Energy and Retentate Reuses in Reverse Osmosis Alone and in Hybrid Processes for Sea Water Remediation

The membranes are very important treatment way for seawater desalination due to low energy and costs. In this study; the effects of increasing retentates fluxes (6.0, 14.0, 19.0 and 23.0 l/m2.h), temperatures (25oC, 35oC and 45oC) and transmembrane pressures (8.0 bar, 14.0 bar, 22.0 bar and 27.0 bar) on the removal efficiencies of the alone and sequential hybrid reverse osmosis (RO) operations was investigated for salt and retentate recoveries from the sequential reactor system. The energy reuse yields were provided by taken into consideration the hybrid reverse osmosis process. In the RO alone and in hybrid RO processes elevated rejection yields (99.80% and 99.99%) was detected, respectively. In both treatment processes, the specific energy utilization was compared. For maximum Br-1, SO4-2, NO3-1, PO4—3 rejections (99.95%) the energy was minimized in the hybrid reverse osmosis proses. This process exhibited lower energy consumption. Retentate recycling from the hybrid sequential reverse osmosis to the inlet/feed of RO alone minimize the specific energy use. The steady-state operational conditions to minimize the energy amount were a water flux of 19.1 l/m2.h, a transmembrane pressure of 7.6 bar and a temperature of 32oC.