In this research, the applicability of modified fouling index (MFI) on ultrapure water (UPW) production system was assessed to predict performance of reverse osmosis (RO) process. The practical study on MFI-UF was first performed at a pilot-scale UPW plant (Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea), monitoring water quality parameters (i.e., conductivity, turbidity and TOC) as well as MFI-UF of pretreatment stage for 10 months. While water quality parameters were maintained in a stable manner, the MFI-UF was fluctuated implying the different propensity of RO influent. The increment of fouling potential was intimately related with RO performance, the aggravation of permeate quality. The sensitivity of MFI-UF was also verified by evaluating the fouling potential of reclaimed water in UPW production system.

Ultrapure water (UPW) is water containing nothing but water molecule (H2O). The use of UPW is increasing in many industries such as the thermal and nuclear power plants, petrochemical plants, and semiconductor manufacturers. In order to produce UPW, several unit processes such as ion exchange, reverse osmosis (RO), ultraviolet (UV) oxidation should be efficiently arranged. In particular, RO process should remove not only ions but also low molecular weight (LMW) organic matters in UPW production system. But, the LMW organic matter removal data of RO membranes provided by manufacturers does not seem to be reasonable because they tested the removal in high concentration conditions like 1,000 ppm of isopropyl alcohol (IPA, MW=60.1). In this study, bench-scale experiments were carried out using 4-inches RO modules. IPA was used as a model LMW organic matter with low concentration conditions less than 1 ppm as total organic carbon (TOC). As a result, the IPA removal data by manufacturers turned out to be trustable because the effect of feed concentration on the IPA removal was negligble while the IPA removal efficiency became higher at higher permeate flux.