FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How does Reverse Osmosis work?
Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the finest level of filtration available. The RO membrane acts as a barrier to all dissolved salts while allowing water molecules to pass through the membrane. The process is known as a crossflow process as the saline water passes across the face of the reverse osmosis membrane. A simplified diagram of the process is shown below.
Note that the following product info is for guidance only. Individual requirements are always assessed for your application. We handle larger units to many megalitres per day.
I don’t have 3 phase power can I run a larger unit?
Yes we can build larger desalination units to run on a 480V modified single phase “swer line” common on many rural properties. A 240V single phase supply can supply a unit up to 20,000 lpd capacity.
Is the water drinkable?
The permeate water product is of a high potable quality. Many of customers have plumbed up their house supply to the desalinated water. We recommend a passivating filter and UV to do this.
I don’t need that high a quality water?
The permeate is generally always of high quality. If you can get by with a lesser quality simple shandy the feed bore water with the product to provide extra capacity.
RO units require lots of energy and are expensive to run right?
No, this reputation is based on sea water plants where the salinity is 35,000 mg/l. The power requirement for a brackish water plant of say 5000mg/ l is only 1/7th of this. Power requirements are generally around 1 kWhr per 1000 l of fresh water produced.
What do I do with the reject stream?
Depending on your circumstances reject can be; evaporated in an evaporation pan, directed to sewer with permit, or directed to disposal bore with permit. Our units are designed with high recovery rates to minimize waste volumes.
Does the desalination unit require much servicing?
No our units are constructed to require little in the way of ongoing service. Occasional replacement of cartridge filters and 6 to 12 monthly cleaning of the membranes with the inbuilt CIP system is generally all that is required.
How long do the membranes last?
The membranes come with a manufacturers 3 year reducing warranty. Typically up to 5 years can be expected.
How much does it cost to run?
Depending on you feed salinity and cost of power the typical operating cost is $0.40 - $0.60 per 1000 litres of fresh water produced. This cost includes replacing the membranes. This makes the water cheaper than town water supplies so the units demonstrate a payback over time.
What can go wrong?
Bore water is often contaminated with iron, silica, silt, manganese and a host of other items that can rapidly foul a membrane system and render it useless. Our expertise is in assessing your bore water source and providing a system that suits the conditions. Bore water is however a natural system and subject to change. We specify our systems conservatively to provision for change as best as possible.
Can I connect up a desalination system to any feed water source?
The easiest thing to remove from water is salt. What presents the challenge is all the other contaminants which can foul the highly specialized membranes. Very clean water is required as a feed to an RO plant, generally surface waters are not suitable feed water without a significant pretreatment step.
Why Aqueous Solutions?
Aqueous Solutions have been providing Desalination Systems for over 7 years. With a 100% customer satisfaction rate we are confident that our extensive knowledge of desalination equipment is second to none when it comes to providing customers with reliable, fit for purpose, quality equipment.
