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Research work on reverse osmosis focuses on the application of reverse osmosis as well as nanofiltration (NF) membranes to various desalination processes with a focus on desalination and reclamation of inland water and agricultural drainage water as well as desalination of seawater. This effort involves fundamental studies on diagnostic approaches to membrane selection and process optimization, fundamentals of membrane fouling and mineral scale formation, scale mitigation by process control and use of antiscalant additives, accelerated precipitation to achieve high product water recovery, neural network analysis of process upsets, field studies of integrated membrane desalination processes, plasma surface modification of RO membrane to reduce surface fouling and finite element modeling of membrane desalination in multi-ion systems.
The objectives of our membrane desalination research are to improve membrane process technology, reduce membrane fouling by surface nano-structuring and process optimization, thereby moving towards the ultimate goal of decreasing the overall cost of membrane desalination.
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Accelerated Mineral Salt Crystallization for Purification of High Salinity Water
Written by Haven Liu
Monday, 07 February 2011 00:38
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Drinking water supplies are dwindling around the globe due to aggressive water consumption practices in both urban and agricultural areas. As a result, the salinity of groundwater and surface water supplies has been on the rise in many regions and even in California, salinity (i.e., mineral salt concentration) has been on the rise.
Last Updated ( Monday, 11 March 2013 00:30 )
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Inland waters (e.g., brackish groundwater and agricultural drainage water, high salinity surface water and seawater) are complex mixtures of dissolved and suspended chemical species that also may contain a wide variety of micro- organisms. Membrane performance may vary significantly with water composition, which in turn may vary depending on geographical location.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:12 )
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Desalination of surface and groundwater, as well as seawater, using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, is often hindered by the precipitation of bulk mineral salts and membrane surface scaling when operating at high recovery. Scaling of RO and NF membranes results in flux decline and shortened membrane life. The formation of surface scale can be the result of both deposited mineral salt crystals formed in solution and surface crystallization.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:17 )
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Crystallization of sparingly soluble salts such as calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate dihydrate is known to occur when certain surface and ground waters are used as the water source in membrane desalination processes. Most natural waters contain relatively high concentrations of calcium, sulfate and bicarbonate ions.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:24 )
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Low pressure reverse osmosis processes offer a unique opportunity for membrane desalting of high salinity agricultural drainage (AD) water, surface water and waste water. For example, salinity of AD water in the San Joaquin Valley (California) is in the range of about 3000-15,000 mg TDS/L and Colorado River water salinity is expected to soon exceed 1000 mg TDS/L.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:29 )
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