New developments in fouling indices: Application in seawater reverse osmosis systems

Reliable methods to predict the fouling potential of reverse osmosis (RO) feed waters are important in preventing and diagnosing fouling at the design stage, and for monitoring pretreatment performance during plant operation (Boerlage, 2007). Particles (both inorganic and organic) are one of the possible origins of RO fouling. However, as mentioned by many researchers, fouling is complex and it may be due to several contributing factors. While the focus of this paper is on particles and colloids, RO fouling may be manifesting in other forms, including biofouling and scaling.