A Review: The Operational and Environmental Challenges of Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Abstract

In the coming future, water security will be an issue that many nations face. As reverse osmosis (RO) further expands in market share, efforts to improve its efficiency and sustainability will grow. In this review, RO is discussed in the context of its operational and environmental challenges. These include the tradeoffs between selectivity and permeance, membrane fouling, brine disposal and more. Each challenge is reviewed in its current state, with future solutions examined. In particular, optimization in the RO process, membrane modification and the Zero-Liquid-Discharge approach play a huge role in the future of RO desalination. The pros and cons of each challenge and solution are weighed, with a final recommendation on the ideal improvements to strive for. Overall, membrane technology has matured as the vast improvements in RO have mainly come from enhanced membranes. Now, greater focus in membrane fouling and brine management are required as they pose the largest obstacles to the operation and sustainable functioning of RO desalination.