Design and Analysis of Flow Channels in Reverse Osmosis Systems: A Preliminary Study

In saltwater desalination processes, fouling of the membrane utilized in the reverse osmosis (RO) system is an important issue that directly affects system performance. Membrane performance depends on various factors such as fouling concentration, fouling rate, membrane lifespan, and quality of the treated water. Various studies are being carried out on feed spacer geometry to reduce membrane fouling. Feed spacer geometries with wavy or sinusoidal geometries reduce concentration polarization (CP) by increasing flow rate and offer the best balance between energy efficiency and mass transfer. In this study, the effects of novel randomly generated feed spacer geometries on membrane performance were investigated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The simulations incorporated the Navier-Stokes, advection-diffusion, Langmuir adsorption-desorption, permeate flux equations, and Darcy’s law, comparing these novel designs with existing flat geometry from the literature. The results indicate that innovative random feed spacer geometry designs effectively enhance the membrane performance compared to conventional flat feed spacer geometries, improving water quality and energy efficiency while minimizing pressure loss. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing the trade-off between energy consumption and mass transfer performance in RO systems.