Last updated on November 14th, 2022 at 09:08 am

Water is a critical element in many industries, and this is why companies look for technologies like industrial reverse osmosis systems. Most industries and manufacturing units can’t do business if the water quality is bad, or the water is contaminated. In most cases, their reputation and brand image are at stake, so they can’t take any risks. The owners or managers of such industries often seek value for money water purification solutions they can use for the long term. Thankfully, industrial reverse osmosis systems offer all these benefits. 

If you also own or manage an industry or manufacturing unit and you want to know more about the reverse osmosis technology to get clean and 100% contamination-free water, then read this comprehensive guide on industrial reverse osmosis systems that explains how these systems work, how they benefit you and how to choose and maintain the ideal one. 

What is Industrial Reverse Osmosis?

Industrial reverse osmosis, simply put, is the use of reverse osmosis technology to create industrial reverse osmosis systems that are apt for many industries. For those unaware, reverse osmosis is a water filtration process in which water is passed through a membrane so that the impurities are left behind. An RO system can have anywhere between two to ten stages. You need to pick the one that meets your needs while keeping the source water quality in mind. 

What It Involves?

The industrial reverse osmosis process includes different moving parts like membranes and pumps that offer affordable and reliable filtration. The membranes play a key role in filtering contaminants, especially dissolved contaminants present in industrial water. Reverse osmosis technology can also be combined with other water treatment technologies like seawater desalination to purify the water further and reduce its salinity. The capacity of industrial reverse osmosis systems is higher than residential and commercial reverse osmosis systems as it can help filter hundreds or thousands of gallons of water every day. 

Need of Industrial RO Plant

• Boilers – In many industries, reverse osmosis is needed for reducing the mineral gradient, which ensures more efficiency of boiler operation. 
• Wastewater Management– It is also needed to control wastewater management as an industrial reverse osmosis system can make water fit for reuse whenever possible. 
• Drinking– Industrial establishments also need water for drinking purposes, especially for those who work in an industrial unit. 
• Desalination– If an industry or manufacturing unit is located near the sea or sea/ocean is the only water source, reverse osmosis technology can be clubbed with seawater desalination for industrial use. 
• Eliminating Impurities– Industrial RO systems eliminate everything: concentration of contaminants or reclamation of dissolved minerals. 
• TDS Elimination– Water with high TDS levels or total dissolved solids is often not fit for industrial consumption. The RO process lowers the TDS levels to ensure that the set criteria are met. 
• Removal of Organic Matter– RO process can also help ensure the removal of organic matter present in water. It, along with TDS, can lead to problems like spotting, streaking, and scaling. Hence, its removal is vital for most industrial units. 

Benefits of Using an Industrial Reverse Osmosis System

• Meets Every Need

The first benefit of an industrial reverse osmosis system is that it meets every need. If you have either of the problems mentioned above, like a high TDS level or too much wastewater, you can be assured that an industrial RO unit will take care of it. 

• Improves the Taste

When water is pure, it tastes good. An industrial RO system will purify water to make it not only tasteless but also odorless and colorless as well. It ensures that if water is used in the food & beverage industry, the end products’ quality would be good. 

• Helps Enhance the Reputation

Every industry or manufacturing unit has a brand value that it must uphold. When the RO system is used, it helps to enhance the reputation further. If you don’t use an RO system and poor water quality damages the products, it can lead to a blight on an organization’s reputation. 

• Avoid Health Issues

If an industry or manufacturing unit doesn’t offer pure water to its employees, the employees might be vulnerable to water-borne diseases that begin due to germs, bacteria, viruses, and other such unhealthy elements. 

• Automated Processes

As every minute counts in the industries or manufacturing units, the industrial RO systems are automated and don’t need much attention. They work independently and provide pure water in bulk consistently with minimal human intervention. 

• Easy Installation

The installation of these systems is also very simple. All you need to do is to let the installation team know where to install it, and they’ll handle it. If you prefer to do it on your own, do read the installation guide carefully and follow all the steps thoroughly. 

• Simple Maintenance

The maintenance of industrial RO units is simple too. Just follow a few basic steps, and you’d be good to go. Ask the manufacturer about every aspect of maintenance to avoid reactive maintenance and focus on preventive maintenance only. After all, reactive maintenance can cost a lot of time, money, energy, and person-hours. 

• Cost-Effectiveness

If you choose the right manufacturer of industrial reverse osmosis systems like AMPAC USA, you can get a value-for-money product that ensures that the cost to produce even a gallon of pure water is low. There is no need to spend a lot of money to get safe, 100% contamination-free, and great-tasting water. 

Simple Steps to Choosing an Industrial Reverse Osmosis System

Choosing the right industrial reverse osmosis system is critical for industries with regular water needs and want to abide by the authorities’ strict water quality standards. Here are a few things that might help you. 

• Water Source

You must check the quality of the water source you are going to add to the RO system. If the water has many impurities or it’s hard water, you might want to increase the pre-treatment stages to ensure that the overall life of the membranes is not affected. From where you are getting the water also matters. If you are using groundwater, you will not need a complex pre-treatment process, but you might need to spend more on the pre-treatment process if you are using surface water. Always get rid of contaminants that can foul the membranes or scale them using a thorough pre-treatment process. 

• Flow Rate

It is also vital to check the flow rate of water, which largely depends on the temperature. Warm water passes through at a faster pace than cold water. Please make sure you inquire about components like variable frequency drives that ensure constant water flow no matter what its temperature is. 

• Chlorine Levels

Chlorine is used extensively to disinfect municipal water. It is not good for a RO system as it can deteriorate the RO membranes. So, a person should achieve dichlorination by using a carbon filter during the pre-treatment process. 

• Carbonates

While buying an industrial RO system, a person should also check for calcium and magnesium carbonates that are present in the water. To reduce the carbonate levels, one can use a water softener before the RO process. 

• Microbiological Contaminants

Many microbiological contaminants can lead to fouling and make the RO membranes go bad quickly than usual. To avoid this added expense, a person should consider adding a biocide that will control microbiological contaminants’ growth. 

• Silt Density Index

Before buying an industrial RO system, a person should make sure that the silt density index is managed. If the water has high levels of very fine particles, also known as silt, it can lead to a high need for membrane cleanings, loss of efficiency, and higher downtime. Hence, a silt density index test (SDI) should be done before choosing an RO system. 

Maintenance of Industrial Reverse Osmosis Systems- How to Do it Right?

Purchasing the reverse osmosis systems isn’t enough. You also need to ensure that they are maintained properly to ensure long-lasting performance and the system’s better life. To do the maintenance properly, you should know about the common issues that can arise during the RO process and avoid them. All that information is available below:

• What Issues Can Arise with an Industrial RO System?

Many issues can arise with an industrial RO system if you are not careful. Two main issues are fouling and scaling. Fouling occurs when dissolved or suspended contaminants in wastewater deposits slowly build up on the membranes’ surface. Fouling usually occurs due to colloids, organics, and biological elements. 

On the other hand, scaling occurs when the concentration of mineral salts present in the reject water over-saturate the water and begin precipitating. These are then deposited into the surface of membranes. Both scaling and fouling harm the production, increase the maintenance costs, and even cause long-lasting damage that calls for the membranes’ replacement. Scaling usually occurs due to minerals like calcium, silica, magnesium, carbonates, and sulfates. 

Changes in pressure can also be a serious issue as the high-pressure pumps need to work hard. It increases energy consumption and other associated costs. 

• Which Pre-Treatment Methods Can Help with Fouling and Scaling?

To avoid fouling and scaling, several pre-treatment methods can be helpful. Filtration cartridges can help with colloids and several organics and biological contaminants. An anti-scalant can be used for mineral scaling. Coagulation can help with colloids, organics, and several minerals and biological pollutants. 

• What Other Factors Impact the Life of an Industrial RO System?

In addition to scaling, fouling, and water pressure changes, the pH and temperature can also affect the RO process. High pH levels can increase the concentration, while low temperatures reduce the solubility. 

Where to Buy an Industrial Reverse Osmosis System?

AMPAC USA is the best place to visit if you want to buy an industrial reverse osmosis system. We deploy advanced, fully equipped, and fully automated turnkey industrial reverse osmosis systems for commercial RO and industrial RO installations to every continent and ocean on the planet — including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, the Arctic, and Antarctica. We need to serve even the most discerning clients and ensure 100% client satisfaction. Buy the products, and you will agree that our reverse osmosis systems are the most reliable, and the total cost of ownership (TCO) is highly competitive.

Besides offering industrial reverse osmosis systems, we also provide industrial water softeners, industrial water filters, and ROWPU military water purification systems. All our systems can be trusted to improve water quality by removing dissolved solids and contaminants from water.   Standard and Custom Industrial reverse osmosis systems we design have the capacity that ranges from 6,000 to 100,000 Gallons per day. 

Since 1993, AMPAC USA has offered the best quality Industrial Reverse Osmosis Purification plants, advanced water treatment solutions, and top-quality water purification systems at the best competitive prices. All the systems are designed using best industrial practices and following the manufacturer’s guidelines for every component, with extreme precision for custom fabrication.

AMPAC USA’s Reverse Osmosis Plants are designed and manufactured specifically to suit a variety of Water Treatment requirements.  Our brand is particularly noted for its highest quality technical support and exceptional after-sales support. Our skilled, competent, qualified, and experienced Engineers and Technicians are available to assist you with your specific customized applications.

The industrial RO products we design and deliver are used in many applications such as Water Treatment for Chillers and Boilers (Tratamiento de agua para calderas), as well as High Flow Industrial Sites such as Hotels, Hospitals, and Factories that require large volumes of pure water such as in the food and beverage manufacturing factories. 

AMPAC USA has provided high-quality water purification and reverse osmosis systems to the aerospace, marine, and defense industries for many years. Our knowledge and deep understanding of these industries’ strict quality guidelines have enabled us to satisfy our clients consistently. We understand that each industry has its selection criteria. For instance, the aerospace industry requires ultrapure RO/DI water for the high-precision fabrication of aircraft components. So, our uncompromising approach to manufacturing and performance ensures that every RO/DI system consistently produces true ultrapure water at 18 megaohms of resistivity, even after years of operation. This consistency can be difficult to achieve if the components and build quality of an RO/DI system is subpar. In such cases, resistivity can fall below ultrapure requirements, unknown to end-users.

Some of the industries we have successfully served in the past are Aerospace, Mining, Disaster Relief, Energy, Ocean & Marine, Hotel, Resort & Community Halls, Food & Dairy, Oil & Gas, Military & Government, Home & Office, Pharmaceutical, Pilot Plant Testing Units, Hydroponics, Hemodialysis Water Purification, Car Wash, Micro Breweries and Cannabis, among others. To know which industrial reverse osmosis system is right for you, contact AMPAC USA on 909-548-4900 or visit us here. 

References: 

https://www.ampac1.com/industries

https://www.ampac1.com/products/industrial-reverse-osmosis-systems/industrial-RO-6000-100000-GPD

https://www.ampac1.com/products/industrial-reverse-osmosis-systems

https://www.earthwiseenvironmental.com/solutions/pre-treatment-services/reverse-osmosis-water-treatment

https://www.yashengineering.in/blog/industrial-reverse-osmosis-ro-concepts/

https://genesiswatertech.com/blog-post/what-is-the-significance-of-pretreatment-for-industrial-reverse-osmosis-water-treatment/

https://www.slideshare.net/WaterProfessionals/5-design-considerations-for-industrial-reverse-osmosis

https://www.hyperfilteration.in/blogs/2020/11/10/industrial-ro-water-plant-functions-and-importance-in-human-life/

https://pearlwater.in/blog/everything-to-know-about-industrial-ro-plant