Abstract
The key factor in determining the cost of water treatment by reverse osmosis (RO) is the inherent variation in capital costs and operating costs for RO systems. Capital costs for RO systems put out for bid can easily vary by up to a factor of 2 (Birkett 1988; Glueckstern and Arad 1984). Operating costs also vary over a wide range, even for the same type of application (Birkett 1988; Applegate 1984). Several reasons cause these cost variations, including (1) widely different feed stream compositions; (2) widely different capabilities in RO technology, including membranes, membrane modules, equipment, and systems design; (3) the competitive commercial environment of the RO industry and associated technological breakthroughs; (4) system size; and (5) desired product purity.
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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Ray, R.J. (1992). Cost Estimates. In: Ho, W.S.W., Sirkar, K.K. (eds) Membrane Handbook. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3548-5_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3548-5_25
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