Description

Membrane Cleaning Even with all the preventative care given to a reverse osmosis system, some fouling of the membranes will take place. Cleaning of the membranes can improve membrane performance. All membranes lose their performance with time. One of the major causes for the loss of performance is due to substances that deposit on the membrane surface. Although the term fouling is used for deposit of any materials on the membrane, the coating of the membrane surface can be due to the following: Fouling Scaling Fouling Fouling of membranes is due to the suspended or emulsified materials that may be present in the feed water to the reverse osmosis system. Examples of such materials are: silica, oil, clay, iron, sulfur and humic acids. These substances can be present in a very fine or colloidal form. Even the typical 5 micron cartridge filters used upstream from a reverse osmosis system may not completely remove these foulants.