Chemical Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series to Feature Guy Ramon

The Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series will host Guy Ramon of Princeton University who will present “Osmosis-Assisted Cleaning of Organic-Fouled RO Membranes,” on Thursday, April 12, at 11 a.m. in BELL 2268.

Mineral, colloidal and bacterial fouling limits membrane-based desalination and water treatment and is commonly countered by periodic plant shutdown for chemical cleaning of membrane elements, resulting in process down-time, membrane degradation and environmental concerns.

Hydraulic backwashing, the current method for fouling control in microfiltration, is inappropriate for thin-film composite membranes used for reverse osmosis desalination due to mechanical failure of composite membranes at high back-pressures. Recent studies have shown promise for a new method that employs an osmotic back-flushing of reverse osmosis membranes, which utilizes direct osmosis through a high saline feed.

In this lecture, Ramon will discuss various aspects osmotic back-flushing, which may offer an innovative, effective and potentially chemical-free alternative to hydraulic backwashing. Different configurations for inducing the osmotic backwash will be considered, illustrating possible advantages and shortcomings. In particular, insight into the process dynamics and efficiency, gained through theory and experiments, will be presented and discussed.

Ramon received his doctoral degree in environmental engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology at Haifa and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University researching the rheology of biofilms and their response to external stressors and flow obstructions. His research interests include transport phenomena, bacterial/colloidal deposition and biofilm formation, electro-kinetics, concentration-gradient energy conversion and the integration of renewable energy and potable water production technologies.

For more information, see the Distinguished Lecture Series, or contact seminar chair Jamie Hestekin, jhesteki@uark.edu.

This event is free and open to the public.