Reverse Osmosis
Written by Kelle Zeiher
I. Challenges
A large municipal water reclamation plant on the Central California Coast that runs 3 RO trains had to switch to a low-cost, low-actives supplier due to a city-mandated bid process. After six weeks of working with the new supplier, the water plant experienced the following:
- 30% drop in system’s recovery
- 40% increase in the differential pressure of the units
If the situation continued, it would have resulted to:
- An estimated amount of 50 million gallons of water are wasted annually.
- About $50,000 additional expenses to replace membrane elements
II. Approach
The municipal water plant owners had already built a trusting relationship with Garratt-Callahan. Since Garratt-Callahan’s dedicated staff had always provided value-added industrial water treatment services, they engaged them to solve this problem. Due to G-C’s firm understanding of the plant and its issue, the following actions were taken:
- An emergency intensive CIP (Clean-In-Place) procedure on all 3 RO trains that lasted 6 hours
- They used the top-performing chemicals, and the trains started to perform at acceptable levels.
III. Results
After the CIP procedure, the 3 RO trains resumed operation and performed at normal levels, therefore:
- The approach avoided unnecessary wastage of about 50 million gallons of water each year
- There was no need to spend $50,000 for membrane replacement
