Effects of the Design of Pressure Vessels on Performance and Hydrodynamic Parameters in Two-Pass Seawater Reverse Osmosis Systems

In this paper, the effects of different designs of pressure vessels on hydrodynamic parameters and the performance of seawater RO systems are investigated using computer simulations. Simulation results showed that designs using pressure vessels with four membranes in two-pass RO systems have a lower energy consumption, 5.29 and 0.33 kWh/m³ for the first and second passes, respectively, than those with two or three membranes. Also, designs No. 4 and No. 10 were the most efficient, 41 and 56% for the first and second passes, respectively, compared to other ones. The first and second passes required a lower permeate and feed pressure when using designs No. 3, No. 6, No. 9, and No. 12 where pressure vessels with two membranes were used. In addition, hybrid designs of two-pass RO systems were found to have the best efficiency and the lowest energy consumption among various other designs. Findings showed that in two-pass RO systems, the first pass consumes more energy than the second pass. Thus, the efficiency of the second pass in all designs of two-pass RO systems is more than the first pass. The results presented in this paper can be used to optimize the design of two-pass RO systems to ensure the optimum operation of such systems.