Modeling and Investigating the Effects of Feed Temperature on the Characteristics of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) Process

Abstract

In the upcoming years, water and energy are going to be key challenges for humanity, as the need for drinking water and energy is already being felt in many parts of the world. Researchers have proposed various solutions to these critical problems based on various systems. There is an essential need to find the best method for the desalination of salty water to economically solve the issue of producing fresh and drinkable water. At present, the Reverse Osmosis (RO) method is widely used in the water treatment industry, based on the fluids permeating through a semipermeable membrane. The simplicity of the method and its relatively low running costs have made this technology increasingly attractive to industrial organizations. Design of  RO systems involves a number of parameters, of which temperature is an important one. The temperature of the feedwater has a direct effect on the water flux through the membrane, the external hydraulic pressure applied, the water production rate, and the energy consumption. This study tries to model and investigate the effect of temperature on the quality of the produced water and performance in terms of energy consumption of the RO units