How often should a commercial RO Plant be cleaned?
Reverse osmosis (RO) systems are now the industry standards for removing impurities from all types of feed water sources, as well as for reusing wastewater in a variety of industrial processes.
Depending on the application, a RO membrane element typically lasts three to seven years. Yet, the membrane components in certain RO systems might only survive one to two years, depending upon the usage of industrial or a commercial RO Plant.
The system design, pretreatment, system operation, membrane cleaning, and system maintenance, all affect the lifespan of Commercial RO plants.
In this blog, let’s understand how often should a commercial RO Plant be cleaned
The average cleaning frequency for pretreatment and commercial RO systems, which are correctly manufactured and run are 2 to 4 cleanings a year for surface water, and one to two cleanings annually for well water.
How often should you clean commercial RO plant membranes?
The frequency of RO cleaning because of fouling will vary by site. A general guideline for a good cleaning schedule is once every three to twelve months.
If cleaning is required more frequently than once per month, you should be able to support additional financial investments in better RO pretreatment, or a redesign of the RO process.
When does commercial RO plants need cleaning?
The day will come when your RO system has to be cleaned!
When your RO exhibits signs of fouling, right before a lengthy shutdown, or as part of scheduled regular maintenance, cleaning is advised.
A 10-15% decrease in normalized permeate flow, a 10-15% decline in normalized permeate quality, or a 10-15% increase in normalized pressure drop as measured between the feed and concentrate headers, are fouling indicators that indicate you need to clean your commercial RO Plant.
Commercial RO cleaning procedures
According on the circumstance, RO cleaning techniques may change. Cleaning each stage might take anything between four and eight hours.
Basic cleaning procedures include:
1. To get rid of service concentration and foulants, flush with feed or permeate water at low pressure.
2. Follow the manufacturer's directions for preparing the cleaning solution.
3. For 60 minutes, introduce the cleaning solution to the first stage. To reduce the risk of the feed channel becoming clogged with loosening foulant, you might choose to gradually increase the flow rate.
4. When reintroducing the cleaning solution to the RO Cleaning Tank, send the displaced water and up to 20% of the contaminated cleaning solution to drain.
5. When the pH varies by more than 0.5 pH units, adjust the pH to the desired level.
6. It is possible to use a soak and recirculation sequence. Depending on the manufacturer's recommendations, the soak period might range from an hour to overnight.
7. Be careful to maintain the right temperature and pH, as this can prolong the membrane's exposure to chemicals.
8. To completely eliminate all chemical traces from the Cleaning Skid and the RO Skid, a low pressure Cleaning Rinse with permeate water is necessary.
9. The RO can be used again after every stage of a train has been cleaned. The RO permeate quality can take anywhere between a few hours and a few days to stabilize, especially following cleanings with high pH levels.
How can we assist?
Netsol Water is a well-known manufacturer of water treatment systems in India, which offers its customers simple and appropriate product maintenance. We help our customers in keeping the commercial RO plants clean, time to time.
The best cleaning results for commercial RO Plants can be obtained according to the cleaning schedule requirements, and a clean reverse osmosis tank will maintain healthy water quality. For further information, contact us at +91 9650608473 or email at enquiry@netsolwater.com