Comparison of Semiconductor Reverse Osmosis System Performance With Conventional and 3D Printed Feed Channels

Semiconductor manufacturing requires a substantial amount of high-purity water generated through a complex series of treatment processes. Reverse Osmosis (RO) as the most crucial water treatment process contributes the majority of energy consumption and carbon emission in Ultra-Pure Water (UPW) preparation for semiconductor manufacturing. However, there is an opportunity to drive innovation around the current design of feed flow channel in spiral wound RO elements to promote energy efficiency and cost savings. In this study, a novel design of feed channel with 3D printed spacers was compared with conventional design of feed channel with mesh spacers regarding energy consumption. The average head pressure of 3D printed spacer was found to be 20 psi lower than mesh spacer with same permeate flow rate, which achieved a lower specific power of 0.449 kWh/m3, resulting in a 20% energy saving compared with mesh spacer. This study demonstrated that this novel channel construction with 3D printed spacer significantly improves the overall energy efficiency in RO through reduced pressure loss and increased active area, with a potential merit of decreasing the anti-scalant usage and membrane cleaning.