Abstract
Sensitivity analysis was performed on different design and performance factors of a reverse osmosis system. In general, the most important design and performance parameter was the feed pressure and feed concentration, respectively. From the design point of view, it seems that, if newer technologies move toward decreasing the feed pressure to possibly save on pumping power requirement, the required membrane area may become much more sensitive to the feed pressure. In terms of performance, it was found that increasing the salt concentration of the feed for the range investigated, almost doubled the sensitivity of permeate concentration and water permeate flux to it. A model is proposed for predicting the normalized decrease in permeate flux due to fouling with two constants that have a robust interpretation. Results indicate that the model can predict the behavior accurately.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 208-217 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Applied Thermal Engineering |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2013 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for funding the research reported in this paper through the Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT and KFUPM. We also gratefully acknowledge the graphics work carried out by Mr. Muhammed Younas, Lecturer in ME department at KFUPM, in preparing Figures 1 and 2.
Keywords
- Desalination
- Fouling
- Permeate flux
- Reverse osmosis
- Sensitivity analysis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology
- Mechanical Engineering
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
