Reverse Osmosis

John Clearman, Seth Gassett, Stephanie Goff,

Troy Orwin, Rome Parker
Definition
• Reverse osmosis is a water purification technology that uses a
semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules and larger
particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure
is used to overcome osmotic pressure, a colligative property, that is
driven by chemical potential differences of the solvent, a
thermodynamic parameter.
When and why
When-
• RO works by reversing the principle of osmosis, the natural tendency
of water with dissolved salts to flow through a membrane from lower
to higher salt concentration. This process is found throughout nature.
Plants use it to absorb water and nutrients from the soil. In humans
and other animals, kidneys use osmosis to absorb water from blood.
• The process of osmosis through semipermeable membranes was first
observed in 1748 by Jean-Antoine Nollet.
When and why
Why-
• The most important application of reverse osmosis is the separation
of pure water from seawater and brackish waters; seawater or
brackish water is pressurized against one surface of the membrane,
causing transport of salt-depleted water across the membrane and
emergence of potable drinking water from the low-pressure side.
When and why
Applications
• Purifying Water for drinking purposes
• Concentrating Food Liquids
• Dairy Industry
• Maple Syrup
• Hydrogen Production
• Reef Aquarium
When and why
Steps to Reverse Osmosis
• a sediment filter to trap particles, including rust and calcium carbonate
• optionally, a second sediment filter with smaller pores
• an activated carbon filter to trap organic chemicals and chlorine, which will attack
and degrade thin film composite membrane reverse osmosis membranes
• a reverse osmosis filter, which is a thin film composite membrane
• optionally, a second carbon filter to capture those chemicals not removed by the
reverse osmosis membrane
• optionally an ultraviolet lamp for sterilizing any microbes that may escape filtering by
the reverse osmosis membrane
*Above is for Drinking Water
Costs
• Low End: $169.98 on Amazon with free 2-day shipping
• 4-stage system for under the sink to further purify
faucet water.
• Middle: $12,000-$18,000 for a whole home system
• Buy and install backwashing systems, cartridge systems, and filter housings
separately
• High End: Millions of dollars for Reverse Osmosis Plants
• Used to convert seawater to drinking water in high
populated areas
Advantages
• Has ability to remove 95 to 99 percent of total dissolved solids as well
as chlorine
• Can have high installation costs but operation costs are extremely low
• Able to recycle water for reuse
Disadvantages
• System must be maintained very routinely and is easily damaged by
chlorine
• Water can be acidic
• The water is demineralized
Van’t Hoff Model
(Eq. 1)

• is the osmotic pressure in units of atm

• n in the number of moles

• Vm is the volume of water in units of m3

• R is the ideal gas constant in

• T is the temperature in units of K

Diffusion of the solvent
(Eq. 2) (Eq. 3)

• Nw in the solvent flux in

• Pw is the solvent membrane permeability in
• Lm in the membrane thickness in meters
• Aw is the solvent permeability constant in
• ΔP is the pressure difference across the membrane in atm
• Δ is the osmotic pressure difference in atm
Diffusion of the solute
(Eq. 4) (Eq.5) (Eq. 6)

• Ns is the solute flux in • Ds is the diffusivity of the solute in

• As is the solute permeability constant
in
• cm is the concentration of solute in
membrane
• c1 is solute concentration of the feed
in solution in
membrane in
• Ks is the distribution coefficient
• c in the concentration of solute in
solution
• c2 is the solute concentration of the
product in
Mass balance equations
(Eq. 8)
• cw2 is the concentration of the solvent in the product solution in

(Eq. 9) (Eq. 10)

• R is the solute rejection also know as the fraction of solute remaining in the feed
stream
• B is in atm-1
Example
• Experiments at 298.15 K were preformed to determine the
permeabilities of a membrane. The membrane has an area of 2x10-3
m2. The inlet feed solution concentration of NaCl is c1 = 10 and the
osmotic pressure is . The water recovery is assumed low so that the
concentration c1 in the entering feed solution flowing past the
membrane and the concentration of the exit feed solution are
essentially equal. The product solution contains c2 = 0.39 (), its
measured flow rate is 1.92x10-8 , and its osmotic pressure is . A
pressure differential of 54.42 atm is used. Calculate the permeability
constants of the membrane and the solute rejection R.
Example
• First convert the flow rate to a solvent flux by using

• Then insert into equation 8

Example

• Adding all our values into equation 2 gives

• Solving for gives

• Adding all our values into equation 4 gives

• =
• Solving for gives
Example
• To calculate the solute rejection add values into equation 9
Work Cited
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
• In: evoqua.com. http://www.evoqua.com/en/brands/IPS/Pages/what-is-reverse-
osmosis.aspx.
• UNDERSTANDING RO WATER FILTRATION & PURIFICATION. In: ESPWaterProducts.com.
https://www.espwaterproducts.com/understanding-ro/.
• https://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/reverse-osmosis-water.html
• http://blog.watertech.com/reverse-osmosis-advantages-and-disadvantages/
• https://www.amazon.com/Metpure-Versatile-4-Stage-Filtration-MV4-ROGB/dp/
B07FFGTFH4/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=kitchen-bath&ie=UTF8&qid=1543979878&sr=1-1-
spons&keywords=reverse+osmosis+system&psc=1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis_plant#/media/File:Northcapecoral-
RO.jpg