Improving the operation of small reverse osmosis plant using Pelton turbine and supplying emergency electric loads

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on improving the operation of reverse osmosis (RO) with Pelton turbine in different circumstances. In the integrated RO system, the Pelton Turbine is used instead of a PX due to its significantly lower cost. The RO system is studied at different pressures ranging from 6.5 to 8.5 bar. Additionally, the influence of feed water TDS and temperature on the RO permeate and retentate was also studied. The experimental results showed that increasing the RO pressure led to an increase in the permeate flow rate. The permeate was heightened by approximately 72% once the pressure was increased from 6.5 to 8.5 bar. However, it was observed that increasing the pressure by 30% resulted in a significant decline in turbine power, which decreased by approximately 71.8%. Furthermore, the study found that raising the salinity led to an increase in RO permeate TDS, while increasing the feed water temperature resulted in a decline in productivity TDS. To control the high-pressure pump and supply emergency loads, an Arduino program circuit was used, providing a convenient and flexible way to manage the system. The theoretical modeling developed in the study was found to be in better agreement with the real findings, with a deviance of 3.51%. This indicates the accuracy and reliability of the model in predicting the operation of the integrated RO unit. Finally, the cost of the produced water was 0.26 $/m³.

KEYWORDS:

• RO, recovery system
• Pelton turbine
• emergency loads

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).