Hi everyone,
I’m working on designing a system workflow for an industrial water treatment process and I’m trying to structure the decision logic for selecting appropriate pretreatment methods before reverse osmosis (RO).
The system handles high-TDS industrial wastewater, and the pretreatment stage needs to ensure stable RO performance while minimizing maintenance and operational complexity.
Current system context
The incoming water typically includes:
- Suspended solids
- Moderate hardness (calcium and magnesium)
- High total dissolved solids (TDS)
Available pretreatment options in the workflow
- Multimedia (sand) filtration
- Activated carbon filtration
- Chemical or ion-exchange softening
- Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes
Each option affects downstream RO performance differently in terms of fouling risk, scaling potential, and system reliability.
Problem
I am trying to define a clear decision structure (as part of the system design workflow) for selecting the appropriate pretreatment method based on incoming water quality conditions.
Specifically:
- What input parameters are typically used in system design workflows to route water through softening vs filtration vs ultrafiltration before RO?
- How are these parameters typically structured in decision logic (e.g., thresholds, rule-based selection, or staged filtering logic)?
- How is this decision typically standardized in industrial RO pretreatment design workflows?
Context
The goal is to model this as a structured decision step in a system design workflow where pretreatment selection is consistent, scalable, and based on measurable input conditions rather than ad-hoc choices.
I would appreciate insights from anyone who has worked on similar system design or workflow structuring problems in industrial water treatment systems.