In this course participants gain hands-on experience on water treatment with reverse osmosis – a desalination technology with the lowest energy consumption. The course covers a diverse range of issues about the application of this technology, from the pre-treatment needed before reverse osmosis can be applied, to the removal of micropollutants and pathogens in the production of freshwater or water for industry. The course includes several video excursions to functioning reverse osmosis installations. Through these participants will experience the operation of a seawater installation, a brackish water installation and an industrial water treatment plant. In addition, participants will have access to the virtual (3D) laboratory experiment with a membrane pilot installation.

The course is delivered over a period of 7 weeks, with an estimated effort of 4 – 5 hours per week, and it is accredited by The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). Participants who successfully complete this course will earn a professional education certificate and be entitled to 30 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits as well.

Content and Schedule:

• Module 1: Introduction to Reverse Osmosis
• Module 2: Seawater Reverse Osmosis
• Module 3: Brackish Water
• Module 4: Scaling and pre-treatment
• Module 5: Application of RO on freshwater and industrial water
• Module 6: Biofouling and configuration of Spiral Wound Membranes for RO
• Module 7: Concentrate, Permeate and Modeling of an RO installation

The course is open 24 hours a day so you can access the discussion forums and the course materials anytime. There are no fixed times, all communication will be asynchronous except for a small number of activities and assignments which will have weekly deadlines.