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Water Treatment: Combining Reverse Osmosis and Ion Exchange
Water Treatment: Combining Reverse Osmosis and Ion Exchange
Water treatment:
Combining reverse
osmosis and ion
exchange
B
y offering process designers a combination of reverse osmosis
and ion exchange technology to address water treatment issues,
LANXESS aims to both lower costs and improve reliability. Dr. Jens
Lipnizki, Beryn Adams, Dr. Motohiro Okazaki and Alan Sharpe
describe the concept and the work undertaken to support it.
Water treatment in todays modern world LANXESS to start production of Lewabrane membrane (see Figure 1). The barrier (or
requires highly technical, high performance reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and elements rejection) layer is a 0.1m thick polyamide
separation products to achieve increasingly at a new production site in Bitterfeld, Germany. layer which is supported by a polysulfone
stringent treated water qualities, or to provide substructure. The polyamide layer is formed by
the lowest cost of water production. However, Reverse osmosis membranes a polymerisation process.
more than one separation technology is often
applied to achieve the demanded quality. This The dominant reverse osmosis membrane Although thin film composite membranes
development was a main consideration for structure is based on a thin film composite based on this process have been used Fig
for more than thirty years, the newest
technology now offers the possibility to T
control the polymerisation process more th
precisely. Accordingly, a strong focus of our pr
membrane development was the enhanced is
polymerisation degree of the polyamide layer. el
A higher polymerisation degree improves w
the mechanical and chemical stability of the al
thin barrier layer offering greater durability. T
Additionally, the negative charge on the in
membrane surface is reduced which leads to to
a lower cationic adsorption (fouling) on the ex
membrane surface. of
as
Due to its chemistry, the surface of a m
polyamide membrane is usually negatively to
charged, and often results in cationic fouling hy
that is extremely difficult to remove. A typical ki
example of cationic fouling is fouling with ne
iron. Iron chloride (FeCl3) is a very common ch
flocculation chemical used in pre-treatment
systems. If the dosing is too high, even just F
for a short period, the cationic fouling can
irreversibly foul the RO membrane surface. T
Apart from a well adjusted iron chloride B4
dosing system, a lower negative surface charge T
is the best option to reduce the fouling pl
Lewabrane reverse osmosis membrane elements from LANXESS being installed. potential of this event. w
Feature 31
12 Filtration+Separation September/October 2012
Chemistry of RO Functionality of RO
Structure PS Layer
Membrane Membrane
e
Active Layer/Polyamide Layer
In situ Condensation Polymerization
TMC in n-decane m-PDA in Water PA L
Layer
ClOC COCl
Sea Water,
Process Waste
W t W t
Water,
Dip Coating/Floating Method
Brackish Water
O O O O
H H H H
N N x
N N y*
*
PS Layer
O COO-Na+
NH
Polyamide Layer 4060m
CH3 O
* O S *
x
CH3 O
by 90100m
Support Layer: Coagulation of PS/DMF in Pure Water
ae o
Water on Non-Woven
o o e S Sheet
ee
The membrane separation composite layer is six elements were installed in a pressure vessel. TOC rejection was measured at approximately
the most essential part of the RO separation The RO system also contained several pressure 95-96%, the rejection of the total silica was
process. Before use, this critical component vessels with RO elements from another measured at around 99.3%.
is assembled into a device, called an RO supplier. These elements were installed
element. The winding process for spiral approximately one year previously, and In conclusion, it was demonstrated that the
wound RO elements involves many steps were operated in parallel to the Lewabrane new Lewabrane RO membrane element
all of which need to be carefully controlled. pressure vessel. The entire RO system was performs in a similar manner under the same
The LANXESS manufacturing process operated in a two stage system with a 6:3 array operating conditions.
involves state-of-the-art robotic equipment using six element pressure vessels.
to prepare the RO element carefully to Ion exchange
exacting mechanical specifications. Much In comparison with the installed elements
of this development was conducted with the from another supplier, it could be shown The reason that LANXESS undertook the
assistance of outside Institutes that applied that the Lewabrane elements provided a step to add RO membrane technology to its
modern computer aided design capabilities flux value of the same order of magnitude. separation products portfolio is that reverse
to confirm mechanical strength and optimise The TOC and silica rejection were measured osmosis is a complementary technology to ion
hydrodynamic design (see Figure 2). This periodically during the field testing, while the exchange (IX) resins. LANXESS has produced
al kind of critical development process was
necessary to assemble the improved membrane
chemistry into a modern RO element. Table 1: Selection of separation technique depending on required permeate quality.
Process Demineralisation Desalination
Field testing Conductivity < 2 S/cm Conductivity < 0.055 S/cm
Limits TOC < 500 ppb TOC < 100 ppb
The first field tests of the new Lewabrane RO SiO2 < 50 ppb SiO2 < 10 ppb
B400HR elements started in January 2012.
e The elements were placed in an existing RO Ion Exchange
Ion Exchange (mixed bed)
plant, which is treating 40m3/hr of Rhine river Technology Reverse Osmosis
Electrodeionisation (EDI)
water after an ultrafiltration system. A total of Electrodialysis
32 Feature
Filtration+Separation September/October 2012 Fi