An RO system solved the problem of purifying brackish water.

Roy Fallon, chief operator of the wastewater treatment plant in the Village of Tequesta in Palm Beach County, Fla., said that after the company installed two reverse osmosis systems in 2000, it was more than eight years before the membranes needed to be cleaned. Naturally, after using a reverse osmosis system for eight years to desalinate a water supply—and never cleaning it even once—one might assume that the buildup of dirt and slime would be more than even a hazmat team could stomach. But that is not the case at Tequesta.

A city's wastewater treatment infrastructure is part of the groundwork of an entire community's organization and is one of a community's most costly endeavors. Using a centralized system often does not have environmental benefits since conclusive evidence shows that centralized sewer collection systems are leaking and causing treatment plant overflows during strong wet weather events. Leakage into streams and ground water commonly occurs in many places and is a significant problem in many communities across the United States.

Biodiesel, a renewable diesel fuel, is also known as FAME (fatty-acid methyl ester) in the industry. Chemically speaking, biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl (methyl, propyl or ethyl) esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids (animal fats, vegetable oils or recycled restaurant greases) with an alcohol, and can be used (depending on how it is processed) for heating or transportation fuel in automobiles, trains or airplanes.

Constructed in the 1960s by Datang Corporation and located in Mengtougou, the Gaojing Power Plant is one of the oldest power plants in Beijing. For the past 40 years, the Gaojing Power Plant has supplied 6 X 100 MW/hr of heat and electricity to local communities and industries. In 2003, with increasing environmental requirements from the government, the plant started using membrane technology to reuse the blowdown from its cooling towers as feed for its eight boilers.

Municipal wastewater treatment plants continue to adopt submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology due to two advantages over conventional biological wastewater treatment-improved effluent quality and a smaller footprint. When coupled with membranes, biological and chemical phosphorous removal methods can be employed to meet total phosphorous effluent limits of less than 0.1 mg/L. Phosphorus precipitation, combined with the positive barrier the membrane provides, reduces the amount of phosphorus and suspended solids in the plant effluent.