Reverse Osmosis : 3 Main Cost On The System That You Must Concern
Reverse Osmosis : 3 Main Cost On The System That You Must Concern
You can also read it on the original source : http://on-water.us
Reverse Osmosis is a technology that has been widely used to help obtain pure water from water with high salt content. Ease in Operating, maintenance and installation, and cheap in operational cost, make the Reverse Osmosis System being the number one water treatment system around the world.
Is Reverse Osmosis System Really That Great?
Probably some of us would immediately jump for joy to know the greatness of the Reverse Osmosis System. However, there are some things you should know about Reverse Osmosis. Particularly the issue about the cost of Reverse Osmosis system.
Until now, there were hundreds of desalination plants that used Reverse Osmosis System. There have been installed worldwide, with the greatest number are in the middle east.
And of course every reverse osmosis plant system will have their own calculations of the cost. But in this article I will try to give some brief overview of the 3 Main Cost On of Reverse Osmosis System.
Recomended To Read : How to Select RO Membrane
1. Pretreatment Cost
A reverse osmosis system is not a stand alone system. Revese Osmosis system is very fragile and vulnerable to damage if we not give some pretreatment system for it.
RO pretreatment system to form some filter circuit coupled with tanks and others. And cost for reverse osmosis pretreatment will be even greater, when the Water SDI that you have is the big ones.
For a standard Reverse Osmosis system, you have to prepare some preatreatment such as:
– TSS Removal Filter (Sand FIlter)
It is strongly recommended to install a filter to ensure that no macro particles that get into your RO membrane. Because, if even little suspended solids get into your membrane it will affect the output of the reverse osmosis permeate.
– Organic and Chlorine Absorber (Active Carbon Filter)
If you use water from a water company or water from wells. it is advisable to install an active carbon filter before the system. Because RO membranes are not resistant to chlorine in an amount of more than 2 ppm.
Plus, organic substances that exist in the raw water can make the Reverse Osmosis membrane of the quickly clogged due to the growth of bacteria or algae in your membrane. And of course this will make extra cost for you in the future. So please, Install a Carbon Active Filter before the RO System.
– Manganness and Iron Catcher Filter (Green Sand Filter)
This filter is also strongly recommended to be installed before your Reverse Osmosis system to ensure the stability of production.
Generally, manganese and iron can be encountered from well water or water delivered by mild steel pipe. Installation of green sand filter is also certainly a cost as well for you.
Read Also : Does Reverse Osmosis System Removes Fluoride?
– Water Softener System or Anti Scaling Chemical
Hard water, contains a lot of calcium and magnesium which can make scaling happen to the membrane. The higher levels of hardness in the water the faster the reverse osmosis membrane of your sytem will be clogged, and of course make you have to spend extra cost for the replacement membrane,faster than you should.
The solution is, you must install a water softener system or install chemical dosing pump to inject some anti scale when the RO Running
– Ultrafiltration Membrane
Used for water containing a lot of organic substances therein. The most common use is in Sea Water Reverse Osmosis System or commonly referred to as the desalination plant.
Read Also : The Advantages and Disadvantages of Reverse Osmosis System
2. RO Installation and Fabrication Cost Cost
The Second Cost you need to prepare is the cost that comes from the installation of Reverse Osmosis. It very important to remember that the reverse osmosis system is not composed of membrane ro only.
Reverse Osmosis system is composed of several sections such as: RO Feed Pump, Booster Pump RO, RO membrane vessel, RO Membrane, RO SKID Installation, TDS or Conductivity meter (In and Out).
Cost for an RO system package is approximately 5000 USD per 1 m3 of water per hour. equivalent to 6000 GPD.
3. Cost Reverse Osmosis on Operations
For home scale, The Cost for RO may only revolve around the cost of electricity and monthly cleaning. But for the industrial scale, reverse osmosis system cost will be quite a lot. Because it will be added by the charge carriers, electrical, chemical, as well as the annual membrane replacement.
In conclusion
RO with all its advantages still have a cost that should calculated too. To make your Reverse Osmosis System is more durable and long lasting, you have to install pretreatment and also perform regular maintenance on your RO system.
However, until now the reverse osmosis system is still a system that is the best choice to purify water with the lowest cost.
PS:
If you are interested in learning systems Reverse Osmosis water treatment in particular deeper, below are some books that I recommend to you have.
