Parametric study to enhance performance of wastewater treatment process, by reverse osmosis-photovoltaic system

The presence of certain toxic pollutants in water and wastewater such as chlorophenol must be eliminated, as they have negative effects on human health and the environment. Based on the state of the art, the reverse osmosis (RO) coupled with photovoltaic (PV) was chosen for wastewater treatment. The aim of this article is to evaluate the optimal operating conditions of RO-PV system that maximize chlorophenol rejection with minimal energy consumption. Two complementary approaches were followed combining physical models with statistical ones. The physical model used for the simulation is based on the equations of diffusion and matter balance. After demonstrating the reliability of this model, it was used for parametric sensitivity analysis, performing numerical experiments using a program developed under Python. The data obtained were used for operating parameters optimization, using artificial neural network method coupled with the desirability function. The results showed that the optimal values obtained, relating to feed pressure of 9.713 atm, water recovery rate of 40%, operating flow rate of 10(-4)m(3)/s and temperature of 40 degrees C could remove 91% of chlorophenol with an energy consumption of 0.8 kWh/m(3). This consumption allowed us to deduce that photovoltaic solar panel with a peak power of 280 Wp and a battery capacity of 9.22 kWh is sufficient to produce 1 m(3)/day.