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Pretreatment investigations and field trialing of an innovative solar-powered reverse osmosis desalination unit
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Pretreatment investigations and field trialing of an innovative solar-powered reverse osmosis desalination unit

S. Dallas, S. Scheid, K. Mathew and G. Ho
Environmental Engineering and Renewable Energy, pp.139-144
1998
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-043006-5.50025-2
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Abstract

The Remote Area Developments Group (RADG) at Murdoch University in collaboration with a local manufacturer, Venco Products Pty Ltd have developed a solar-powered reverse osmosis desalination unit (‘Solarflow’) specifically designed for remote areas. The unit has recently been commercialised with eighteen units presently in operation through Australia and South East Asia. Several sites where units have been requested however, notably Central Australia and Indonesia, have feed water which is marginal in terms of its ability to be treated by reverse osmosis without some form of pretreatment. Guidelines for feed water pretreatment generally apply to large scale commercial units which operate at high recovery ratios and thus have limited applicability to the Solarflow unit. Research at Murdoch University's Environmental Technology Centre (ETC) is currently underway to determine the performance of the units both under laboratory and field conditions over the longer term with marginal feed waters. This will allow an assessment of maintenance requirements, membrane life expectancy and the design of appropriate pretreatment systems to enable the units to perform reliably in remote areas. This paper will describe the findings to date and the areas where further research is indicated..

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