Last update:
08/30/2006
Water Desalination using Low Pressure RO Membranes
Increased salinity of the Colorado River (CR) Water (main water source for Southern California), and the buildup of salinity of groundwater in various agricultural areas are severe to the point of a major crisis in various semi-arid regions around the globe as well as in California. The above crisis coupled with water shortage have sparked a renewed interest in membrane desalination to reduce salinity of drinking water and agricultural water supplies and to increase water resources by desalination of seawater. The commercial applicability of membrane reverse osmosis for desalination was first demonstrated at UCLA - the birth place of the first commercial RO membrane.
In the present study, low pressure RO will be evaluated over a range of operating conditions with the goal of evaluating the optimal conditions for minimizing fouling and scale formation. An operational model and correlations will be developed specifically for conditions expected for CR and agricultural drainage waters. A model tat allow the prediction of progressive scale formation along the membrane surface will be developed in order to assist in membrane selection, setting of operating parameters and determining cleaning cycles. The study will involve a close collaboration with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Southern California Metropolitan Water District (MWD).
For additional information on membrane desalination research check the web site of the UCLA Water Technology Research Center
References
Glater, J., The History of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Development, Desalination, 117, 297-309 (1998).
Cohen, Y., J. Glater, A. Tsao and R-W Lee, "Nanofiltration Membranes for Agricultural Drainage Water Reclamation," Paper published in the proceedings of the International Conference on Membrane Technology for Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse, September 9-13, 2001, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
