Application of RO System to Desalinate Brackish Surface Water in Southern Iraq

Brackish surface water desalination is a primary path to relieve the shortage of useable water. The application of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology to desalinate the surface water in southern Iraq has recently increased due to the fresh water scarcity for drinking water to meet local needs in this region. Several studies by using simulated brackish surface water which represented the same quality of the water of this region have been conducted. In this study, actual samples of brackish surface water from three locations (Al-Jeweber, Al-Hadam and Al-Masheb) which are, respectively, located in the southern provinces of Iraq (Thi-Qar, Maysan and Basrah) were used as a feed water to conduct several desalination experiments. These feed waters were used to run a pilot scale of spiral wound reverse osmosis (RO) membrane system. The purpose of this research is to study main parameters of RO membrane system as a result of the application of this technology to desalinate the brackish surface water of the Iraqi marshes. The changes of the flow and quality of the permeate and concentrate of the RO membrane system with time were investigated. In addition, salt rejection by the RO membrane including total dissolved solid (TDS), electrical conductivity (Ec), total hardness (TH), sodium (Na), potassium (K), carbonate (CO3), bicarbonate (HCO3), alkalinity (Alk.), chloride (Cl-), total organic carbon (TOC), nitrite (NO2), nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), sulfate (SO4), iron (Fe)  and zinc (Zn) were also studied . Moreover, the effect of the pretreatment on the water quality that is used as feed water for the RO system was included in this study. The results showed that 95.9% to 98% of total dissolved solids (TDS) removal percentage was attained for all runs conducted for the three selected sites. In addition, a wide range of permeate water flux which was (0.3442 – 1.3042) Lpm/m2 was achieved. Moreover, pretreatment unit results showed that 90.67%, 93.9%, and 97.32% of turbidity reduction and 50.8%, 60%, and 71.7% of total organic carbon (TOC) reduction of the feed water of the three selected locations were achieved. Keywords: Brackish water, Desalination, RO membrane, Salt rejection.

Bioremoval Capacity of Phenol by Microalgae

Bio-treatment of phenol contaminated wastewater by 3 types of algae (Anabaena fetilissima Sps., Chroococuss minor Sps., Westiellopsis prolifica Sps.) had been investigated by current study. This work was conducted using synthetic wastewater with different concentrations of phenol (0.5, 2 and 5 mg/L). The comparison between algae capacity for removal was established according to the cell concentration, initial phenol concentration and pH, this study was extended to include testing algae in treating high phenol concentration. Complete removal of phenol as a single aqueous solution in different concentrations (0.5, 2, 5 mg/L) was observed by Anabaena fetilissima species under optimum treatment conditions. Furthermore, Anabaena algae was able to remove high phenol concentration upto 100 mg/L with the minimal doubling time, high specific degradation and growth rate. These results nominated Anabaena algae to be the most sufficient and useful algae in treating phenolic among the studied algae species examined. The results indicated that the potential of natural resources as effective agent for pollution control