Pilot Study on Nanofiltration Seawater Softening for SWRO Desalination

Seawater desalination has long been recognized as an important method for the solution of the world fresh water shortage, especially seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination. Recently the issue is again being raised for the newly developed pretreatment technology using nanofiltration (NF) membrane which has special separation properties owing to the charge characteristics of its surface separation layer. In this study, two kinds of commercial NF membrane have been studied in a pilot UF-NF Integrated Membrane System (IMS). Operating conditions was investigated and the results show that NF can be effectively used for the softening of seawater and provide excellent feed for SWRO.