Is the ammonia bound and in ...
Published by Don Sharpe
Is the ammonia bound and in what form is the sulphate? What is the pH of the water. The concern with high ammonia levels is that it will support bacterial growth and most membranes do not reduce the ammonia at the same rate as other materials. There may be specific membranes, which do remove ammonia but they would need to be investigated. Sulphate can be removed by RO but it is an expensive way to do it. The simple way is to react it with hydrated lime, which then forms calcium sulphate, which then precipitates and can be removed as a solid. There is a patented system which can reduce the sulphate by the addition of a reagent, which then forms calcium alumina sulphate and can drop the sulphate down to 100 ppm. After that RO would reduce the sulphate levels but you still have to find a way to remove the waste stream. SO loosely, the answer, with provisos, is yes RO can reduce both ammonia and sulphate but you do need to pre-treat. It is possible that if the pH is raised high enough with lime and the water is passed through a scrubbing tower, the pH could be reduced prior to the RO plant.