Influence of temperature and permeate recovery on energy consumption of a reverse osmosis system

Abstract A model permits analysis of the influence of temperature on permeate recovery and energy consumption. The proposed model is based on the following assumptions: (1) membrane morphology is temperature-independent; (2) membrane rejection and other transport characteristics of membranes are position-independent; (3) specific water permeability of membranes was based on exponential dependence of viscosity vs. temperature; (4) temperature-dependence depembrane rejection is assumed to be linear. This allows for analyzing the influence of channel geometry, feed concentration, flow rate and temperature on permeate recovery and energy consumption. Calculated data are included. The solutionpresented can be segmented andbuilt into systems for comprehensive techno-economic evaluation of the RO-based process where temperature-dependence of process characteristics has to be considered.