Zero liquid discharge WWTP view Berghof Membranes

A large zero discharge treatment plant located in California’s Mojave desert faces the unique challenge of treating reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate/wastewater. Due to the increasing costs of water and waste discharge, new stringent reuse policies are placing heavier demands on companies in regards to concentrate recovery.

RO membrane technology is widely used for recycling and reuse of process water, and to decrease amount of ions in the process water itself. RO recovery rates typically range from 50-75%, therefore leaving the other 25-50% as concentrate to be discharged as wastewater. Although it’s possible to treat the RO concentrate via a second pass, the absence of proper pretreatment in the second pass increases the potential of scaling which can result in costly repairs and system shut-downs.

The solution was provided by Berghof Membranes - see pdf for more details.