BW30FR-400/34 is a professional fouling-resistant brackish water RO membrane designed for industrial and municipal water treatment systems with high organic and microbial pollution risks. As a classic upgraded anti-fouling alternative to standard BW30-400/34 and low-energy BW30LE-400/34 membrane elements, this 8-inch spiral-wound polyamide thin-film composite membrane adopts a 34mil wide feed spacer and optimized membrane leaf structure. It maintains a stable 99.5% high salt rejection rate, effectively suppresses biofilm and organic adhesion, reduces system pressure drop growth, and extends chemical cleaning cycles. Widely applied in industrial wastewater reuse, circulating water purification, polluted groundwater treatment and municipal reclaimed water projects, it delivers stable effluent quality and significantly reduces long-term operational costs for global water treatment enterprises.
BW30FR-400/34 Fouling Resistant RO Membrane
BW30FR-400/34 is a professional fouling-resistant brackish water RO membrane designed for industrial and municipal water treatment systems with high organic and microbial pollution risks. As a classic upgraded anti-fouling alternative to standard BW30-400/34 membrane elements, this 8-inch spiral-wound polyamide thin-film composite membrane adopts a 34mil wide feed spacer and optimized membrane leaf structure. It maintains a stable 99.5% high salt rejection rate, effectively suppresses biofilm and organic adhesion, reduces system pressure drop growth, and extends chemical cleaning cycles. Widely applied in industrial wastewater reuse, circulating water purification, polluted groundwater treatment and municipal reclaimed water projects, it delivers stable effluent quality and significantly reduces long-term operational costs for global water treatment enterprises.
Product Description
The BW30FR-400/34 is a high-performance 8-inch industrial anti-fouling reverse osmosis membrane element with a full 400 sq.ft effective membrane area, tailored for medium and low salinity raw water with suspended solids, organic matter and microbial pollutants. Different from ordinary high-rejection RO membranes that lack anti-fouling modification, this product adopts exclusive hydrophilic surface treatment and precision optimized membrane leaf layout, which fundamentally improves the anti-adhesion ability of the membrane surface. Equipped with a standard 34mil wide feed channel spacer, it enhances internal water turbulence and avoids local dirt accumulation and concentration polarization. Under standard test conditions, it achieves a stable permeate flow and 99.5% nominal salt rejection, with excellent interception performance for TOC, colloids, bacteria, silica and heavy metal ions. Fully compatible with mainstream 8-inch RO pressure vessels, it supports zero-modification direct replacement of conventional BW series membrane elements without pipeline and control system reconstruction. Featuring an ultra-wide pH tolerance range and strong chemical cleaning resistance, it adapts to long-term continuous operation and frequent acid-base cleaning of complex polluted water projects, solving the core pain points of ordinary membranes such as easy fouling, rapid flux attenuation and short service life in recycled water scenarios.
Working Principle
BW30FR-400/34 relies on hydrophilic modified TFC polyamide reverse osmosis separation principle for water purification, adopting non-interlocking standard end cap fluid distribution mode different from iLEC versions. Under hydraulic pressure slightly higher than raw water osmotic pressure, water molecules pass through the low-resistance hydrophilic polyamide active layer, while soluble salts, macromolecular organics and microbial flocs are trapped on the feed side and discharged with concentrated brine. The core anti-fouling mechanism lies in surface hydrophilic modification, which reduces organic adsorption force on the membrane surface and inhibits biofilm proliferation. Its 34mil wide flow channel generates turbulent scouring to wash away loose suspended pollutants, while the traditional straight end cap guides uniform radial water flow without interlocking flow resistance, suitable for single-stage or small-series membrane array layout. The whole process is pure physical separation without chemical dosing, and the wide pH range allows complete chemical descaling and organic cleaning after flux attenuation, realizing recyclable long-term anti-fouling operation for small and medium water treatment equipment.
Technical Features
1. Cost-Optimized Standard End Cap Structure:
Cancel iLEC interlocking sealing design, adopt universal flat end cap matched with ordinary straight couplers, greatly cut raw material and production cost, lower initial procurement investment for small and medium engineering projects.
2. Exclusive FR Hydrophilic Anti-Fouling Membrane Formula:
TFC polyamide film with surface hydrophilic modification, effectively reduce organic adhesion and biofouling speed, maintain stable flux under medium organic pollution raw water conditions.
3. 34mil Thickened Wide Feed Spacer:
Widen internal flow channel to strengthen fluid turbulence, reduce concentration polarization and dirt deposition rate, extend the interval between two chemical cleaning cycles for intermittent operation systems.
4. Ultra-Wide 1–13 pH Cleaning Adaptability:
Continuous stable operation within pH 2–11, support strong acid and strong alkali cyclic cleaning within pH 1–13, fully recover membrane flux after organic, biological and inorganic scale pollution.
5. Short Multi-Leaf Membrane Layout:
Optimized short membrane leaf quantity matching, evenly disperse water flow impact pressure, avoid local over-concentration of pollutants, improve overall anti-fouling uniformity of the whole membrane element.
Product Advantages
1. Remarkable Upfront Cost Advantage:
Compared with BW30FR-400/34i equipped with iLEC interlocking end caps, this standard version cuts single membrane procurement cost obviously, suitable for budget-restricted small skids, rural water treatment stations and old equipment renovation projects.
2. Compatible with Traditional System Accessories:
Matches all conventional RO couplers, O-rings and standard 8-inch pressure vessels on the market, no need to purchase special iLEC matched adapters, save supporting accessory procurement expense.
3. Stable Anti-Fouling Performance for Medium Pollution Water:
Retain complete FR anti-fouling core technology, 34mil wide flow channel and wide pH cleaning window, solve frequent fouling failure problems of ordinary non-FR BW series membranes in recycled water and brackish water.
4. Simple On-Site Installation & Replacement:
Adopt universal straight connection operation mode familiar to most water treatment technicians, no special locking operation training required, shorten equipment replacement construction period.
5. Flexible Intermittent Operation Adaptability:
Standard end cap structure bears less long-term static sealing pressure, more suitable for equipment with frequent startup and shutdown cycles such as factory circulating water and rural decentralized water supply systems.
Application Fields
1. Small & Medium Factory Circulating Water Reuse:
For cooling circulating water purification of chemical, food, small machinery manufacturing enterprises with intermittent startup-shutdown, reduce water conductivity and realize workshop water recycling with low equipment investment.
2. Rural Inland Brackish Water Desalination Station:
Match decentralized rural small water treatment equipment, treat high-organic saline groundwater, solve local drinking water salinity exceeding standard issues under limited project budget.
3. Mini Municipal Reclaimed Water Treatment Skid:
Applied to small community sewage secondary depth purification, produce reusable water for green irrigation and road washing, suitable for small-scale low-series membrane array layout.
4. Old Water Treatment Equipment Retrofit Upgrade:
Directly replace original ordinary BW30-400/34 non-anti-fouling membranes of aged water stations, upgrade anti-pollution ability without replacing original membrane shells and connecting accessories.
5. General Industrial Low-Demand Process Water Preparation:
For low-purity process water pretreatment of printing, textile and building materials factories, remove salt and organic impurities at lower membrane procurement cost.
FAQs
Q1: What is the core difference between BW30FR-400/34 and BW30FR-400/34i?
A1: The biggest distinction lies in the end cap connection structure and cost positioning. BW30FR-400/34 cancels the iLEC interlocking self-sealing end cap, adopting traditional standard flat end cap with straight coupler connection, which cuts procurement cost obviously, suitable for small-scale, intermittent operation projects without strict zero-leak series connection requirements. BW30FR-400/34i is equipped with exclusive iLEC locking end caps for large multi-membrane series systems to eliminate inter-element leakage, with higher overall purchase price. Both share the same FR anti-fouling membrane formula and 34mil wide flow channel core performance.
Q2: Can BW30FR-400/34 replace BW30-400/34 directly without modifying old equipment?
A2: Yes, fully compatible. BW30FR-400/34 uses unified 8-inch outer size, standard flat end cap and matching straight coupler specifications, perfectly matching original BW30-400/34 and BW30LE-400/34 old system pressure vessels and connecting accessories, plug-and-play without any pipeline or control system transformation.
Q4: Which project scenarios are not recommended to select BW30FR-400/34, better choose BW30FR-400/34i instead?
A4: Projects requiring more than 6 membrane elements series connection, 24-hour non-stop continuous operation and strict zero inter-membrane leakage standards should select BW30FR-400/34i with iLEC interlocking end caps. BW30FR-400/34 standard flat end cap is more suitable for less than 4 membranes series and intermittent startup-shutdown small systems, its straight coupler connection has slight hidden leakage risk under long-term high pressure continuous operation.
Q5: How to carry out routine maintenance to extend the service life of BW30FR-400/34 standard anti-fouling membrane?
A5: Perform forward low-pressure flushing every 7–10 days to wash off surface suspended dirt; adopt pH 10–11 alkaline circulating cleaning to eliminate organic and biological fouling, pH 2–3 acidic cleaning to remove inorganic scale. Adjust cleaning cycle to 1–3 months according to raw water SDI value. Avoid long-term over 41bar maximum operating pressure and pH out of 2–11 continuous range to prevent irreversible damage to the hydrophilic anti-fouling membrane layer.
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