Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a membrane-based demineralization technique used to separate dissolved solids from solution. Membranes in general act as selective barrier, barrier that allow water to pass through them while selectively retaining other dissolved species such as ions and suspended solids. The performance and successful operation of an RO system depends directly on the quality of water feeding the RO. The nature of feed water constituents can influence membrane performance by causing scaling, fouling, or degradation of the membrane. So an adequate pre-treatment or conditioning system is necessary to reduce its fouling potential. Source water is conditioned prior to reverse osmosis (RO) separation using various physical methods (screening, filtration, activated carbon) as well as chemicals (coagulants, flocculants, scale inhibitors, oxidants and oxidant reduction compounds).
