TY - JOUR
T1 - Mechanisms of electromagnetic field control on mineral scaling in brackish water reverse osmosis
T2 - Combined homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation
AU - Du, Xuewei
AU - Perera, Helani
AU - Ahasan, Tarek
AU - Wang, Yanxing
AU - Shu, Fangjun
AU - Wang, Huiyao
AU - Yuan, Ke
AU - Anovitz, Lawrence M.
AU - Ben Ishai, Paul
AU - Xu, Pei
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2025/3/1
Y1 - 2025/3/1
N2 - Electromagnetic field (EMF) treatment has emerged as a promising approach for scaling control due to its cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and low energy consumption. However, there is a limited understanding of the mechanisms by which applied EMF impacts mineral scaling in reverse osmosis (RO) systems. This has led to inconclusive and varied results and uncertainties regarding its effectiveness. This study elucidates the impacts of EMF on homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation and membrane performance during RO desalination of different feedwaters. Our results reveal that EMF exhibits greater efficacy in treating near-saturated water (SI∼0), especially when coupled with extended hydraulic flushing (HF). For saturated brackish water desalination, heterogeneous scaling predominantly occurs on membrane surfaces, with the effectiveness of EMF in inhibiting scaling primarily attributed to the hydration effect. In supersaturated solutions, EMF promotes bulk precipitation due to the magnetohydrodynamic effect, quickly blocking membrane pores. Thus, when the saturation reaches a certain high level during RO desalination, magnetohydrodynamic EMF effects can accelerate flux decline caused by homogeneous scaling. This work provides an efficient method for predicting EMF efficiency, emphasizing the importance of saturation conditions and HF cleaning duration in determining membrane performance, suggesting these show promise for improving undersaturated or near-saturated feedwater desalination via RO.
AB - Electromagnetic field (EMF) treatment has emerged as a promising approach for scaling control due to its cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and low energy consumption. However, there is a limited understanding of the mechanisms by which applied EMF impacts mineral scaling in reverse osmosis (RO) systems. This has led to inconclusive and varied results and uncertainties regarding its effectiveness. This study elucidates the impacts of EMF on homogenous and heterogeneous nucleation and membrane performance during RO desalination of different feedwaters. Our results reveal that EMF exhibits greater efficacy in treating near-saturated water (SI∼0), especially when coupled with extended hydraulic flushing (HF). For saturated brackish water desalination, heterogeneous scaling predominantly occurs on membrane surfaces, with the effectiveness of EMF in inhibiting scaling primarily attributed to the hydration effect. In supersaturated solutions, EMF promotes bulk precipitation due to the magnetohydrodynamic effect, quickly blocking membrane pores. Thus, when the saturation reaches a certain high level during RO desalination, magnetohydrodynamic EMF effects can accelerate flux decline caused by homogeneous scaling. This work provides an efficient method for predicting EMF efficiency, emphasizing the importance of saturation conditions and HF cleaning duration in determining membrane performance, suggesting these show promise for improving undersaturated or near-saturated feedwater desalination via RO.
KW - Brackish water desalination
KW - Electromagnetic field treatment
KW - Homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation
KW - Mineral scaling
KW - Reverse osmosis membrane
KW - Saturated condition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85204197342&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2024.129630
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2024.129630
M3 - مقالة
SN - 1383-5866
VL - 355
JO - Separation and Purification Technology
JF - Separation and Purification Technology
M1 - 129630
ER -