Wastewater Treatment by Spiral Wound Reverse Osmosis: Development and Validation of a Two Dimensional Process Model

Abstract

Reverse osmosis (RO) has become a significant method for removing salts and organic compounds from seawater and wastewater in recent decades. Spiral-wound module has been widely used due to a number of special features such as high packing density, premium separation and low operating cost. In this paper, a two-dimensional mathematical model is developed for the transport of dilute aqueous solutions through a spiral-wound RO module and the operational characteristics of the process under steady state conditions are analysed. The model is based on the solution-diffusion model coupled with the concentration polarization mechanism. This model yields a set of Differential and Algebraic Equations (DAEs), which are solved using the gPROMS software. The model is validated using experimental data from the literature for the rejection of dimethylphenol as solute in aqueous solutions. The model is then used to simulate the process under steady state conditions to gain deeper insight of the process.