Analysis of Calcium Sulfate Scaling Phenomena on Reverse Osmosis Membranes by Scaling-Based Flux Model

In this study, the behavior of permeate flux decline due to scale precipitation of calcium sulfate on reverse osmosis membranes was investigated. The proposed scaling-based flux model is able to explain that permeate fluxes attributed to three mechanisms of scale precipitation—cake formation, surface blockage, and mixed crystallization—converge to the same newly defined scaling-based critical flux. In addition, a scaling index is defined, which determines whether scale precipitates on the membrane. The experimental results were analyzed based on this index. The mass-transfer coefficients of flat membrane cells used in the experiments were measured and, although the coefficients differed, they could be summarized in the same form as the Leveque equation. Considering the results of the scale precipitation experiments, where the operating conditions of pressure, solute concentration, temperature, and Reynolds number were varied, the convergent values of the permeate fluxes are explained by the scaling-based critical fluxes and the scale precipitation zones by the scaling indexes.