Industrial RO Systems

Industrial reverse osmosis systems from AMPAC Water Systems run from 6,000 to 25,000 gallons per day for continuous-duty use: manufacturing process water, boiler feed, food and beverage production, pharmaceutical and laboratory supply, and municipal treatment. They are engineered and built in Woods Cross, Utah. The models are listed first, then what sets the size and what the plant room needs around them.

Industrial RO models and capacity

Above 25,000 GPD, systems are engineered per project rather than picked from a list. Send the feed water analysis and the demand curve and the team will build the design around them.

What decides the size

Daily volume is the starting point, not the answer. Four things set the real specification:

• Duty cycle. Continuous production and single-shift operation size differently, even at the same daily volume.
• Feed water chemistry. Hardness, iron, manganese, silica and organics decide the pretreatment train and the recovery you can safely run.
• Permeate specification. Boiler feed, food contact and pharmaceutical water have different targets, and the tighter the target, the more stages.
• What happens to the concentrate. Sewer limits, a discharge permit or a reuse target can change the whole design.

Start with the RO system calculators for recovery, output and scaling indices before the quote stage.

Pretreatment and what runs alongside

An industrial RO skid is one part of a train. Ahead of it, expect multimedia filtration, softening or antiscalant dosing, and carbon filtration or dechlorination, because chlorine damages the membranes and hardness scales them. Utah feed water is very hard, at 10 to 18 grains per gallon on the Wasatch Front, so scale control is not optional here: see water treatment in Utah.

Behind it, the question is what to do with the reject. Recovering it can be cheaper than discharging it, and where a permit forbids discharge altogether, zero liquid discharge finishes the job. Most facilities should price partial reuse first.

Where these systems go to work

• Power plants and boiler feed water
• Breweries and beverage production
• Food service and FDA requirements
• Every industry AMPAC serves
• Choosing an industrial RO manufacturer: support, spares and uptime

Industrial RO for manufacturing plants

Most plants use RO in three places: boiler feed, cooling tower make-up, and process water. The goal is different in each, so the system and the pretreatment are not the same.

• Boiler feed: fewer dissolved solids in the feed water means less scale and less blowdown. Our guide to boiler feed water treatment covers the design.
• Cooling tower make-up and blowdown: the US Department of Energy gives the water balance for a tower: make-up water equals evaporation plus blowdown plus drift, and controlling blowdown is the biggest chance to save water. Cleaner make-up water lets a tower run more cycles of concentration before the blowdown has to be dumped.
• Process and rinse water: food and beverage lines, laboratories and light assembly need water that is the same quality every shift. RO gives a steady TDS you can monitor.

Standard models run from 6,000 GPD through 10,000, 12,000, 20,000 and 25,000 GPD. Larger plants, up to 100,000 GPD, are quoted per project. Check your numbers with the water treatment calculators, then request a quote with your feed water analysis and daily demand.

If the plant cannot send RO concentrate to sewer, look at zero liquid discharge systems and the industrial water reuse guide. The US EPA publishes national effluent guidelines for industrial categories, so check the rules for yours before you design a discharge.

Smaller, or a different feed water?

• Under 6,000 GPD: commercial RO systems, 100 to 6,000 GPD
• Brackish feed, 1,000 to 10,000 ppm TDS: brackish water RO
• Seawater feed: seawater desalination systems
• Membranes and spares: membrane elements · RO parts and components

Industrial systems are quoted per project, since sizing depends on your feed water and duty cycle. Call (385) 530-1026 or request a quote. AMPAC installs and services systems on site anywhere in Utah, and ships worldwide.