Studies in separation of ionic species by reverse osmosis membranes

This dissertation examines and explores the importance of the physical properties of ionic species and membranes on the separation of inorganic solutes by membrane processes.; This research includes an in-depth discussion of the increase in concentration polarization by increasing the concentration of uni-valent and bi-valent solutes. The increased concentration polarization in turn affects the separation of uni-valent and bi-valent solutes differently. This difference is explained by the interaction of the following: increased membrane shrinkage; increased ion-pair formations between ionic species; increased interaction between the fixed ionic group in the membrane and ionic species; decreased Donnan potential in the membrane.; The importance of applying the Preferential-Sorption-Capillary-Flow-model, which introduces the solute transport parameter (D{dollar}sb{lcub}rm sm{rcub}{dollar}/K{dollar}delta{dollar}), is discussed in detail in this research program.