Assessing the Accuracy of Wall Concentration Estimation Based on

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Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2006, 45, 8134-8144

Assessing the Accuracy of Wall Concentration Estimation Based on Averaged Permeate Velocity in Spacer-Filled Reverse Osmosis (RO) Membrane Systems Shengwei Ma* and Stavros Kassinos Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UniVersity of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus

Despo Fatta Department of CiVil and EnVironmental Engineering, UniVersity of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus

The accuracy of estimations of wall concentration using the constant (averaged) permeate velocity method was assessed in both empty and spacer-filled reverse osmosis (RO) channels under various operation conditions, based on the simulation results of a two-dimensional (2-D) concentration polarization model. It was determined that, although it always results in substantially larger variations of wall concentrations, the constant permeate velocity method is able to mimic the general variation patterns of wall concentrations in both empty and spacer-filled channels. The constant permeate velocity method can reasonably estimate the averaged wall concentration. The error is usually