RU2473472C2 - Reverse osmosis water treatment plant - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: process engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to automatic control multistage water treatment for provision population with adequate drinking water at separate territorial sections, particularly, multistory apartment houses, supermarkets, hospitals, etc. Proposed plant comprises inlet flow gage 2, initial water conductivity transducer 4, pre-filtration unit 5, concentrate circulation pipeline 6, permeate circulation pipeline 7, booster pump 8, magnetic treatment unit 10, reverse osmosis unit 11, permeate conductivity transducer 14, permeate flow gage 12, set 16 of temperature and pressure gages, solenoid valve 17 incorporated with reverse osmosis unit pulsed flushing, electrolytic tank with silver electrodes 13, accumulator tank 19, main pump 23, postfilter unit 24, UV steriliser 25, plant controller 28.

EFFECT: efficient treatment, automated control over water purification, expanded treatment performances.

7 cl, 3 dwg

Description

A reverse osmosis water treatment plant belongs to the field of multi-stage water purification with an automated control system, it is designed to provide the population with clean drinking water in certain territorial areas, in particular in multi-storey residential buildings, and can be used in shopping centers, various production facilities, hospitals, and pharmacies etc., a wide range of regulation of water treatment parameters allows it to be used also for industrial, pharmacological and other purposes.

Known installation according to the patent RU №46498, IPC C02F 9/00, bull. No. 13 dated July 10, 2005, containing a sorption-catalytic filter, a carbon sorption filter, cartridge filters, an ultraviolet irradiation unit, a clean water tank, a reverse osmosis unit equipped with a bypass line, after which a schungite filter filled with a mechanical mixture of crushed schungite and activated carbon modified silver in a ratio of one to one.

The disadvantages of this installation include the lack of an automated control system that sets the optimal operating mode of the reverse osmosis unit and provides control and maintenance of a constant quality of post-treatment of drinking water, as well as insufficient use of reverse osmosis membranes, due to the lack of a system to reduce their salinity.

A device is known according to patent RU No. 57141, IPC B01D 27/00, Bull. No. 28 dated 10.10.2006, which has coarse and fine filters, a mineralization block for purified and disinfected water, an electrolyzer chamber with silver electrodes and a system for automatically maintaining the required concentration of silver ions in drinking water at a given second water flow rate, including a second water flow meter.

The disadvantage of this device is that its use is limited, since the degree of purification in it is in most cases insufficient for purification of tap drinking water, while only the functions of maintaining the required concentration of silver ions and the level of mineralization of purified and disinfected water are automated, there is no reverse osmosis filter with automatic modes his works. The introduction of additional preliminary cleaning, for example, using membrane technologies, makes it unnecessary to use at least a coarse filter in this device.

Known installation of reverse osmosis, patent RU No. 2317138, IPC B01D 61/08, bull. No. 5 dated 02/20/2008, which provides for partial recirculation of permeate, which reduces the salting of reverse osmosis membranes. Also, through the partial recirculation of the permeate, the amount of permeate requested by end users can be installed, which eliminates the need for an intermediate storage tank. This installation is taken as a prototype.

The disadvantage of this installation is that:

- to ensure a permeate flow sufficient for end users, the use of high-performance reverse osmosis membranes or an increase in their number and the use of a high-pressure pump with high performance, which entails a significant increase in the cost of the device;

- the technical solutions used in this installation to reduce the salting of reverse osmosis membranes and, consequently, extend their life, are not effective enough, there is no possibility of washing them,

- a set of means to control the quantity and quality of water flow in this installation does not fully provide the necessary quality parameters and the quantity of permeate dispensed and does not allow remote monitoring of the installation.

The technical problem solved by the invention is that in case of uneven analysis of permeate, what happens during the preparation of drinking water, especially when it is disassembled by more than one consumer, to ensure its most economical production, expand the functionality of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant, in order to obtain water with prolonged bactericidal properties, to ensure more efficient operation of reverse osmosis membranes with an increase in their life until replacement or regeneration, while ensuring SRI continuous automated control of the water purification and quality control of water treatment installation for setting and maintaining the clearing parameters and flow over a wide range with the raw water quality, including remotely.

The essence of solving the technical problem lies in the fact that the reverse osmosis water treatment plant, which contains the input of the source water, input flow meter, source water conductivity sensor, prefiltration unit, booster pump, reverse osmosis unit, permeate conductivity sensor, permeate flow meter, storage tank with level sensor liquids, a main pump, a post-filter unit, an ultraviolet sterilizer and a plant control controller, with uneven analysis of the required quantities permeate with a predetermined quality of cleaning provides a more efficient operation of the reverse osmosis membranes without requiring the application of high-performance reverse osmosis membrane and the high-pressure pump with a large capacity, the cost of which considerably exceeds the value of the storage container and the subsequent water sterilization system.

The effectiveness of using reverse osmosis membranes and increasing their service life before replacement or regeneration is ensured by the use of:

- a permeate recirculation pipeline equipped with an electric control valve that allows not only to reduce the salting of the membranes due to the partial re-flow of permeate through the membranes, but also to provide permeate with a high degree of purification taking into account the quality of the source water;

- a magnetic water treatment unit installed directly in front of the reverse osmosis unit, which reduces the precipitation of calcium carbonate and sulfate, magnesium hydroxide and calcium silicates on the membranes and stimulates their withdrawal into the drainage as a part of the concentrate;

- an electromagnetic valve for pulse flushing of the reverse osmosis unit connected to the installation control controller, which allows for technological flushing of the membranes by the effect of water hammer, which, in combination with the return flow of permeate coming through the recirculation pipeline, significantly increases the washing efficiency.

The concentrate recirculation pipeline equipped with an electrically actuated control valve allows, with sufficient quality of the source water, to provide an increased permeate yield of up to 85-95%.

An electrolyzer with silver electrodes connected to the installation control controller provides automatic maintenance of the required concentration of silver ions in the permeate, giving it prolonged bactericidal properties, which helps prevent microbiological contamination in the storage tank and in the drinking water distribution system connected to reverse osmosis for drinking water to end consumers . Installed after the main pump, and switched on by the installation control controller, the ultraviolet sterilizer sterilizes the permeate located in the storage tank, while it complements and enhances the bactericidal properties of colloidal silver introduced into the permeate in an electrolyzer with silver electrodes.

Since for different types of reverse osmosis membranes, when the temperature of the filtered water varies in the range of 10-25 ° С, their productivity can vary by 20-50%, the use of a pressure sensor, supplemented by a sensor of the temperature of the water passing through the reverse osmosis unit, provides objective control of its operation modes. Flow sensors of the conductivity of the source water and permeate allow you to constantly analyze the quality of the source and purified water and monitor the operation of the installation, including controlling the pulse washing system of reverse osmosis membranes. Electronic flow meters of the source water, permeate and concentrate with a pulse width of 1 pulse / 10 ml provide accurate constant metering of the water flow at all nodes of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant, including the calculated values for the recirculation of permeate and concentrate. This set of instrumentation is the minimum necessary and at the same time sufficient to ensure installation setup, continuous automated control of the quality of water treatment and water treatment plant control with the ability to set and maintain treatment parameters and water flow over a wide range, taking into account the quality of the source water, which carries out the installation control controller. And connecting the controller via GPRS or ETHERNET to communicate with a higher level system allows remote monitoring and control of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant.

A comparative analysis of the proposed solution with the prototype shows that it contains new nodes with its connections, which can improve the quality of the treated water and the cost-effectiveness of the water treatment plant. Thus, the claimed technical solution meets the criteria of the invention of "novelty."

When conducting an additional search for known solutions, no signs were identified that together coincided with the distinctive features of the claimed water treatment plant from the prototype. Therefore, the claimed invention meets the condition of "inventive step".

The proposed reverse osmosis water treatment plant is shown in the drawings (FIGS. 1, 2, 3), FIG. 1 is a general block diagram of a reverse osmosis water treatment plant; figure 2 is a structural diagram of a reverse osmosis unit with a parallel connection of filter elements; figure 3 - structural diagram of the reverse osmosis unit with parallel-serial connection of the filter elements, where indicated:

1 - input of source water;

2 - input flow meter;

3 - the electromagnetic valve;

4 - sensor conductivity of the source water;

5 - block pre-filtering;

6 - recycling of the concentrate;

7 - recirculation of permeate;

8 - booster pump;

9 - valve with electric adjustment of permeate recirculation;

10 - block magnetic treatment of water;

11 - reverse osmosis unit;

11.1, 11.2, 11.3 - reverse osmosis filter elements;

12 - permeate flow meter;

13 - electrolyzer with silver electrodes;

14 - permeate conductivity sensor;

15 - valve with electric adjustment of recirculation of concentrate;

16 - block of pressure and temperature sensors;

17 - electromagnetic valve pulse flushing reverse osmosis unit;

18 - liquid level sensor in the storage tank;

19 - storage tank;

20 - process valve for discharging liquid from a storage tank;

21 - flow meter concentrate;

22 - electric control valve;

23 - main pump;

24 - post-filter unit;

25 - ultraviolet sterilizer;

26 - output permeate;

27 - withdrawal of the concentrate into the drain;

28 - installation control controller;

29 - connection via GPRS or ETHERNET to communicate with a higher level system.

Installation of water treatment with reverse osmosis, shown in the General structural diagram (figure 1), works as follows. Water from the water supply system through the input of the source water 1 enters the inlet flow meter 2, then through the solenoid valve 3, which performs the function of turning off the source water during maintenance and in emergency situations, it enters the pre-filter 5, which includes a set of filters specially selected depending on the chemical composition of the source water, in particular: coarse filter, carbon sorption filter, fine filter. Between the electromagnetic valve 3 and the pre-filtering unit 5, a source water conductivity sensor 4 is connected, which makes it possible to analyze the quality of the source water. After preliminary filtration, water enters the booster pump 8, which creates the necessary liquid pressure in the reverse osmosis unit 11, measured by a pressure sensor 16 at the outlet of the concentrate of the reverse osmosis unit 11. Between the booster pump 8 and the reverse osmosis unit 11, a magnetic water treatment unit 10 is connected in series, which reduces clogging of the membranes reverse osmosis unit 11. Next, purified water (permeate), analyzed by the conductivity sensor of permeate 14, through the permeate flow meter 12 post it is fed into the electrolyzer with silver electrodes 13, which provides the necessary concentration of silver ions in the permeate, which is collected in the storage tank 19. The filling of the storage tank 19 is controlled by a liquid level sensor 18. The permeate from the storage tank 19 is disassembled through a series-connected main pump 23, a post-filter unit 24 and an ultraviolet sterilizer 25. The main pump 23 provides the necessary pressure in the permeate distribution system. It is equipped with dry run protection, a non-return valve, a process valve to drain the water from the distribution system. The post-filter unit 29 is intended for the final filtration of water. Its filter element is preferably made from coconut charcoal. It can also be supplemented with a cartridge or a doser of mineralization of water. The ultraviolet sterilizer 25 sterilizes the permeate located in the storage tank 19, while it complements and enhances the bactericidal properties of colloidal silver introduced into the permeate in an electrolyzer with silver electrodes 13. The water filtration mode by the reverse osmosis unit 11 is established by an electric control valve 22, which restricts the flow of concentrate through the output of the concentrate into the drain 27, thereby setting the required percentage of permeate to concentrate. The volume of the output concentrate from the installation is controlled by a flow meter of the concentrate 21, connected in series between the output of the concentrate of the reverse osmosis unit 11 and the control valve with an electric actuator 22. The electromagnetic valve for pulsed washing of the reverse osmosis unit 17 provides periodic technological washing of the reverse osmosis unit 11. Organization of recirculation of the concentrate 6, the flow of which is established by the adjustment electric valve 15, allows to increase the percentage of perm output eata. The organization of recirculation of permeate 7, the flow of which is set by a control valve with an electric actuator 9, allows to increase the degree of purification of permeate and reduce the clogging of reverse osmosis membranes. The control controller of the installation 28 carries out continuous processing of data from all sensors 4, 14, 16, 18 and flow meters 2, 12, 21, and promptly controls all actuators 3, 8, 9, 13, 15, 17, 22, 23, 25, and its connection via GPRS or ETHERNET for communication with a higher-level system 29 allows constant monitoring of the quality of the issued permeate and operating modes of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant and its operational management. When using in the reverse osmosis unit 11 two filter elements 11.1, 11.2 (see figure 2) they are combined in parallel. When three or more filtering elements 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 (see figure 3) are used in the reverse osmosis unit 11 (see FIG. 1), they are combined in parallel-sequential fashion, and if there are more than three filtering elements, then blocks of filter elements assembled according to the scheme shown in figure 3, are combined according to the scheme shown in figure 2.

The set of solutions defined by the invention not only expands the functionality of the reverse osmosis water treatment plant and provides an improvement in the quality of water purification along with providing the possibility of prolonging its bactericidal properties, but also due to the lower unit cost of the obtained permeate determines higher economic indicators of the proposed installation.

Claims (7)

1. A reverse osmosis water treatment plant for treating feed water — tap or artesian — to produce purified drinking water, comprising a pre-filter, a booster pump, a reverse osmosis unit, a recirculation pipe for re-passing the concentrate, a recirculation pipe for re-passing the permeate, and a plant control controller characterized in that between the booster pump and the reverse osmosis unit, a magnetic water treatment unit is connected in series, which suppresses the precipitation of calcium carbonate and sulfate, magnesium hydroxide and calcium silicates on the membranes, after the reverse osmosis unit, an electrolyzer with silver electrodes is installed, which provides the required concentration of silver ions in the permeate, which accumulates in the storage tank, the installation additionally contains sensors for monitoring the conductivity of the source water and permeate, a block of temperature and pressure sensors at the outlet of the concentrate from the reverse osmosis block, a permeate level sensor in the storage tank e and the flow of source water, permeate and concentrate, related to the installation management controller. 2. The reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to claim 1, characterized in that the reverse osmosis unit can contain two, three or more filter elements, while if the number of elements is a multiple of three, they are connected in blocks in parallel-series, if the filter elements (blocks three filter elements) two, then the elements (blocks of three filter elements) are connected in parallel. 3. The reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to claim 1, characterized in that at the outlet of the concentrate of the reverse osmosis unit, a solenoid valve for pulse washing of the reverse osmosis unit is installed, which provides periodic technological washing of the reverse osmosis unit by means of hydraulic shock. 4. The reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to claim 1, characterized in that the permeate is disassembled from the storage tank through a main pump, which is activated by the installation control controller. 5. The reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to claim 4, characterized in that a post-filter unit is installed after the main pump, the filter element of which is preferably made from coconut coal. 6. The reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to claim 5, characterized in that the filtering element of the post-filter unit can be supplemented with a cartridge or a doser for mineralizing water. 7. A reverse osmosis water treatment plant according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that after the main pump, an ultraviolet sterilizer included in the controller for controlling the installation is installed, which sterilizes the permeate located in the storage tank.

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