Improving performance of low pressure reverse osmosis systems by intermittent autoflushing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5614/jtki.2010.9.1.1Abstract
Improving performance of low pressure reverse osmosis systems by intermittent autoflushing
Scaling formation on the membrane surface in the form of calcium carbonate, calcium sulphate, silica, and/or magnesium silicate is a main problem of the reverse osmosis (RO) application for upgrading low grade water. Scaling in RO system is generally controlled by softening the feed water, limiting the recovery and/or the addition of antiscalants which is impractical for household RO system. In this work, the feasibility of intermittent autoflushing to prevent scale formation in household RO systems was investigated. All experiments were carried out using commercially available RO membrane (CSM RE-1812LP) which operated for 6 hours under operating pressure 5 kg/cm2 and total recycle operating mode. Model solution of feed water contain CaCl2 and NaHCO3 were prepared to meet various LSI values in the range of 0 to 1.5. Duration and interval time of autoflush were in the range of 60 to 15 s and 5 to 60 min respectively. The results shown that the permeate flux of the system which operated using intermittent autoflushing relatively stable. It is emphasized that intermittent autoflushing may improve the performance of household reverse osmosis systems.
Keywords: Autoflushing, scaling, physical cleaning, reverse osmosis
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AbstrakÂ
Pembentukan kerak (scaling) pada permukaan membran berupa kerak kalsium karbonat, kalsium sulfat, silika dan atau magnesium silikat merupakan permasalahan utama pada aplikasi sistem membran reverse osmosis (RO) pada proses pemurnian air. Scaling pada sistem RO umumnya dikontrol dengan melakukan pretreatment terhadap air umpan seperti softening, menambahkan zat antiscalant pada saat proses pemisahan serta membatasi tingkat recovery, dimana proses-proses tersebut tidak praktis apabila diaplikasikan pada sistem RO skala rumah tangga. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat kemungkinan metode intermittent autoflush dapat diaplikasikan untuk menghambat terjadinya scaling pada sistem RO skala rumah tangga. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan satu unit membran spiral wound jenis CSM RE-1812LP yang dioperasikan dengan tekanan operasi 5 kg/cm2 dan waktu operasi ± 6 jam. Larutan umpan sintesis dibuat dengan melarutkan CaCl2 dan NaHCO3 hingga nilai LSI mencapai kisaran 0-1,5. Durasi dan interval dari metode intermittent autoflush divariasikan pada kisaran 60-15 detik dan 5-60 menit. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa fluks permeat relatif stabil pada sistem RO yang menggunakan metode intermittent autoflush. Hal ini menandakan bahwa metode intermittent autoflush ini dimungkinkan untuk meningkatkan kinerja dari sistem RO skala rumah tangga.
Kata Kunci: Autoflushing, scaling, physical cleaning, reverse osmosis
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