Implementing Energy Saving RO Technology in Large Scale Wastewater Treatment Plants

In an effort to address increasing water demands, a growing number of municipalities throughout the world are employing membrane technology to reclaim their wastewaters. Pilot studies, demonstration plants, and the use of membrane pretreatment have increased confidence in RO membrane technology for wastewater reclamation and fostered the design and construction of larger systems. In 2007, two of the world’s largest wastewater reclamation plants using similar energy saving RO membrane technology will be commissioned on opposite sides of the Pacific. One plant, Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) located in Southern California, is expanding to 265,000 m3/d (70 MGD), while the other, Ulu Pandan located in Singapore, is producing 148,000 m3/d (39 MGD). OCWD’s GWRS is being implemented in two phases over a three year period. Phase I, commissioned in April 2004, consists of a single 18,900 m3/d (5 MGD) system. Lessons learned during two years of Phase I operation are being implemented in the Phase II operation of an additional fourteen trains to be commissioned in mid 2007. Eac