Reverse Osmosis (RO)

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is an osmotic process that uses a semi-permeable membrane to separate water from dissolved matter. Applying a pressure greater than the osmotic pressure (determined by the TDS), feed water is forced through RO-membranes which hold back diluted ions and only allow water molecules to pass through. This divides the feed water into a brine stream with a high TDS concentration and permeate stream with pure water (Fichtner, 2011), (Trieb, 2007). Reverse Osmosis plants are used as well for seawater as for brackish water desalination (Fichtner, 2011). As the driving force of [
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