Simulation-Based Assessment of Safe Operating Windows and Optimization in Seawater Reverse Osmosis Systems

Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most widely used desalination technology for both seawater and brackish water. Unfortunately, RO remains an energy intensive technology despite the e orts being made to overcome this drawback. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safe operating windows (SOWs) of 9 commercial SWMMs in pressure vessels (PVs) with 7 of these elements in a single stage seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) system. These coecients and the characteristics of the SWMMs were introduced in a simulation algorithm to estimate the behavior of the SWRO system. SOWs were determined without considering any energy recovery device, although these were considered for the calculation of the minimum energy consumption. The SWMMs were compared and the optimal operating points were identified for each one. The results showed the highest di erence was around 0.2 kWh m^3 between SWMMs in their optimal operating point with respect to the minimum specific energy consumption. It was also found that this di erence increases slightly with rises in feedwater concentration. For a wide range of PV power inputs, the SWMMs were able to reach quite similar maximum flux recovery rates