Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Plant

Reverse Osmosis is considered as one of the most easy method for desalinization of waters like sea water, ground water, brackish water and so on. When the saline solution comes in contact with the semipermeable membrane the pure water is separated from the impurities. The treatment of brackish water is more or less same as the desalination process however there is one major difference. In brackish water treatment, additional pretreatment of water is done to increase the shelf life of the reverse osmosis membrane. In order to adjust the pH antiscalents, biocides, detergents or other chemical additives are also added. Like RO process here also the feedwater is divided into product water and concentrated water. The product water is further treated (post treatment) in order to adjust the pH, to remove the odor and for degasification.

Components of Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Plant
Any Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis Plants consist of following components:

Dosing Systems
Dosing system are installed for being used in metering Antiscaling, Flocculation, Chlorine, pH Adjustment, Destroying free Chlorine and Disinfection.

Filtration Systems
The use of filters are necessary to protect the membranes from suspended matters.


Racks with membrane vessels
RO brackish water plants consist of racks that are made of SS and colourless painting in order to protect the plant from corrosion.

Pumps
Pumps of various power capacities for different types of plants are used to supply the pressure that is needed to push water through the membrane.

Membrane
Membranes are the most essential components of the plants. The membrane are instrumental to separate the dissolved salts in the solution from the product water. The most important configuration in which these membranes are preferred are spiral-wound and a hollow-fiber.

PLC control and instrumentation
Brackish and sea water plants are controlled by PLC controller. Apart from this there are certain measurement equipments that ensure safe functioning of the plant like pH, conductivity, free flow chlorine, turbidity, temperature and pressure control transmitters.

Others
Other instruments that are used in brackish water RO plants are Permeate pump stations, membrane permeate and cleaning stations.


Applications
Water desalinated from brackish water can be used for following applications:

• Drinking Purpose
• Water for boiler feed
• Water to be used in pharmaceutical industry.
• For Steel Production
• Water bottling, soft drink industry etc.

Operation and Maintenance
Brackish water reverse osmosis plant for effective functioning should be cleaned and checked from time to time. During maintenance following aspects should be kept in mind:

• Proper flushing & backwashing of the media filters should be carried out from time to time.
• Cartridge filter elements must be replaced in every 2 months.
• In every quarter, the membrane elements must be cleared.
• If there is leakage in any instrument it must be repaired immediately.
• Pre and post-treatment chemicals should be replenished.