ABSTRACT
The workshop is configured as a one day program of about 6 hours of lectures. The workshop topics include practical information regarding configuration, performance and operating conditions of membrane technology applied to desalination of brackish and seawater and salinity reduction in wastewater reclamation systems. The program will include description of technical aspects of membrane technology as applied to salinity reduction. Required feed water quality, pretreatment options, operating parameters and performance of RO units in this type of application will be discussed. Various configurations of modern commercial desalination systems will be presented. Information on representative product water quality and parameters affecting rejection rates will be included. The workshop material will also include information on economics of commercial systems and approach to cost optimization. Final part of the workshop will be conducted as an open forum discussion on R&D directions that could potentially improve reliability of the commercial processes, reduce water cost or provide solutions to produce product water of required quality.

OUTLINE

• Session 1
  Characteristics of commercial NF/RO membrane technology
  Configuration and nominal performance of commercial membrane elements for RO and NF applications
  Calculation of performance
  Field results
   
• Session 2
  Configurations of commercial plants
  Configuration of commercial plants for brackish, seawater and wastewater reclamation
  Plant components
  Design parameters of membrane plants for above applications
   
• Session 3
  Plants performance, operation and maintenance
  Representative performance of RO/NF membrane units
  Acceptable range of operating parameters
  Performance normalization
  Scaling and fouling phenomena
  Performance restoration
   
• Session 4
  Advanced design solutions
  Boron reduction process alternatives
  Optimization of recovery rate in brackish and seawater systems
  Energy usage reduction through hybrid brackish - seawater system configuration
  Utilization of large diameter elements
   
• Session 5
  Process economics
  Components and methods of evaluation of process economics
  Review of published information on cost information
  Optimization of system configuration and operating parameters
   
• Session 6
  Open forum discussion on promising R&D directions
  Required/possible directions of improved membrane elements performance
  Improvement of effectiveness of pretreatment processes
  Control of biofouling in seawater syystems
  New requirements of product water quality