LANXESS adds new closed circuit reverse osmosis (CCRO) module to its innovative LewaPlus design software

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LANXESS adds new closed circuit reverse osmosis (CCRO) module to its innovative LewaPlus design software

LANXESS adds new closed circuit reverse osmosis (CCRO) module to its innovative LewaPlus design software

Industry News
Dec 28,17

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has announced a significant addition to its LewaPlus software suite of reverse osmosis (RO) and ion exchange (IX) system dimensioning capabilities. The new module provides system modeling with DesalitechÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology and enables the dimensioning of RO systems using the latest available water treatment technology.

LANXESS adds new closed circuit reverse osmosis (CCRO) module to its innovative LewaPlus design software

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has announced a significant addition to its LewaPlus software suite of reverse osmosis (RO) and ion exchange (IX) system dimensioning capabilities. The new module provides system modeling with Desalitech’s Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology and enables the dimensioning of RO systems using the latest available water treatment technology, helping system designers bring their water treatment footprint closer to zero liquid discharge (ZLD) or minimum liquid discharge (MLD) goals.

Reverse osmosis is used for the desalination and purification of water and has been growing rapidly in industrial, municipal and waste water reuse applications. The technology is widely used, especially in areas of water stress such as the American West. The traditional reverse osmosis process is sometimes limited to recovery levels of 75 to 85%, wherein 15 to 25% of the feed water is not purified and becomes waste. In contrast, the CCRO process now available for modeling in LewaPlus offers recovery rates of up to 98%. This high recovery is achieved by incorporation of a recirculation pump that returns the brine to the membrane feed and provides a high crossflow velocity through the membrane array.

The system operates in two alternating modes: Closed Circuit (CC) mode at 100% recovery and Plug Flow (PF), or flushing mode, at 10 to 50% recovery. During CC operation, permeate is produced at a rate equal to the flow rate from the high-pressure pump. When a desired recovery percentage is reached, the operating mode is switched to PF mode in which concentrated brine is purged from the system and displaced by feed water from the high-pressure pump in a single plug-flow sweep.

The new software module was developed cooperatively by LANXESS Sybron Chemicals and Desalitech, Inc. (Newton, MA, USA). Until now, the modeling of the CCRO process was based on experience values without energetic optimization, which generally limited CCRO projections for recovery rates and system capabilities.