Volume 42 / Issue 2

March / April 2019

One Water Strategy

WRF resources. Page 6

Project Management
Artificial intelligence. Page 10

Water Reuse
Economic benefits. Page 23

Membranes
CCRO breakthrough. Page 26

Energy Recovery
More biogas, higher revenues
26 Membrane Treatment

Twenty-first century reverse

osmosis disrupts traditional
technology
Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) has set a new operational standard for RO, opening up
opportunities for dramatic cost savings and operational benefits. Michael Boyd of Desalitech
explains how this breakthrough technology works and its significance to industrial and
municipal water and wastewater reuse.

Breakthrough innovations often signals a new awakening for the There are ways to optimize this ibility helps achieve a significantly
either fundamentally change a industry, its practitioners, and balancing act using hybrid-staging higher level of efficiency and reli-
method of work or change how users. or inter-stage booster pumps, ability than RO.
something is done. The iPhone, but these approaches sacrifice Illustrated in Figure 1, the CCRO
for example, was not merely a Traditional RO operational flexibility. While the process operates in two modes: (1)
better way to place a phone call – RO is the primary technology used industry has made significant ad- closed circuit at 100 percent recov-
it became a new platform for how in the desalination of municipal vancements to individual aspects ery and (2) in plug flow or flushing
people communicate, connect, and industrial water and wastewa- of the RO process – including mem- mode at 15-30 percent recovery. A
consume, and share information. ter. Effective at removing salts, its brane elements, variable frequency high-pressure pump (HPP) feeds a
Like the iPhone, recently intro- operational limitations include low drives, and analytical equipment – closed loop comprised of a single
duced Closed Circuit Reverse recovery rates, fouling and scaling none of these advancements have stage of membrane elements and
Osmosis (CCRO) fundamentally of membranes, high clean-in-place been due to optimization of the a circulation pump (CP). Multiple
disrupts traditional reverse os- (CIP) frequencies, short membrane fundamental design. pressure vessels are operated in
mosis (RO) technology, sparking life, difficulty in managing vari- parallel with short membrane
a technological revolution that ations in feed water quality, com- CCRO breakthrough arrays. Permeate is produced at
delivers cost savings and op- promised permeate quality, high The mass adoption of the newly a rate equal to the flow rate of
erational benefits far beyond the operating costs, and others. The emerging CCRO technology across the HPP. Brine is recirculated
capability of its predecessor. RO key to solving all of these issues ul- multiple industries represents without depressurization. When
largely remained in a technological timately stems from an innovative one of the most fundamental a desired recovery percentage is
standstill following its academic solution that involves reinventing breakthroughs in RO since its reached, brine is purged from the
inception in 1959 and commer- the basic filtration process. commercialization in the 1960s. system, displaced by feed water
cialization beginning in the 1960s. In traditional multi-stage RO Standard components configured from the high-pressure pump in a
Membrane evolutions and adding systems, recovery, flux, and cross- in an elegant single-stage design, single plug-flow (PF) sweep. Brine
stages in series did manage to flow are coupled, so managing recovery, flux, and crossflow are displacement is executed without
improve efficiency, yet many of efficiency and performance is a uncoupled with automated trig- stopping the high-pressure pump
the contemporary RO systems sold balancing act. The systems are gers to purge concentrate based or the production of permeate. The
today use design principles dating either reliable but inefficient, or on volumetric recovery, pressure, system then returns to closed-cir-
back to the 1980s. CCRO, however, they are efficient but unreliable. and/or conductivity. This flex- cuit (CC) operation, during which
there is no brine reject stream.
Figure 1. Illustration of Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO)
In addition to volumetric recov-
ery, the brine flush valve can also
be triggered to purge concentrate
from the system based on pres-
sure or permeate/concentrate
conductivity. Custom triggers can
also be incorporated such as for
permeate silica concentration or
permeate nitrate concentration.
Operating with multiple set points
provides the system the flexibility
to automatically adapt to changing
feed water conditions while always
maximizing recovery relative to the
desired permeate quality targets.
The overall recovery rate in the
CCRO process is a function of
the time between brine flushes.
Therefore, it is not necessary to

March / April 2019 World Water

 Membrane Treatment 27

use multiple stages as is required scaling then a two-stage, 75-per- It was impossible to double pro- urgently trying to find a way to
to increase recovery in traditional cent recovery RO system that will, duction with the existing system reuse its wastewater. However, the
RO processes. A high-recovery in turn, have less fouling and scal- because it would also double the facility encountered a significant
design is constructed in one stage ing than a three-stage, 88-percent concentrate, exceeding the limit challenge due to the variability
typically consisting of four or five recovery RO system. While reliabil- on the facility’s discharge permit. in the wastewater characteristics.
elements per vessel to optimally ity is a primary operational driver Upgrading to two CCRO systems, The salinity of the wastewater
balance performance and costs. for many customers, they find that the mill achieved the required fluctuated daily, with conductivity
Good resistance to fouling and they must choose to operate multi- permeate capacity while simul- values ranging from below 100
scaling, along with high recovery stage RO systems that compromise taneously reducing the volume microsiemens per centimeter (μS/
operation, is important in most efficiency. of concentrate produced by the cm) to more than 2,000 μS/cm and
brackish water desalination, In the CCRO process, this com- traditional system. CIP frequency chemical oxygen demand (COD)
industrial water purification, and promise is no longer required. In was also extended with significant levels as high as 2,000 milligrams
water reuse applications. The fact, the higher the recovery, the reductions in energy and chemical per liter (mg/L). A treatment train
CCRO process provides new and more significant the concentration consumption. The results are as consisting of microfiltration (MF)
enhanced means for addressing variations will get, in turn provid- follows: followed by CCRO provided the
these challenges. Independently ing better immunity to biofouling. • 200% increase in permeate ultimate solution. The MF would
controlled crossflow supplied In addition, the adaptive nature of production remove any suspended solids, and
by a circulation pump efficiently the process will keep the system • 26% less wastewater generated the RO would remove the salts, so
washes the membranes, resulting at optimal performance as feed or • 5% less energy required the water could be reused for boiler
in lower concentration polariza- membrane conditions vary over • 63% less antiscalant used and cooling tower makeup in addi-
tion, and reduces the effects of time, providing a level of reliability • 600% reduction in CIP fre- tion to irrigation water.
scaling and fouling. As the salinity and efficiency that cannot be quency. The CCRO process system was
throughout the sequence cycles achieved with a traditional RO set up to operate using three set
up to that of the most concentrated system. In the CCRO process, recovery is points: volumetric recovery at 95
brine, biofilm formation and scale achieved in time versus in space, percent, internal conductivity at
precipitation can be disrupted Reliable paper mill water supply so shorter membrane arrays can be 14,800 μS/cm, and pressure at
– and even reversed. Notably, A paper mill located in the Sonoran used to reduce lead element flux. 300 psi. Regardless of the continu-
the sequence time of purging Desert, which spans parts of the Salinity cycling and full periodic ously changing composition of the
concentrate is much shorter than southwestern United States (US) purging disrupts organic fouling, wastewater, the CCRO unit would
the induction time for precipitation and northern Mexico, replaced its and crossflow is independently adapt in real time to maximize
of most sparingly soluble salts. traditional, two-stage RO system controlled with a circulation pump recovery relative to the continually
This result contrasts sharply from with two single-stage CCRO to provide ultimate membrane per- changing wastewater composition.
the steady-state conditions in tradi- systems in order to increase its formance. Antiscalant consump- The RO automatically adapts over
tional RO systems, which maintain supply of purified water when tion is also lowered due to reduced the course of a week to drastically
nearly constant concentrations the company expanded to double concentration polarization and changing feed water conditions
throughout their membrane arrays production in 2014. slower induction times associated (Figure 2).
for months or even years. Addition- The source of the facility’s water with silica scale formation.
ally, because recovery can be is highly saline groundwater with Municipal wastewater for reuse
easily manipulated, the adaptive high concentrations of silica, Flexible pharmaceutical reuse A common strategy in the water
process can be adjusted if the con- iron, and manganese, all of which In pharmaceutical manufactur- industry involves reusing munici-
centration of scaling salts or other present significant challenges to ing, water is critical not only for pal effluent for direct and indirect
feed water properties change. the manufacturing of commercial the highly regulated, ultrapure potable reuse, as well as industrial
Due to these properties, the CCRO paper products. The well water process water but also for boilers applications, including boilers,
process is inherently more reliable serving the subject paper mill and cooling towers used during cooling towers, and process
than a traditional, multi-stage RO, had not only metals but also high the manufacturing process. To streams. The primary treatment
and its reliability has been a key levels of biological activity due to mitigate risk associated with water equipment required is MF or
factor in the adoption of the auton- the geothermal conditions (105oF), scarcity, the industry has taken a ultrafiltration (UF) to remove sus-
omous, data-driven process for all requiring a significant annual proactive approach to minimizing pended solids, and RO to remove
mission critical applications. Tradi- budget allocation for membrane water footprint with a significant dissolved solids. Ultimately, the
tional RO systems are only reliable cleaning and system maintenance. focus on the reuse of high-strength limiting factor on the overall plant
when operated at lower recovery Even with great effort, the tradi- organic effluent. efficiency becomes the perfor-
rates. For example, a single-stage, tional multi-stage RO struggled to A pharmaceutical facility in mance of the RO, as the MF or UF
50-percent recovery RO system produce water in sufficent quanti- the drought-stricken state of must all be designed around the
will typically have less fouling and ties to sustain paper production. California, United States (US), was full flow. Increasing recovery rates
beyond 85 percent on municipal
Figure 2
effluent has proved challenging
due to the high concentrations of
organics in the feedwater.
In 2016, Padre Dam Municipal
Water District in California com-
pleted a 9-month pilot study to
evaluate CCRO performance. The
goal of the study was to demon-
strate the maximum achievable
recovery while exceeding a CIP
frequency of 30 days, exceeding
the capability of a traditional
multi-stage RO. The single-stage

Left: The RO automatically adapts to

changing feed water conditions to
maximize recovery at a pharmaceutical
facility in California.

World Water March / April 2019

28 Membrane Treatment

Figure 3

Disruptive CCRO
has fundamentally
changed a 50-year-
old technology.

Figure 4

Figure 3: CCRO performance graph

shows the single-stage system used in
the Padre Dam Municipal Water District
in 2016 was able to operate up to 97.5
percent recovery.

Figure 4. The graph shows the feed,

concentrate, and permeate TOC values
in the CCRO installation in the Padre
Dam Municipal Water District.

system was able to operate at 95 specifications, the maximum feed for reuse or the industrial customer There is new disruption in reverse
percent and 96 percent recovery water TOC value is 3 mg/L. If desalinating wastewater, CCRO has osmosis. Reverse osmosis will
while exceeding the target CIP higher values are experienced, a proven to be the most efficient and continue to be the primary tech-
frequency of 30 days and was then loss of flux can be expected, and reliable solution. nology for desalination of water
operated all the way up to 97.5 the effects can be irreversible. and wastewater; however, CCRO is
percent recovery (Figure 3). Figure 4 shows the feed, concen- CCRO sets new standards now the new operational standard.
One of the distinct advantages trate, and permeate TOC values Overcoming the technical limita- The inefficiencies and limitations of
to the CCRO design is that shorter for the CCRO system. Although tions of traditional RO, CCRO is traditional multi-stage RO designs
membrane arrays can be used to the feed water TOC values were fundamentally changing how are no longer tenable when an
achieve any desired recovery rate. approximately ten times the companies and organizations in all elegant, single-stage design delivers
Where a traditional three-stage RO maximum concentration, as per industries approach municipal and a superior process offering clear
with seven membranes per pres- the membrane manufacturer’s industrial water and wastewater operational, environmental, and
sure vessel would ultimately have specifications, when compared to treatment. Automating applications financial benefits. With more than
21 membrane elements in series, Figure 3, the loss in specific flux previously thought impossible, 150 new installations delivering
a CCRO design can achieve 98 was minimal. In addition, the loss CCRO demonstrates the following: quantifiable payback on six
percent recovery with four or of specific flux was reversible, as • High recovery is no longer a continents and in over a dozen
five elements in series. Fewer even the CIPs with no heat were hydraulic limitation different industries, it’s clear that
membranes in series tend to able to recover the membranes. • Fouling and scaling can be the industry has also taken notice.
lower the lead element flux and These results have been repeated mitigated
improve the flux distribution. This at municipalities across Southern • CIP frequency and membrane Author’s Note
approach leads to better overall California. The Sanitation Districts life can be extended Michael Boyd is a regional director at
membrane performance and of Los Angeles County achieved a • Managing variations in water Desalitech, headquartered in Newton,
longer membrane life. sustained recovery of 93 percent; quality can be automatic Massachusetts, United States (US).
Total organic carbon (TOC) is the City of Los Angeles achieved a • Permeate quality can be a set Before joining Desalitech in 2012,
routinely used in municipal waste- sustained recovery of 95 percent; point Boyd installed the first CCRO system
water applications to monitor and Orange County Water District • Reducing chemical and energy in the US, operating side by side with
membrane integrity and perfor- achieved a sustained recovery of costs comes naturally a traditional, multi-stage RO system.
mance, and was incorporated into 90.6 percent – and is optimizing to • Operating systems using data- After analyzing the results over the
the testing at the water district. Per go higher. Whether it’s the munici- driven, autonomous IoT software course of a year, he joined Desalitech
the RO membrane manufacturer’s pality desalinating the wastewater is a reality. as its first commercial US employee.

March / April 2019 World Water