Technical and economical comparison of the nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes in the brackish water desalination

摘要

In the south Mediterranean countries and especially the North Africa, the water demands, since many decades, have increased while the conventional water availability has decreased dramatically. These trends continue. The obligation to use other non conventional water resources such as desalinating water or waste water reuse becomes a necessity. This work reports the comparison of the nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes in Brackish water desalination for the production of potable water with satisfactory WHO and Moroccan standards. The experiments were carried out using a pilot plant having two modules equipped with various spiral commercial membranes. The influence on the desalination performances of many running parameters such as pressure, recovery rate was studied. The performances of three commercial membranes on salt rejection and on energy consumption were compared.