DESALINATION

ELSEVIER Desalination 158 (2003) 119-l 26

www.elsevier.comAocate/desal

Permeate recycle to improve the performance of a spiral-wound

RO plant

Nader Al-Bask&i*, Abderrahim Abbas

Department ofChemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Bahrain, PO Box 32038, Bahrain
Tel. ‘973 782-122; Fax +973 684-844; emails: naderbsk@eng.uob.bh, arabbus@eng.uob.bh

Received 19 February 2003; accepted 24 February 2003

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained from a simulation study on the effect of permeate recycle on the
performance of a spiral-wound RO plant. The model used was developed for an actual small scale plant consisting
of three stages. The first stage consists of two parallel vessels whereas the second and third stages contain a single
vessel each. Each vessel houses three g-inch spiral-wound brackish water FilmTec membranes. Part of the product
water is recycled and mixed with the fresh feed. The model incorporates the solution diffusion mass transport theory,
concentration polarization, along with the characteristics of the spacer for the estimation ofthe mass transfer coefficient
and pressure drop. The use of these concepts together with the recycling of a portion of the permeate resulted in a
model composed of a highly coupled system of nonlinear equations. The results of the simulation showed that
recycling part of the permeate and mixing it with the feed was beneficial in terms of reducing the concentration
polarization and improving the quality of the final product. However, as expected, this resulted in reducing the
production rate. By using a recycle ratio of 25%, the concentration of the product was reduced by 15% compared to
the case of no recycle, at the expense of 22% reduction in the production rate.

Keywords: RO; Spiral-wound membrane; RO modeling; Spacer filled channel; Recycle; Concentration polarization

1. Introduction ing the life-time of the membranes are critical

factors dictated by the need to keep the production
In reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination,
cost ofthe water within acceptable limits. Fouling
controlling the quality ofthe product and prolong-
of the membranes results in the deterioration of
____
the membrane characteristics and a consequent
*Corresponding author.
Presented nt the European Conference on Desalination and the Environment: Fresh Water for All. Malta, 4-8 May 2003.
European Desalination Society, international Water Association.

00 I l-9164/03/$- See front matter 0 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
PII: SO01 L-9164(03)00442-9
120 N. Al-Bastaki. A. Abbas /Desalination
reduction in the production rate and deterioration
of the permeate quality. The severity of fouling is
usually more pronounced in the upstream mem-
branes at the feed water inlet to the membrane
block.
Desalination plants are designed to process
raw water having a prespecified salt content. For
many brackish water systems, the quality of the
feed deteriorates with time. For example, the salt
content of the feed brackish water drawn from a
well for an RO plant producing drinking water in
Bahrain increased by over 35% during a period
of four years. This, of course, lead to a deterio-
ration of the quality of the product. The obvious
solution to such a problem is to further process
the product water by adding more RO elements
to the plant. A second, less obvious, approach is
to recycle part of the product to the feed. Such a
method will improve the quality of the product at
the expense of a reduced production rate. It will,
also, reduce concentration polarisation and fouling
rate, and hence prolong the life of the membranes,
The main objective of this paper is to investigate
the effect of the recycle ratio on the performance
of a simulated RO plant. The simulation model is
a representation of a real industrial plant and its
operating conditions.
2. Process description
A schematic diagram of the process considered
in this study is shown in Fig. I. The process is
used to treat a medium salinity ground water
v,>C’,
NIGH
PRESSURE
PUMP STAGE I STAGE
158 12003) 119-126
having a TDS of about 3000 ppm. A high-pressure
pump delivers the pre-treated feed water to the
RO membrane unit at a pressure of approximately
18 bar.
The RO membrane unit is composed of three
stages in series. The first stage contains two
parallel vessels whereas the other two are single-
vessel stages. Each vessel contains three FilmTec
BW30-400 elements. The concentrate from the
first stage is used as the feed to the second stage
with the concentrate ofthis latter stage being used
as the feed to the third and tinal stage. The per-
meates from all vessels are blended to form the
product. The plant recovery is 55% with an average
permeate concentration, C,,, ofabout 0.175 kg/mi.
In this work, part of the product will be recycled
and mixed with the fresh feed. Recycle ratios
varying from 0% to 25% of the total product are
to be used.
3. Theory
Theoretical modelling of RO systems is an
important tool that is necessary for the design of
new plants and troubleshooting and performance
analysis of existing plants. The simplest of the
models incorporate many simplifying assump-
tions and are suitable only for quick estimates.
On the other hand, the highly rigorous models
incorporate a minimum number of assumptions
and hence yield more accurate results. However,
these models are very time consuming to develop
and solve, particularly when applied to a complete
Rccyclc
2 STAGE 3 Fig. Schematic diagram of the process.
 N. Al-Bastaki, A. Abbas / Desalination
plant with many RO elements arranged in various
configurations. A third category of models are
those that incorporate a small number of simplify-
ing assumptions and use solution tools that are
not as intimate as the highly rigorous methods
but at the same time they are reasonable in terms
of accuracy and time required for their develop-
ment and solution. Examples of such semi-
rigorous models for RO systems based on hollow-
fiber (HF) membranes were presented by Al-
Bastaki and Abbas [1,2]. Most of the important
aspects to model the HF membranes were included,
such as the pressure drop inside the fibers and in
the shell side, concentration polarization and the
axial and radial flow directions of the permeate
and feed/concentrate. Similar models for spiral-
wound membranes were presented by Abbas and
Al-Bastaki [3,4]. These models, however, were
simpler in that they neglected the pressure drop
across the membrane elements. In this work, these
models are modified to incorporate the pressure
drop across the membranes, the spacer characte-
ristics as well as the additional material balances
dictated by the recycle stream.
A total and salt balances around the mixing
point between the recycle stream and the fresh
feed yield:
Q,= Q,+ Q,
Q, .C, =Qo.C’o+Q,.~C,
where Q,, Q,. and Qf are, respectively, the flow
rates of the fresh feed, recycle and the combined
feed to the first membrane element in the process.
C,, Cp and C,are the corresponding concentrations
ofthe salt (see Fig. I). The recycle rate is obtained
by multiplying the total permeate obtained from
all membranes, Q,, by the recycle ratio, R:
Q,.=R.Q,
The water and salt fluxes, J,, and J,, obtained
for each membrane can be calculated from the
solution-diffusion mass transport theory (or the
Kimura-Sourirajan theory):
1.58 (2003) 119-126 121
J,,. = K,,.(AP- An) (4)
J, = Ksk, - C, ) (5)
where K,,. and K,, are the water and solute perme-
ability, respectively, AP is the pressure difference
between the feed and permeate sides of the mem-
brane. Similarly, An is the osmotic pressure
difference across the membrane, (rc,,,- x,). Cm is
the salt concentration at the membrane wall. For
not too high solute concentrations, the relationship
between the osmotic pressure and concentration
is approximately linear
7C=CXC (6)
The value of a was obtained by fitting osmotic
pressure data vs. concentration of sodium chloride
solutions, reported in Perry’s Handbook [5].
A material balance within the mass transfer
boundary layer near the membrane wall between
the solute carried to the membrane by convection
and the solute carried away by diffusion yields
an expression that quantifies concentration polari-
zation [6] :
co,-(2’ = exp(J,,, /k)
(7)
C, -Cp
(1) Subscripts b and m refer to bulk and membrane
respectively. k is the mass transfer coefftcient. It
may be estimated using an appropriate empirical
mass transfer expression.
In this work, the equations developed by Da
Costa et al. [7] for estimating the mass transfer
coefficient, k, and the pressure drop, ti, for flow
inside a spacer-filled channel are used. They
proposed the following relationship to calculate
the Sherwood number, Sh, and hence k:
105
(3)
Sh = 0.664k,,. Re” 5 SC’.~~ >
i 0, .J (8)
and
123 R: Al-Bnstuki. A. Abbas / Desalination 158 (2003) 119-126

5‘,,= o.Gd,A? + 2d, A11

) (16)
k=Sh$ (9)
II and the volume of that element, VI,,, is:
where the Reynold’s number, Re, is given by:
T/,, = ;jdj,!,i? + d;A ) (17)

The parameter, kdc, is calculated from the fol-

lowing expression:
The average velocity along the channel axis,
Us, is given by:

u, =
Q*
(11)
w h,,,
.E
The pressure drop across the membrane may
and the average bulk flow rate can be can be be estimated as follows [?‘I:
calculated as follows:

(19)
(12)
where Cl<,,the total drag coefficient, is given by
Q,. is the flow rate of the concentrate leaving the
membrane. The void fraction in the spacer-filled A’
channel was given by Da Costa et al. [7] as follows: c,, =- (20)
Re”

E= I _ 4:, 4777 ‘4J

+d.12 (13)
where A’ and n are spacer parameters. Values of
4. I,,,?
/,,,,
h,, sin(e) these two parameters were reported by Da Costa
et al. [7] for several types of spacers.
where 8 is the angle between hvo filaments of The dimensions and parameters of the spacer
the spacer facing the channel axis. The hydraulic and membranes used in this study are listed in
diameter, d,,, for a spacer tilled channel is given Table I.
by VI: The dimensions of the spacer mesh were
obtained by direct measurement. One of the RO
4E elements which were replaced at the end of a five
d, = (14)
year operating period was cut open for exami-
+ (1 - E)S,,.,r nation and measurement. The dimensions of the
spacer filaments were then measured using a
digital vernier. The filaments ofthe spacer meshes
The specific surface area of the spacer, S,,,,, is
were found to be aligned at an angle of about 4.5”
the ratio of the surface area of an element 0 f’the
with respect to the axial flow direction. The fila-
spacer, St,‘.divided by the volume ofthat element,
ments were arranged in a rhombus layout with
v,,>: sides of length 1,?),and Zm2and filament diameters
of d,, and d,>. The angle between the filaments
(15) was 90”.
The dimensions of the spacer were found to
where S,,, is given as: be closest to those reported by Da Costa et al. [73
 N. AI-Bastaki, A. Abbas /Desalination 158 (2003) 119-126 123

ESe-5 10
Table I
Dimensions and parameters for the spacer and membrane

I
E.Oe-5
elements 8
7.5e-5
Parameter Value
Z
u
7.0e-5
l,,,,, mm _ 2.755
1,,,2,mm 2.780 6.5e-5
d/,, Ill111 0.285 -k
6.0e-5
&, mm 0.308 -a- Re

h,,,, mm dfl+ Q 5.5e-5

0 2 4 6 8 IO
8 90”
cx, atm.m’/kg 0.78 Element number
K,,.,mjim’.s.atm 5397x10~’
K,, kgim’.s.(kgim3) 2.182x10-’ Fig. 2. Variations of the mass transfer coefficient, k, and
37 Reynolds number, Re, through the plant. (elements 1 to 3
A,,,, m2
A’(forNALTEX-5-l-129) 7.38 [7] represent elements in either of the parallel vessels in
n (for NALTEX-5-l-129) 0.34 [7] stage 1).
L, In 1
IV, 1x3 37 Fig. 2 shows the results of calculations of the
_____
Re and k for the different elements using the model
presented earlier. As mentioned above, the drop
for NALTEX- 15 I- 129. Therefore, the values of
in Re and k as the feed water progresses from
A’and n were taken to be those of NALTEX-5- I -
element 1 to element 3 and from element 4 to
129, as shown in Table 1.
element 9 is a result of decreasing the bulk flow
The water and salt permeabilities, K,,, and KS,
rate, Q,. The sudden increase in Re and k from
were calculated using actual plant operating data
element 3 to element 4 is caused by the recombi-
with no recycle.
nation of the feed (concentrate) streams from the
The system of coupled equations representing
two parallel vessels in stage 1, prior to entering
the RO process, Eqs. (1)-(20), were coded and
stage 2. It should be noted that the feed was split
solved using Mathcad. Due to their inherent non-
into two streams prior to entering stage 1.
linearity an iterative approach was followed.
To investigate the effect of neglecting the
presence of the spacer on the modeling results,
4. Results and discussion the mass transfer coefficients were recalculated
using the Sherwood equation proposed by Belfort
The tapered layout of the industrial RO plant
[6] for laminar flow in open channels with no
shown in Fig. 1, is a common design practice
spacer, given as follows:
aimed at ensuring the presence of the design cross
flow velocities that minimize fouling rates. As the
Sh = 1.86(Re. SC. d,, /L)o.33 (21)
feed water moves downstream its flow rate
decreases due to the transfer of part of the water where d,, in this case is given as 2h.wl(h + w) and
as a permeate across the membrane. This results h is the channel depth. The results are presented
in lowering the axial velocity, u,, hence reducing in Fig. 3. As can be seen from this figure, the
the Reynolds number, Re, and the corresponding assumption of neglecting the presence of the
mass transfer coefficient value, k. Consequently, spacer yields a large over-estimation of the mass
this also leads to a higher accumulation of salts transfer coefficient. In this case, the k values are
near the membrane caused by concentration about twice as those corresponding to the spacer-
polarization due lower k values. filled model (i.e., about 100% error).
124 ,N Al-Basmki. A. Abbas J Desalination 1% (2003) 119-126
1 4e-4
l.Ze-4
m 1.0e-4
-z
J 8.0e-5
6.0e-5
- Soacer filled channel
-a- 0;~ channel
4.0e-5 + 1.06
0 4
2 6
Element number
Fig. 3. Mass transfer coefficient, k, for the flow in the RO
elements using spacer filled channel equations compared
to open channel equations.
The advantage of a tapered configuration can
be clearly seen in Fig. 4 which shows the extent
of concentration polarization expressed as a ratio
of salt concentration at the membrane wall, C)(,,to
the bulk concentration, C,. The values of C,,/C,
follow a trend opposite to that of k and Re. The
concentration polarization is noticed to be much
higher prior to recombining the feed streams at
the end of stage 1. Fig. 4 also shows the calculated
average pressure in each element. It can be seen
that the slope of the curve for elements 4 to 9 is
higher that that for elements I to 3. This indicates
higher pressure drops for stages 4 to 9, which is
in agreement with the expected behavior due to
the increased flow rate at the inlet of stage 2 and
hence a higher cross flow velocity. The higher
concentration polarization and lower cross flow
velocities in the elements placed in the two parallel
vessels of stage 1 (Fig. 1) are, both, scenarios for
higher fouling rates. For the plant under consider-
ation, this was indeed the case, as these elements
showed symptoms of faster fouling. Of course,
an additional factor that adds to these two factors
is the fact most suspended impurities including
biological organisms are trapped by the first few
elements.
The purpose of recycling the permeate is to
reduce the concentration of the feed saline water
and subsequently to improve the quality of the
1.16 18
17
m
1.6 5
n-
1.5
1.08
14
a 2 4 6 8 10
10
Element number
Fig. 4. Average concentration polarization ratio, <:!(I’,, and
average pressure ofthe bulk flow (feed side) for the different
elements.
final product. This measure becomes more appealing
in the case when the feed water quality deterio-
rates with time. In the plant considered in this
work the concentration of the feed ground water
gradually increased with time resulting in a
substantial increase over a period of several years
(more details are available in references [3,4]. The
penalty for such a measure is a lower net production
rate. For the model used in this work the total
feed, ?, to stage I was assumed to be constant.
As a result, the value of Q, was reduced as the
recycle ratio was increased. The model’s predictions
for the effect of changing the recycle ratio on the
net permeate flow rate and permeate concentration
are shown in Fig. 5. The net permeate flow rate
was obtained by deducting the recycled permeate
from the total permeate production, Q,. It can be
seen from Fig. 5 that by increasing the permeate
recycle ratio from 0 to 25%, the product concen-
tration, C,,, is reduced by about 15% (from 0.175
to 0.149 kg/m’) compared to the no recycle case.
The corresponding decrease in the net production
rate, Q,), is about 22% (fi-om 2.99~ 1O--’to 2.343 x
IO-’m’/s). In actual practice, the optimum choice
has to be made based on the relative importance
of these two key parameters, namely, C,, and Q,?.
If the quality cannot be compromised, then the
production rate has to be sacrificed.
The average salt passages (SP) for each vessel
 N. Al-Bastaki, A. Abbas i Desalination 1.58 (2003) 119-126 125

00040 0.18 10

0.0035

,Q
E_ 0 0030

0.0025

00020
0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Recycle ratio, %
31 -I
0 1 2 3 4
Fig. 5. Effect of recycle ratio on the overall product flow
Vessel number
rate and concentration.
Fig. 6. Variation of the cumulative salt passage for different
recycle ratios (fresh feed having salt concentration of
at various recycle ratios are shown Fig. 6. The
3.46 kgimj).
vessel SP values were calculated with respect to
the fresh feed concentration of 3.46 kg/m3. It can
be seen that as the recycle ratio is increased, SP rates and lower cross flow velocity because the
decreases. For any recycle ratio, the SP values feed was split into two streams. These membrane
increase as the flow progresses downstream from elements suffer from low values of the mass transfer
vessels 1 to 3. coefficient and hihger concentration polarization
and, hence, are more susceptible to fouling.

5. Conclusions
Symbols
The theoretical model showed that recycling
part of the permeate and mixing it with the feed - Constant used in Eq. (20)
was found beneficial in terms of reducing the - Salt concentration, kg/m3
concentration polarization and improving the - Total drag coefftcient
quality of the final product. However, as expected, - Salt diffusivity, m2/s
this results in a reduction in the production rate. - Diameter of filament 1 in the spacer mesh
By using a recycle ratio of 25%, the concentration - Diameter of filament 2 in the spacer mesh
of the product is reduced by 15% compared to - Hydraulic diameter of flow channel, m
the case with no recycle, whereas the production - Void fraction of the spacer
rate was decreased by 22%. The spacer-filled - Height of spacer channel, m
channel theory which was incorporated in the - Flux, m3 water/(m2.s) or kg salt/(m2.s)
current model, was developed by Da Costa et al. - Solvent (water) permeability, m.s-’.ba?
[7] and is a rigorous method that takes into account - Solute (salt) permeability, kg/(m2.s.bar)
detailed spacer mesh geometry. This method - Mass transfer coefficient, m/s
resulted in estimates of the mass transfer coefft- - Coefficient in Eq. (8)
cient which are about one half of those corres- - Axial length of the membrane element,
ponding to the simplified method that assumes m
an open channel and ignores the presence of the - Length of filament 1 in the spacer mesh
spacer. The first three membranes placed in the - Length of filament 1 in the spacer mesh
two parallel vessels of stage 1 have lower flow - Constant used in Eq. (20)
126 IV. Al-Bastaki, A. Abbas /Desalination 1.58 (2003) 119-126

AP- Pressure drop across membrane, bar Acknowledgement

AX - Osmotic pressure difference across
The authors would like to extend their sincere
membrane, bar
thanks to Mr. Seena Jaberi, General Manager of
P - Volumetric flow rate, m3/s
Al-Sane & Partners Soft Drinks Co., for his support
R - Recycle ratio
and permission to publish this paper.
Re - Reynolds number
SC - Schmidt number
Sh - Sherwood number References
s “5,’ - Specific surface area of spacer mesh, N.M. Al-Bastaki and A. Abbas, Predicting the
[II
m’/m’ performance of RO membranes, Desalination, 132
t - Time, s (2000) 181-l 87.
u - Axial velocity, m/s PI N.M. Al-Bastaki and A. Abbas, Modeling an industrial
I; - Volume of spacer mesh, m’ reverse osmosis unit, Desalination, 126 (1999) 33-
$1’
w - Width of membrane, m 39”
Distance perpendicular to the mem- [31 A. Abbas and N.M. Al-Bastaki, Performance decline
Y -
in brackish water FilmTec spiral wound RO mem-
brane wall, m
branes, Desalination, 136 (2001) 281-286.
[41 N.M.Al-Bastaki and A. Abbas,Analysis ofoperational
Subscripts results of a brackish water spiral wound RO plant,
b - Bulk Proc. IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water
Reuse, Manama, Bahrain, 2002.
- Fresh feed
[51 R.H. Perry and C.H. Chilton, Chemical Engineers
.9 - Sum of fresh feed and recycle
Handbook, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1984.
111 - Membrane G. Belfort, Synthetic Membrane Processes, Academic
[61
P - Permeate Press, 1984.
r - Recycled [71 A.R. Da Costa, A.G. Fane and D.E. Wiley, Spacer
1 - Total permeate characterization and pressure drop modelling in
spacer-tilled channels for ultrafiltration, J. Membr.
Abbreviations Sci., 87 (1994) 79-98.
PI G Schock and A. Miquel, Mass transfer and pressure
HF - Hollow fiber loss in spiral wound modules, Desalination, 64 ( 1987)
SR - Salt rejection 339-352.