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-----Carbon dust fouls Water Treatment membranes
Q. Can anybody guide me how to remove fine carbon dust from RO membranes. I come across this problem frequently in my place as we do not receive quality activated carbon.
ANTONY ROCHEWATER TREATMENT - MADURAI, TAMILNADU, INDIA
July 22, 2009
A. Hi Antony,
Your RO membrane is obviously working as an ultrafine filter, capturing carbon dust that should have been removed by an earlier filter. Getting it out of the RO membranes is probably difficult because it is inert to any chemical treatment. I'd suggest examining where and how you use the carbon, and making certain that there is always a fine filter, perhaps of diatomaceous earth filter aid ⇦ on
eBay or
Amazon [affil link]
which all carbon-bearing water must pass through before getting to RO.
Better yet, try some granulated activated carbon which has good body to it rather than messy, gets-into-everything fine dust. You may not only eliminate this costly downtime on your RO system, and be able to keep a cleaner plant, but (depending on how you use it) you may be able to re-use the activated carbon, reducing your purchasing and/or disposal costs.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
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