The objectives of this project were to compare the performance of various anti-scalants for the treatment of brackish groundwater at Alameda County Water District's Newark Desalination Facility (NDF), and to evaluate membrane performance with regard to scale formation without the addition of sulfuric acid to the reverse osmosis (RO) feed water at the NDF. Testing was conducted using a custom made RO pilot unit
designed to carry out two separate tests simultaneously by
utilizing a two-train parallel arrangement. The two identical pilot
trains and the main plant received raw water with identical
characteristics. Each train is equipped with dedicated antiscalant
and acid metering pumps. The two stage array with
ESPA1 membranes in stage one and ESPA2 membranes in
stage two replicates the two-stage array currently in use at the
full-scale NDF.