This study was to experimentally investigate the performance and organic fouling behaviour in a 1-m long RO membrane channel with or without spacer for desalting. It was found that local permeate flux distributed heterogeneously along the long membrane channel without a spacer inserted due to exponential growth of concentration polarization, which also resulted in decreasing salt rejection and increasing organic fouling along the membrane channel in the downstream direction. This heterogeneity could be lessened by inserting a spacer into the channel, which mitigated concentration polarization due to the enhanced turbulence caused by a spacer, especially at the downstream portion of the channel. However, in the upstream of the channel, inserting a spacer exerted an additional vertical resistance which might counteract the effect of concentration polarization mitigation by a spacer and caused a lower permeate flux. This suggests that it is necessary to consider the integral effect of spacer for designing an RO membrane module and an overall RO system in order to prevent extra resistance, reduce concentration polarization and membrane fouling.
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Research Article|
April 01 2010
An experimental study on the effect of spacer on concentration polarization in a long channel reverse osmosis membrane cell
H. Mo;
1Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, 1 Engineering Drive 2, E1A-07-03, Singapore 117576, Republic of Singapore E-mail: g0403666@nus.edu.sg
E-mail: g0403666@nus.edu.sg
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H. Y. Ng
H. Y. Ng
2Centre for Water Research, Division of Environmental Science & Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260, Republic of Singapore E-mail: esenghy@nus.edu.sg
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Water Sci Technol (2010) 61 (8): 2035–2041.
Citation
H. Mo, H. Y. Ng; An experimental study on the effect of spacer on concentration polarization in a long channel reverse osmosis membrane cell. Water Sci Technol 1 April 2010; 61 (8): 2035–2041. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2010.116
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