Preparation of Composite Polyamide Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane
for Brackish Water Desalination

Reverse osmosis (RO) is an efficient desalination technology for providing safe drinking water from brackish and sea water. The use of desalination kits as point of use device is increasing.

Membrane is the key component of the desalination process. BARC has been involved in the development & deployment of membranes. Earlier Technologies for UF membranes and Technology for rolling of these membranes in spiral module have been transferred. Present technology is for thin film based composite polyamide membrane and assembly in spiral configuration. These membranes are capable of removing 90% salinity from brackish water (~feed concentration upto 3000 ppm). Using the developed technology, commercial size flat sheet membranes can also be made.

Salient Feature

These membranes are capable of removing dissolved salt to a permissible level along with microbiological contamination with high level of reproducibility from brackish water. The spiral module prepared by this process can be used for domestic level to bigger industrial application.

Application Areas

This membrane in spiral module form has many applications. Some of them are:

• Desalination of brackish water from any natural sources.
• Used in pharma /biotech, waste water, electrocoating, paints, dairy, food and beverage industries.
• Radioactive waste treatment.