Optimisation of membrane design parameters of a spiral-wound reverse osmosis module for high rejection of dimethylphenol from wastewater at low energy consumption

Dimethylphenol is a very toxic pollutant found in wastewater, where its low concentration can hinder the usage of reused water in various industrial applications. Therefore, the removal of this compound from industrial effluents is critical for the safe discharge into surface water. In this research, a simple model based on the solution diffusion principles is developed and validated using experimental data. The model is then used to simulate a wastewater treatment process using a spiral-wound RO module and assess the impact of membrane design parameters including; membrane length and width, feed channel height on the rejection of dimethylphenol and energy consumption of the process. Finally, the membrane design parameters are optimised within a multi objective optimisation framework to simultaneously maximise the dimethylphenol rejection and at the same time minimise the energy consumption.