Reverse osmosis applications: Prospect and challenges

• Applications of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane are reviewed.
• Advantages and limitations of the applications are discussed.
• Challenges and perspective are pointed out.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a pressure driven membrane process which has been widely applied and recognized as the leading technology of desalination process. Improvement in RO technology including advanced membrane material, module and process design, and energy recovery has led to cost reduction which in turn gaining interest to its commercial applications. RO is now being used in various applications including selective separation, purification, and concentration processes. In food industry, RO is applied for concentration of fruits and vegetable juices, pre-concentration of milk and whey, and dealcoholization of alcoholic beverage. For area which has large source of natural humic water or peat water, RO can be applied to produce clean water for community water supply. RO was also investigated for organic mixture separation and CO2 regeneration from essential oil extraction using supercritical fluid. The application of RO as a final step of wastewater treatment for water reuse and valuable component recovery seems to be promising in wastewater reclamation. In this paper, the applications of RO, its advantages, and limitations are discussed. In addition, challenges and perspective of RO membranes are pointed out.