Fouling of cellulose acetate tubular reverse osmosis modules treating the industrial water in Tokyo

The Tokyo industrial water supply was treated in tubular reverse osmosis modules in order to investigate the effect of feed velocity and type of membrane on fouling. Rate of fouling by mechanical compaction was proportional to time, whose power was dependent on the initial flux of membrane, while fouling by the deposit of suspended solids tended to cease after the flux was down to a certain value, which was dependent on the feed velocity. Results were analysed by the deposit accumulation model. The deposit layer had a salt-rejecting ability, and its permeability was calculated.