Economic aspects of pretreatment technologies before reverse osmosis

Purpose: The article presents the results of economic efficiency analysis for the construction of preliminary water purification systems before the membrane demineralization process. Two types of pre-treatment systems were analysed: conventional system and ultrafiltration. Design/methodology/approach: The profitability analysis of the construction of water pre-treatment systems (WPS) before membrane demineralization was carried out based on technological, economic and financial assumptions. Findings: The simulations allowed determining the boundary conditions for the profitability of this type of investment in the form of the adopted treatment technology, conditioned by the water pre-treatment method. The simulation results showed that with the current investment and operating costs of the combined rapid filtration process on three-layer beds and dynamic sorption and, alternatively, membrane pressure ultrafiltration, the choice of the latter pre-treatment method allows obtaining significantly better economic results. Originality/value: The results of the cost analysis of both tested variants indicate that the use of pressure ultrafiltration as the final process is much more effective than the conventional treatment system based on rapid filtration and dynamic sorption.