Week 5 of school (18 May 09 to 24 May 09):

Membrane Characterisation (Cheryl):

Here are some pictures taken when we cut up two spiral wound membranes so learn about how the inside of the membrane looks like. The first one has never been used before, thus it has dried up and can never be used. It has a 1-inch diameter.

The second membrane was previously used in W314 to run experiments. It was not used for a few years, so some brown substance was formed in the membrane. It is probably biofouling, although it may also be rust from the pipes before the membrane module. This membrane has a 2.5-inch diameter.

Week 6 of school (25 May 09 to 31 May 09):

We went to NTU's Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC) on Friday 29 May to learn more about RO systems and get an idea on what we are missing in our pilot plant. Dr Ziggy gave us a lot of details to work on.

From SMTC's pilot rig, we learned that water will increase in temperature after passing through the membrane. Thus, when recycled, we will need a chiller to reduce the temperature of the water as too high a temperature would be detrimental to the membrane modules, and performance would decrease.

For the design team, we had copy down the brand of equipments used in the membrane test kit so that we can do some research on it. Our design group has also asked Dr. Ziggy’s opinion regarding our current design (design is in the previous entry) and from his feedbacks we have to start again on our design.