Automating Operations in Reverse Osmosis Control Systems

A support system for optimizing water treatment processes using membrane filtration. The system uses machine learning to analyze water quality, filtration conditions, and membrane performance data to determine optimal permeation flux, cleaning frequencies, and cleaning conditions for the membrane filtration device. This provides recommendations to the water treatment operator on how to optimize their processes for better water treatment efficiency and membrane longevity.

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Operating a water filtration system using a membrane module to identify clogged areas and clean them efficiently. The method involves monitoring pressure drops during filtration, backwashing, and water discharge. By comparing changes in these resistance values, it can determine if clogging is worse in certain areas. If so, it performs targeted cleaning like air washing, longer discharge time, or pressurized discharge. The idea is to proactively identify and address localized fouling without wasting water by blindly cleaning the whole module.

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Monitoring and optimizing the performance of membrane filters in filtration systems by continuously measuring the flow rate of permeate fluid and comparing it to a predefined flux rate. If the measured flux falls below the threshold, the system switches to a flux tolerant mode that allows higher fouling and lower filtration efficiency. This prevents unnecessary filter replacements when flux degradation is minor. The system also determines a normalized water permeability value based on the flux measurements to further assess filter health.

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An apparatus and method for controlling a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant to optimize chemical dosing during pretreatment without impacting downstream filtration performance. The method involves monitoring turbidity, iron, and pressure increases in the ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis stages. If turbidity exceeds a threshold, chemical dosing is adjusted to lower it. If ultrafiltration or reverse osmosis pressure increases exceed limits, chemical dosing is adjusted to prevent excessive pressure rises. This coordinated chemical dosing optimization ensures downstream filtration performance while maintaining upstream turbidity control.

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A method to accurately predict membrane fouling in reverse osmosis systems over both short and long time scales. The method involves collecting process and water quality data during operation, normalizing factors like flow rate and salt removal to account for temperature and flow variations, generating prediction equations using the normalized factors, and using the equations to forecast fouling levels. This allows determining chemical cleaning and membrane replacement times based on normalized factors rather than raw data, which is more reliable since it excludes influences from changing conditions.

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Operating a membrane separation device to reduce operating costs while avoiding sudden transmembrane pressure spikes. The method involves setting the membrane device's permeate flow based on the previous inflow, and stopping the device when water levels in the tanks it's immersed in drop below a threshold. This prevents sudden pressure rises due to fouling by maintaining a consistent flow while allowing occasional cleaning. The water levels are monitored to determine when to halt filtration.

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Optimizing water purification using reverse osmosis to produce a consistent output with desired quality while minimizing waste and energy consumption. The method involves controlling the feed pump rate based on the membrane temperature and desired permeate conductivity. This is done by measuring the membrane temperature and permeate flow rate, then calculating an energy efficient flow rate for the given conditions. The feed pump rate is adjusted to match this efficient flow rate. Recirculating reject water is also controlled to achieve a targeted permeate flow rate.

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Water treatment system and method that can wash and remove scale from reverse osmosis membranes without stopping treatment or discharging water. The method alternates between treating the membranes with raw water and treating them with concentrated water from another membrane device. This allows sequential washing of the membranes without interrupting normal operation or discharging water.

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Portable water conditioning system with feedback and monitoring to optimize media usage and water quality. The system has sensors before and after reverse osmosis and deionization stages to detect water conditions. A controller uses this feedback to determine reverse osmosis stage health and adjust flow paths through the stages to provide conditioned water with desired quality. It can also dispense chemicals based on sensor readings.

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A reverse osmosis water treatment system that can achieve high water recovery without requiring additional stages or pumps. The system uses a reverse osmosis membrane unit with a low pressure zone for concentrate storage. During normal operation, feedwater is pumped to the membrane at high pressure. The concentrate exiting the membrane is sent to a low pressure accumulator. The permeate stream is split, with a portion delivered and the rest recycled back to the membrane. This maintains constant permeate flow. To increase recovery, concentrate is drained from the accumulator while still pumping feedwater. This allows higher feedwater flow without exceeding membrane capacity.

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Reducing membrane scaling in high recovery reverse osmosis (RO) systems by controlling the concentrate cycle time. The system has a variable volume concentrate receiving unit with tanks and pipes. At low recoveries, the entire concentrate volume is cycled through the RO. As recovery increases, one tank is isolated and valves are closed in the pipe network to reduce the concentrate volume. This reduces the concentrate cycle time through the RO, preventing supersaturation and scaling.

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Liquid treatment system with a pump control strategy that reduces energy consumption in desalination and filtration systems. The system has a high-pressure pump to feed liquid into the treatment modules. The pump can operate in two modes: fixed flow rate or reduced energy consumption. A controller switches between modes based on salinity variations. In high salinity, pump maintains fixed flow but gradually increases pressure to match. In low salinity, pump lowers pressure and reduces consumption. This saves energy by preventing overshooting when salinity changes. The controller can also lower pressure by flushing brine to equalize with tank.

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Desalination system that periodically cleans reverse osmosis membranes without backwashing to remove fouling. The system uses a controller to intermittently reverse the flow through the membranes to dislodge fouling. This is done by closing the permeate outlet and narrowing it to increase pressure, while reducing the feed pressure. This forces the permeate to flow backward through the membranes, dislodging fouling. The fouling is then flushed out by opening the drain valve. This avoids backwashing and reduces energy compared to continuous cleaning. The feed pressure varies based on salinity and flow rate.

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A novel desalination system that reduces fouling, improves cleanability, and lowers energy consumption compared to conventional multi-stage brackish water reverse osmosis (RO) systems. The system uses a modified feedforward configuration with an automated bypass valve and optimized stage design. The bypass valve allows controlled bypassing of a portion of the feed stream to each stage, preventing over-fluxing of the first stage and under-fluxing of the last stage. This reduces fouling potential. The optimized stage configuration has varying numbers of pressure vessels and membranes per stage based on feed flow and salinity, allowing flexibility to accommodate changes in feed conditions. The system also uses a novel cleaning strategy with separate cleaning cycles for each stage, preventing carryover of abrasive cleaner between stages.

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Optimizing efficiency of a water purification system by intelligently recycling reject water and adjusting power consumption. The system has a RO unit followed by an electrically-controlled deionization unit. The method involves monitoring power usage of the deionization unit. If power is low, recirculate more reject water to the RO feed. If power is high, recirculate less. This keeps the deionization unit operating efficiently while minimizing reject water and overall system power consumption.

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A method for reverse osmosis control systems for membranes to prevent silica scaling at low temperatures without chemicals. The method involves measuring aluminum and iron ions in the feed and concentrate and adjusting system parameters based on those levels. By maintaining the aluminum and iron concentrations below certain thresholds (e.g., 0.4 mg/L and 0.8 mg/L, respectively), scaling can be prevented without pH adjustment or scale inhibitors. This allows continuous, long-term RO operation at low temperatures

without silica fouling

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