Sea water desalination / brackish water desalination by reserve osmosis
Osmosis- the interplay between saline and non-saline solutions - has existed in nature for million of years; in the cells of living organisms, a membrane which is only permeable to fresh water and vital minerals regulates the liquid pressure and the salt content of the cell.
This sophisticated process which has always existed in nature can today be reversed and used as a technique for the desalination of sea water with a great potential for the future.
We inverse the natural process by regulating the salt content through the liquid pressure - this is reverse osmosis: the result is drinking water which complies even with the stringent requirements of WHO directives.
The key to succses: the pre-treatment
Extremely thorough pre-treatment of the sea water is the principial requirement of the technical application of reverse osmosis. Impurities caused by micro-organisms or suspended inorganic particulate matter, impair the performance of the membranes.
That is why AQUA ENGINEERING gives maximum priority to pre-purification. To ensure individual adaptation of each installation to its particular site, we rely on our extensive know-how which our experts gained in pre-treatment, on the results of comprehensive water analyses and on the results of a pilot plant which we operate when the need arises.
The reverse osmosis technique offers decisive advantages over distillation methods such as thermal distillation:
- Energy costs are significantly lower and can be further reduced by using energy recovery turbines
- Capital costs are substantially lower, especially in the case of smaller installations
- The need for trained personnel is greatly reduced
- The plants operate at normal ambient temperature
- Corrosion problems are minimal
- Consumption of chemicals is low
- Even with high salt contents of up to 50.000ppm our RO systems are still economical in operation.
Aqua Engineering designs and supplies RO systems with any required capacity.
We can serve our customers with the experience of many succsessfully installed large scale sea water and brackish water desalination plants which supply first class drinking water in many areas of this world. For small individual solutions, our Compact RO systems in container format combine high economy with sophisticated technology.
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