Membrane Autopsy
Ecological water treatment solutions since 1976
Membrane Autopsy
The use of reverse osmosis is a good and widely used technology to purify water through membranes to an excellent quality. However, these membranes sometimes become contaminated or damaged over time. When the membranes become fouled, the yield often becomes insufficient or the quality of the water produced decreases. The quality of the water produced can also decrease due to damage that occurs due to incorrect manipulations or incorrect use of chemicals.
Pollution can consist of various organic and inorganic components. It is possible that many particles were already present in the supplied water and collect in the membrane, or the contamination can occur during the process due to thickening in the membranes themselves.
Common contaminants are organic components, metal oxides (iron and manganese), biofilm, lime, silica and gypsum deposits. It is usually not known which contamination or damage exactly causes the reduced performance.
To find out the exact reason, a diaphragm autopsy can be performed where the diaphragm is cut open for inspection. Visually detectable damage is checked, and damage to the membrane surface can be tested via a dye.
If sufficient contamination is present, it is scraped off and analyzed in our lab, so that the correct composition is known and the cause can be tackled.
As a final step, various cleaning tests are carried out in order to determine the correct cleaning strategy.
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