Reuse of Refinery Treated Wastewater in Cooling Towers

Abstract

In this report, experimental investigation of waste water treatment by reverse osmosis to enable its reuse in cooling tower is presented. A polyamide spiral wound RO membrane followed by three filters as RO pretreatment (two activated carbon and one cartridge filter) and samples of Tehran refinery treated waste water have been used. The effect of operating conditions such as pressure difference, temperature and feed concentration on permeation flux, permeate concentration and fouling have been studied. The results show that continuous operation with a pressure difference of 6 bar and a temperature of 30 °C are the best operating conditions. Analysis of the water treated by RO represents 95 %, 100 %, 93 % and 97 % reduction in TDS, TH, Cl- and SiO2, respectively. Comparison between the treated wastewater analysis and city water used in cooling tower as make up water shows the suitability of reverse osmosis method for the above mentioned purpose.

Keywords

• reverse osmosis
• wastewater
• fouling