Research Abstracts

This study identified the membrane fouling of a two-stage RO process of the Bai-sha brackish water desalination plant facing serious fouling problems. Two membrane modules, one from each stage, were autopsied and diagnosed for the cause for the failure of the RO system. Different morphologies were e

Fouling from the biomass present in seawater is a major drawback in the operation of marine reverse osmosis plants. Much in-plant work has been carried out to reduce or alleviate the problems, and there are some tools that can be used for assessing the probability of water causing biofouling. Howeve

Scaling of heat transfer surfaces is of great concern for the performance of the thermal desalination process working on seawater, whether it is for multistage flash or multi-effect evaporation. Lot of work has already been carried out for the development of antiscalants for inhibiting/minimizing th

Polyaluminium chloride (coagulant) is a very complex compound. The change in the ratio HCO3/CO2 during coagulation cause a change in pH in the subsequent RO unit (because CO2 is not rejected by the RO membrane), and it was found that this change is constant for any given recovery, e.g. at 75% recove

Bio-fouling is the principal problem met with membrane filtration in biological suspensions treatment, in particular in the case of membranes made of sintered clay which have a low resistance to chemical washing; we are interesting, in this work, to the bioadhesion which is the cause. At first, by t

The efficiency of crossflow microfiltration processes is limited by membrane fouling and concentration polarization leading to permeate flux decline during operation. The experiments that were carried out in the laboratory were conducted to determine and investigate the performance, behaviour and th

Tunisia, located in a semi-arid zone, has limited water resources. The shortage of good water quality in particular at the south regions required a brackish water desalination to supply these regions with potable water. Zarzis desalination plant, working since 1999, has revealed difficulties related

This paper discusses the demister scaling issue in (MSF) 2 × 5000 m3/day Sidi Krir Desalination Unit’s site, and how like this issue affects directly in the performance of this system and in production rate too, which decreases gradually till 50%, in addition the unscheduled outage costs for acid cl

The seawater RO plant at Marbella had operated intermittently, and at low flowrates, since its construction 10 years ago. This was because the plant had been designed to operate at times of water shortage, to provide water when the conventional supplies were not available. During the early part of t

One of the critical issues for the successful application of ultrafitration in water treatment is membrane fouling due to dissolved organic matter, which negatively affects productivity, product quality and process cost. The aim of the present study is to contribute to the understanding of fouling p