Real-time monitoring of calcium sulfate scale removal from RO desalination membranes using Raman spectroscopy

Abstract Chemical characterization of scaling and removal processes was performed in real time via Raman spectroscopy in a bench-scale reverse osmosis (RO) system. A custom RO cross-flow cell was integrated with a Raman microscope objective, allowing for analysis of localized membrane scaling and scale removal. Permeate flux was also measured to provide a real-time metric for comparison. A commercial flat sheet, thin-film composite reverse osmosis (TFC RO) membrane was scaled using a calcium sulfate (CaSO4·H2O) feed solution. Upon CaSO4 scale detection, the feed was switched to DI water, which served as a cleaning agent to remove the CaSO4 scale from the membrane. In addition to the real-time local (Raman) and global (permeate flux) measurements, membrane samples were characterized post-mortem using Raman spectroscopy, gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy to provide important scaling and scale removal metrics. Results from real-time measurements indicated that changes in Raman intensity were a more sensitive indicator of local scale removal than changes in permeate flux, a standard cleaning performance metric; these findings were corroborated by the post-mortem analyses. Overall, the membrane cleaning experiments showed that Raman spectroscopy provided crucial real-time chemical composition and spatial distribution information, which can inform more effective antiscaling and cleaning strategies.