N NF Simulation Software

NANOFLUX
Optimization of Reverse Osmosis (RO)
and Nanofiltration (NF)
Desalination Systems
Mehdi Metaiche
European Membrane Institute, Montpellier, France
Ecole Polytechnique d’Alger & Béchar University, Algeria.
John Palmeri
Laboratory of Theoretical Physics
CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier – Toulouse 3, France

SIMONANOMEM
 Reverse Osmosis (RO) and
Nanofiltration (NF) Membrane
Technology

Water treatment and Desalination

- Drinking water (SWRO)
- Industrial wastewater

Major problem of the new century:

providing sufficient and safe water to
people, agriculture, and industry

World Bank estimates:

“some 1 billion
people in over 29 countries have poor
access to clean drinking water and 3 billion
lack sanitary sewage
facilities”

[Nanofiltered Water, The petroleum of the 21st

Century”, Forbes/Wolf Nanotech Report, July
2002].
 Worldwide production of RO water:
estimated at
6.4 million m3/d

RO is the world leader in annual desalination plant

installations (50% total capacity, >70% of plants).

Optimization of NF and RO plants is essential : clean water is

required for sustainable development need to lower cost of
producing desalinated water (membrane high nanotech materials,
but also plant design and operating conditions)
 

 













 


 

 










 






 













(Kahn, 1986.)


 

 





  













Flow Diagram of a reverse osmosis system



 


 MIDDLE EAST DESALINATION RESEARCH CENTER.

J. Palmeri and M. Metaiche

Development of user-friendly, robust, and reliable NF and RO simulation

tools
NF & RO modeling
Membrane = selective barrier (TFM active layer)

Pfeed Ppermeate
Cfeed Cpermeate

Fluxes
Solvent Solute
 IONS
Monovalent: Na+, Cl-, K+, HCO3-
Divalent: Ca2+ , Mg2+, SO42

WATER TYPES TDS = Total Dissolved Solids

Seawater 35 ± 10 g/l

Isotonic ~ 9 g/l
~ NaCl + other ions
Brackish ~ 5 g/l
RO, NF ?
Irrigation ~ 3 g/l

Potable < 0.5 g/l

 RO, NF driving force ∆P > σ∆Π ≅ RT ∆C
Reverse Osmosis

Pfeed Ppermeate
Cfeed Cpermeate

Solution Flux Solvent Flux

J V = − Lp ( ∆P − σ∆Π ) J S = − PS ∆C + (1 − σ )Cfeed J V
 Aristotle, 4th century B.C. (?)
Reid (University of Florida)
Abbé J. A. Nollet - 1748
Loeb and Sourirajan (UCLA) - 1960
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, SWRO plant - 1978
 Retentate QR A = membrane area
permeate
QP
Cpermeate = J S / J V
Filtration condition

Feed QF

J S = − PS ∆C + (1 − σ )Cfeed JV = Cpermeate J V

Cpermeate Cpermeate
passage : ℑ = rejection : ℜ = 1 − ℑ = 1 −
Cfeed Cfeed

Productivity: QP = A × J V Yield = QP / QF
 Pfeed Ppermeate
Cfeed Cpermeate

water
J V = − LP [ ∆P − σ∆Π ] JV
salt

∆P

Cpermeate σ σ
ℜ( JV ) = 1 − = ℜ
Cfeed 1 + PS / J V
Pe=JV/PS ~ 1
JV
 RO membrane : dense NF membrane : nanoporous
Solution –Diffusion Partition – Diffusion/Convection transport
transport model model (MD simulations, L. Horvath thesis)

RO transport equations NF transport equations

σ =1 σ <1
JV = − Lp ( ∆P − ∆Π ) JV = − L p ( ∆P − σ∆Π )
J S = − PS ∆C J S = − PS ∆C + (1 − σ )Cfeed JV

High to moderate ion rejection,

Very high salt rejection
increased ion selectivity

IONS
Monovalent: Na+, Cl-, K+, HCO3-
Divalent: Ca2+ , Mg2+, SO42
• Plant configuration:
(membrane, brine-staged,
product-staged,…)
• Operating conditions:
temperature, pH, feed flux,
applied pressure,…

feed NF/RO retentate

Plant

permeate • Product Quality

• Retentate disposal
• Minimize costs
(economic constraints)
 Multi-stage/Multi-module NF/RO Plants
Feed
Recycle tank
Recycle
F1
I
II III

Retentate
Recycle Tank Feed

Global Permeate
(Flux, rejection,…)
Feed Csalt
Retentaten = Feedn+1
Feedn Retentaten+1
••• ••• Flux

Permeaten Permeaten+1
Rejection
 SWNF Applications
I. SWNF pretreatment plant for SWRO [Umm Lujj plant ]
Saudi Arabia, highly concentrated Red Seawater, TDS ~ 45 g/l.
[Hassan, et al.]

II. Long Beach CA, USA, SWNF Study:

NF2 dual product-staged pilot, Pacific seawater ~ 30 - 35 g/l
[S. Adham, R. C. Cheng, et al.]
 N
NANOFLUX
simulations – full scale Umm Lujj SWNF
pretreatment plant (DesalDK and Red seawater feed)
• 1 stage, 27 housing in parallel
six 8” DesalDK-8040F elements/housing (GE-Osmonics)
~ 5270m² total effective membrane surface area
• feed flux = 360 m3/h [360 000 l/h]
• feed pH 8.2 • T = 32°C • applied feed pressure P = 25 bar

Feed
•
•
•
} 25 Retentate

Permeate

P. Eriksson, M. Kyburz, W. Pergrande, Desalination 184 (2005) 281.

 Goal of SWNF pre-treatment:

(1) prevent RO membrane fouling by turbidity

and bacteria removal,
(2) prevent scaling by removal of divalent
hardness ions,
(3) reduce TDS load on the SWRO plant in
order to lower RO operating pressures and
increase product yield.
 Approximate Red Seawater ion composition
Ion [mg/l] [mol/l]
Na+ 12564 0.552

K+ 397 0.010

Mg2+ 1595 0.065

Ca2+ 477 0.011

Cl- 22969 0.647

HCO3- 157 0.003

SO42- 3227 0.033

Total TDS: 41.4 g/l

A. M. Hassan, et al. Desalination 131 (2000) 157.

N
N
ANOFLUX
Process simulations
Step 1: NanoFlux
Feed Menu
Step 2: NanoFlux Plant/Module Menu –
Configure NF Plant
 Umm Lujj SWNF pretreatment plant (DesalDK and Red seawater feed)

Cpermeate
ℜ = 1−
Cfeed

Yield = QP / QF
P. Eriksson, M. Kyburz, W. Pergrande, Desalination 184 (2005) 281.
N
N
ANOFLUX
reliable full scale SWNF plant simulations
Complicated ion transport model
manual optimization of plant design and
operating conditions (scenario testing)
 DesaltOp simulations – full scale SWRO plants
Multi-scale, multi-variable, multi-objective optimization problem
with linear and non-linear constraints

Simple RO salt transport model:

automatic optimization using robust and reliable Genetic
Algorithms

explore the space of SWRO plant design and operating

conditions

find optimum “lowest cost” solution (Pressure, membrane

surface area, plant configuration,…) respecting imposed
constraints:
- salt Cpermeate < 0.5 g/L,
- (Toxic) Boron < 1 mg/L
- Maximum trans-membrane pressure
DesaltOp 3 levels of description:

1. membrane choice (manufacturer, spiral wound or

hollow fiber) and modeling of trans-membrane
transport at the single module level

2. modeling of overall plant design: multiple stages,

layout (brine-staged, product-staged)

3. Overall cost modeling Fitness Function

Method: Genetic Algorithm with binary coding

[John Holland - "Adaption in Natural and Artificial Systems"
(1975)]
 Plant design (product staged,
membrane choice, operating
conditions,…

SWRO modeling: 34 coupled non-linear equations

&9 linear (pressure, yield,…)
+ 2 non-linear (product salt and boron) constraints
& 10 binary coding constraints (gene lengths)
Plant design modeling
Genetic Algorithm with binary coding find optimum
solution in complicated fitness landscape F
F = Overall Cost =
membranes +
maintenance +
electricity (pumps,…)
 Parameters
Total product concentration of salt (ppm) Unit price of water ($/m3)
Total product concentration of Boron (ppm) Unit power consumption (kWh/m3)
Total permeat flow (m3/d)
Investment costs
Total plant recovery
Intake and pretreatment costs ($)
Total reject concentration of salt (ppm)
Membrane costs ($)
Total reject flow
Pumping and power recovering system
Total feed flow
costs ($)
1st STAGE
Civil and electric work costs ($)
Number of modules
Total investment costs ($)
Operating pressure (Kpa)
Annual amortization ($)
Recovery (%)
Annual operating costs
Bypass rate (%)
Annual membrane replacement cost ($)
Product flow of module (m3/d)
Annual energy cost ($)
Product flow of stage (m3/d)
Ammual chemical cost ($)
Reject flow of stage(m3/d)
Annual maintenance cost ($)
Product concentration in stage (ppm)
Annual labour cost ($)
Reject concentration in stage (ppm)
 Genetic Algorithm with binary coding
http://www.obitko.com/tutorials/genetic-algorithms/index.php

Parent

Selection

















 




 






“F”

“Pressure”
F = Overall Cost
Mutation
 Offspring Selection

…Repeat until convergence…

 Start

Finish (after N generations)

Optimum solution
Results
Evolution and Convergence
Real
Case
study:
46%
reduction
in cost
 NanoFlux and DesaltOp useful at the level of
full scale multi-stage, multi-element plants

• Inform potential clients of the advantages of a given

membrane technology even before performing costly
pilot studies,
• Optimize a membrane process + basis for an
economic analysis,
• Scale-up of industrial plants,
• Educate students and engineers.
 Many thanks to Patrice David (computer
engineer, formerly of the IEM in Montpellier) for
his collaboration in developing NanoFlux and
DesaltOp