Assessment of an ultrafiltration pre-treatment system for a seawater reverse osmosis plant. (21st February 2007)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tiwari, S.A.; Goswami, D.; Prabhakar, S.; Tewari, P.K.
• Is Part Of: International journal of nuclear desalination. Volume 2:Number 2(2006)
• Page Start: 132
• Page End: 138
• Publication Date: 2007-02-21
• Subjects: bacteria -- colloids -- conventional filtration -- hollow-fibre cartridges -- silt density index -- turbidity -- water quality -- ultrafiltration pretreatment -- seawater reverse osmosis -- seawater desalination; Nuclear saline water conversion plants -- Periodicals; 628.16723
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1476-914X

Abstract

The seawater reverse osmosis system requires extensive pre-treatment in order to ensure reliable performance. The conventional pre-treatment system involves dosing of chemicals, which requires frequent monitoring of raw water quality, and also involves adjusting the dosage. Besides being cumbersome, there is a lot of time lag involved in carrying out these measures. This calls for pre-treatment systems based on physicochemical mechanisms. During the last few years, Ultrafiltration (UF) has emerged as a leading unit operation in order to render raw seawater compatible with reverse osmosis operations. In this context, the Desalination Division of BARC has already installed an operational UF pre-treatment system. In this paper, we examine the role of UF in the overall operations of the seawater reverse osmosis system.