| In a power generation facility or any industrial facility | | | | tank, both upstream for the RO feed and |
| that uses large amounts of steam, uninterrupted | | | | downstream for the permeate. |
| steam production is vital to the facility. It follows then | | | | Reverse Osmosis Equipment Parameter#2: If the |
| that an uninterrupted source of ultrapure boiler | | | | reject is the desired product, multi-staging may be |
| feedwater is also vitally important. More and more | | | | necessary. In a power plant, wastewater and in |
| often this means the design, installation and operation | | | | some instances cooling tower blow down will be |
| of an Industrial Reverse Osmosis system. | | | | concentrated using multi-staging RO to reduce the |
| The use of RO in industrial and power generation | | | | total quantity of water that must be treated to final |
| facilities has become increasingly common over the | | | | effluent standards. Click here to view a diagram of a |
| last 15 -20 years, especially in newly built | | | | 2 Stage Reverse Osmosis system. |
| cogeneration and independent power generation | | | | 4 RO Feedwater Characteristics and Variability |
| facilities. Reverse Osmosis retrofits to the boiler | | | | Parameters to Consider The RO feedwater must |
| water pre-treatment systems of older industrial | | | | meet certain criteria. If not, RO membranes will |
| facilities are common as well. This is especially true | | | | perform poorly; they will foul quickly, require |
| for base-loaded traditional utility power generation | | | | excessive and expensive cleaning, and may become |
| facilities regardless of fuel source. | | | | damaged to the point where they must be replaced |
| This article presents 6 RO equipment and operational | | | | prematurely. When this happens permeate water |
| parameters for your consideration prior to purchasing | | | | quality and output will decline. |
| a Reverse Osmosis system for your Power | | | | In addition, care must be paid to the variability of the |
| Generation or Industrial facility. | | | | plant service water that feeds the RO system. |
| 2 Parameters to Consider Surrounding the Final Use | | | | Surface water can vary seasonally, and during spring |
| of the RO Treated Water | | | | run-off, turbidity can increase to well over 500 |
| Reverse Osmosis Equipment Parameter #1: In Power | | | | Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). Even well water |
| Generation facilities normally the permeate is the | | | | can vary in dissolved solids content. |
| desired water stream. System designs with more | | | | Reverse Osmosis Equipment Parameter #3: How |
| than one pass may be needed to ensure that the | | | | variable is the plant service water seasonally in |
| final product is of the specified purity. Other | | | | dissolved solids, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), |
| considerations may include RO redundancy to allow | | | | color, turbidity, temperature, and suspended solids? Is |
| some trains to be removed for cleaning or | | | | the treatment equipment upstream of the RO |
| membrane replacement, boiler makeup demand vs. | | | | system capable of handling any excursions? |
| RO flow rate, the need for an RO water storage | | | | |