Reverse osmosis for the separation of organics from aqueous solutions

The properties of modern polymer membranes with respect to organic aqueous solutions are discussed to some extent. The potential of reverse osmosis for the treatment of organics-contaminated waste water is demonstrated by a discussion of two examples—landfill-drainage water and ‘desorbate’. It is shown that in the case of partial immiscibility, a combination of reverse osmosis and phase separation allows operation at very high recovery rates without exceeding tolerable concentrations of organics within the reverse osmosis modules. Furthermore, it is shown that a purification of the organic phase by pervaporation is economically feasible.