Water Treatment, 33(1-3), 273-282. doi:10.5004/dwt.2011.2652 Karabelas, A. J., Kostoglou, M., & Koutsou, C. P. (2015). Modeling of spiral wound membrane desalination modules and plants – review and research priorities. Desalination, 356, 165-186. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2014.10.002 Peshev, D., & Livingston, A. G. (2013). OSN Designer, a tool for predicting organic solvent nanofiltration technology performance using Aspen One, MATLAB and CAPE OPEN. Chemical Engineering Science, 104, 975-987. doi:10.1016/j.ces.2013.10.033 Testard, L., & Belaud, J.-P. (2005). A CAPE-OPEN based framework for process simulation solutions integration. European Symposium on Computer-Aided Process Engineering-15, 38th European Symposium of the Working Party on Computer Aided Pr