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Characteristics, Environmental Impact, and Treatment of Reverse Osmosis Concentrate Generated from Municipal and Industrial Wastewater: A Review and Futuristic Outlook
Summary
Despite its title referencing reverse osmosis concentrate, this paper reviews management challenges for the concentrated wastewater byproduct produced by reverse osmosis treatment systems — not microplastic pollution specifically. It surveys technologies for minimizing this waste stream under a "zero liquid discharge" framework and does not study microplastics or their health effects.
Reusing wastewater from municipal and industrial resources has been a worldwide strategic solution to water scarcity. Reverse osmosis (RO), a well-established technology, is widely applied for wastewater treatment, producing high-quality reuse wastewater effluent. However, one of the major drawbacks of using RO technology is the volume of concentrate (known as ROC) associated with higher concentrations of constituents in wastewater feed. This drawback makes the sustainable management of ROC in terms of quality and quantity the major limitation of RO application. To address this drawback, the present review highlights and discusses the characteristics and environmental impact of ROC from municipal and industrial wastewaters, facilitating easy selection of the best applicable integrated technologies based on the concept of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) for minimizing the ROC volume produced. To achieve this objective, this paper provides an overview of various types of integrated technologies with two modes of operation (complete and partial recirculation). This paper offers critical insights into the ZLD concept and highlights future research trends by suggesting various pretreatment options for ROC. These suggestions will improve the overall recovery of water feed and minimize water pollution to meet the environmental standards for final disposal.
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