Comparison of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes in water purification process

Abstract

Water is indispensable for the continuation of life. However, fresh water resources in the world are decreasing day by day. For this reason, effective management of existing water resources and treatment of wastewater becomes important. In this study, two prominent membrane filtration processes in water treatment, reverse osmosis and nanofiltration processes, were compared. In this comparison, commercial NF90 nanofiltration membrane and BW30 reverse osmosis membrane from the same manufacturer were used. Tap water, 2000 ppm NaCl and ultrafiltration filtrate of synthetic oily solution were chosen as the feed solution. Only pretreatment was carried out by ultrafiltration process. Although the total dissolved solids rejection rates of both membranes are close to each other, the flux obtained with the NF90 membrane is approximately twice the flux obtained with the BW30 membrane at all pressure values. Since both membranes consume the same amount of energy in water treatment, it has been concluded that water treatment with NF membranes is more economical.

Keywords

• Water purification
• Reverse osmosis
• Nanofiltration
• Membrane filtration

Su arıtma prosesinde ters osmoz ve nanofiltrasyon membranlarının karşılaştırılması

Öz

Su yaşamın devamı için vazgeçilmezdir. Ancak dünyadaki tatlı su kaynakları her geçen gün azalmaktadır. Bu nedenle mevcut su kaynaklarının etkin yönetimi ve atık suların arıtılması önem kazanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada su arıtımında öne çıkan iki membran filtrasyon prosesi, ters osmoz ve nanofiltrasyon prosesleri karşılaştırılmıştır. Bu karşılaştırmada aynı üretici firmaya ait ticari NF90 nanofiltrasyon membranı ve BW30 ters osmoz membranı kullanıldı. Besleme çözeltisi olarak ise musluk suyu, 2000 ppm NaCl çözeltisi ve sentetik yağlı çözeltinin ultrafiltrasyon süzüntüsü seçildi. Ultrafiltrasyon işlemi ile yalnızca ön arıtma gerçekleştirildi. Her iki membranın toplam çözünmüş katı madde reddi oranları birbirine yakın olmakla birlikte, NF90 membranı ile elde edilen akı tüm basınç değerlerinde BW30 membranı ile elde edilen akının yaklaşık iki katıdır. Su arıtmada her iki membran da aynı miktarda enerji tükettiğinden NF membranlarla su arıtmanın daha ekonomik olduğu sonucu elde edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Su arıtma
• Ters osmoz
• Nanofiltrasyon
• Membran filtrasyonu

Kaynakça

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