Reverse osmosis membrane fouling control

Abstract

Reverse osmosis (RO) has become an important demineralization technique. Since the development of the first commercially viable RO membranes in the late 1950s, improvements in performance and durability have resulted in membranes that are more efficient and cost less to operate. For example, low-energy membranes have succeeded in delivering high-quality permeate and high productivity with low pressure requirements. This advance has allowed RO membranes to operate on low-temperature feed water sources that otherwise would require prohibitively high operating pressure.