Recovery-optimised RO
ROCore+
Use this module when salinity, conductivity or high-assurance reuse needs RO selection with pretreatment, recovery targets and reject handling checked before supplier pricing.
Open ROCore+ moduleFlowPlan › Solution Design
Solution Design
The treatment sequence determines whether a plant can achieve stable, verified performance. Poorly positioned or incorrectly defined stages can transfer loading, instability and operating problems through the rest of the process. This section shows how FlowPlan translates reuse, compliance and recovery intent into sequenced treatment operations, each defined by its duty and required performance.
Overview
Solution Design starts with the purpose and target quality, then builds the minimum necessary sequence of treatment stages to achieve it. Key connection and verification requirements are identified for later Process Mapping and Planning & Delivery. The sequence matters: a module placed in the wrong position, or sized against the wrong basis, can create a problem that compounds through every stage downstream.
From design basis to a defined treatment sequence
Solution Design translates feasibility work - design basis, constraints, KPIs and end-use obligations - into a defined module sequence. Each stage is set by what it receives, what it must achieve and the performance criteria it must meet. Connection, control and verification requirements are then carried forward into Process Mapping and Planning & Delivery.
- Required stages (what belongs in the sequence)
- Technology options (representative, not exhaustive)
- Diagnostics plan (what confirms the basis)
- Design criteria (what must be verified)
- Scope basis (for later procurement)
Start with the minimum set of stages required to achieve the intended outcome. Additional stages are included only where justified by the design basis and site risks.
- Protection & pretreatment (screens, equalisation, source control, oil/grease)
- Core conversion (principal biological or chemical conversion stage)
- Separation & polishing (clarification/filtration to stabilise quality)
- Barrier / reuse assurance (pathogen control, salinity control, final polishing)
- Residuals routing (sludge handling to a stable, manageable endpoint)
- Odor & septicity control (capture, dosing, final polishing)
- Utilities & heat integration (energy/heat recovery, operating resilience)
Once the required stages are defined, relevant technology options are compared against the design basis and site constraints. The families below are representative of established configurations; the final selection depends on the diagnostics, footprint and risk profile.
- Core conversion: MBBR (and common hybrid arrangements where needed)
- Polishing: DAF / disc or cloth media filtration / oxidation‑polishing where appropriate
- Reuse assurance: UF and/or RO where salinity or high‑assurance reuse requires barriers
- Brine control: MVR‑based concentration where ZLD‑readiness is required
- Residuals: decanter centrifuge / screw press; drying beds or thermal drying where justified
- Odor: scrubbers and/or biofilters depending on load and footprint
- Heat integration: plate / shell‑and‑tube heat exchangers for recovery and stability
- Define what must be measured to confirm the design basis, including peak, variable and upset conditions.
- Specify sampling locations, frequency and duration so results are suitable for technology selection.
- Convert the data into defined design inputs, including loads, fouling and scaling risk, toxicity, odor drivers and the residuals mass balance.
- Identify the connection requirements to be developed through Process Mapping: hydraulics, chemical points, controls and monitoring intent, bypasses, cleaning regimes and residuals routing.
- Define the performance criteria and verification requirements to be carried into Planning & Delivery.
- Align the verification requirements with representative operating conditions.
- Record the required outcomes, design basis, connection requirements, exclusions and validation basis for later scope development.
- Identify the vendor information that will be required at procurement stage, including references, guarantees, utilities, consumables, maintainability and spares.
- Provide a consistent technical basis for later comparison against the agreed performance and validation requirements.
Module Configuration Review
Each module has a defined role in the treatment sequence. Select one to review the duties it serves, the diagnostics that confirm its design basis and the configurations it forms with other modules.
Solution family
Select a solution family, then a module. The middle column explains the module's role in the treatment sequence, while the right column shows the module combinations it can support.
Select any module to jump to its full card in the library below.
Selected module
Micra+
UF/MF barrier for particles and pathogens
Role in the treatment sequence
Micra+ is selected where solids, turbidity, and pathogen control must be established before direct reuse or upstream of RO. It protects downstream membranes and reuse outcomes, but dissolved-solids reduction is handled separately by MicraRO+ or ROCore+.
Selection drivers
View module detailsModule combinations
Typical configurations
High-assurance reuse
Barrier + RO where quality intent requires it.
Key checks
- Fouling/scaling potential
- Pre-treatment adequacy (solids & oils)
- Cleaning strategy & downtime tolerance
Verification & connection requirements
- Flux/throughput range
- CIP triggers & chemical plan
- Concentrate/solids handling connection
FlowPlan Modules by Solution Area
Water & Reuse Treatment
Industrial Conditioning & Brine
Sludge Management & Reuse
Odor & Septicity Control
Energy & Heat Systems Water & Reuse Treatment
Designed outcomes & treatment operations
Water and reuse systems are built as sequences of unit operations - separation and clarification, biological conversion, polishing, barrier treatment and, where needed, desalination or brine control. FlowPlan diagnostics define the design basis, including flows and loads, variability, salinity and chemistry, space, connections and the intended end use. Solution Design then establishes the required module duties, sequence and performance criteria. Detailed connections, control logic and commissioning requirements are carried forward into Process Mapping and Planning & Delivery.
Treatment depth (quality outcomes)
The levels below describe increasing treatment and assurance depth for water and reuse duties. The diagnostic outputs determine the required level and the viable configuration.
- Polish & stabilise: Tertiary filtration and disinfection where the biological stage is performing but effluent consistency or reuse quality needs a reliable final polishing stage.
- Strengthen biology: MBBR hybrid configurations where the existing biological stage cannot reliably meet BOD or nitrogen targets - applied within footprint, connection, and operability constraints rather than requiring a full rebuild.
- Assure reuse: Membrane barrier sequences where the end use, permit or approval requirement demands consistent, repeatable quality rather than a single compliant result.
- Manage salinity: Recovery-optimised RO configurations, brine segregation, and ZLD-readiness preparation for sites where salt concentration drives operational cost, scaling risk, or discharge compliance.
Clari+
Clarification & Filtration
Introduced where solids carryover or unstable polishing begins to affect downstream filtration, reuse quality, or final discharge consistency. It improves suspended-solids control and gives later barrier or recovery stages a cleaner, more predictable feed.
Level 1 - 2Solids control / cleaner downstream feed
MBBR+
Biological BOD/COD and ammonia removal
Selected where biological treatment needs more stability, stronger loading resilience, or added capacity under tighter discharge or reuse targets. Applied as pure MBBR or IFAS, it supports BOD/COD reduction and nitrification, and can also contribute to nitrogen removal where the configuration is set up for it.
Level 1 - 2Pure MBBR / IFAS + process strengthening
Micra+
UF/MF barrier for particles and pathogens
Applied where suspended solids, turbidity, and pathogens must be controlled before direct reuse or upstream of RO. It provides a defined membrane barrier, protects downstream RO, and improves reuse assurance, while dissolved-solids reduction is handled separately by MicraRO+ or ROCore+.
Level 2 - 3UF/MF barrier / reuse assurance
MicraRO+
Single-pass RO for moderate salinity reduction
Chosen when reuse needs go beyond barrier polishing and require moderate dissolved-solids reduction without moving directly into a full recovery-led RO configuration. It often suits cooling tower make-up, process wash, and lower-salinity reuse where full ROCore+ recovery is not yet justified.
Level 2 - 3Single-pass RO / moderate TDS reduction
OxiClear+
UV disinfection and advanced oxidation
Applied where final pathogen assurance, colour, odor or trace-organic reduction requires an additional treatment step after the main solids and barrier stages. OxiClear+ may use UV alone where the duty is disinfection, or UV, ozone and hydrogen peroxide in selected combinations where advanced oxidation is required. The configuration is selected against the treatment objective and water characteristics.
Level 2 - 3UV alone / UV-H₂O₂ / ozone / combined AOP
Industrial Conditioning & Brine
Chemistry control, recovery, and brine routing
Industrial conditioning and brine routes begin where chemistry, salinity and reject handling become design drivers. Batch treatment stabilises difficult feeds, recovery RO defines water-recovery and reject duties, and ZLD Prep + prepares concentrate for subsequent treatment. Thermal concentration is considered only where the chemistry and brine route require it.
How the route develops
Industrial and brine schemes usually build in stages: first making the feed controllable, then concentrating recovery around a defined RO route, and only then preparing a concentrate for thermal work where the chemistry and disposal position justify it.
- Condition: Reset feed chemistry, metals behaviour, and solids response before later recovery stages.
- Recover: Pull water quality and recovery performance into a defined RO route with a reject plan.
- Prepare brine: Set scaling control, solids handling, and thermal readiness before evaporation or crystallisation are considered.
Batch+
Controlled chemistry conditioning
Introduced where industrial side streams need pH adjustment, metals precipitation or targeted coagulation and flocculation before clarification, RO or brine routing. It conditions difficult feed water for the subsequent treatment stages.
Level 1 - 2Chemistry conditioning / metals-pH control
ROCore+
Recovery-centred reverse osmosis
Applied where salinity, conductivity and end-use quality become central design drivers and water recovery must be paired with a defined reject route. In industrial recovery routes it links conditioned feed water with brine concentration or ZLD readiness.
Level 2 - 3Recovery RO / reject route
ZLD Prep +
Brine / thermal feed readiness
Introduced where concentrate streams need scaling control, solids strategy, and thermal-feed discipline before evaporation or crystallisation are considered. It defines whether the brine can move forward and on what chemistry and handling basis.
Level 3Brine conditioning / thermal readiness
ZLD+
Evaporation and crystallisation
A final brine-management stage for routes that must move to near-zero liquid discharge. It takes a prepared concentrate, produces a distillate stream whose quality must be confirmed before reuse or discharge, and leaves a salt, slurry or cake stream that has to be handled through the defined outlet route.
Level 3Evaporation / crystallisation end route
Sludge Management & Reuse
Define a workable residuals route
Residuals can become a major operating-cost, handling and compliance constraint when the outlet route is not defined early. These modules define processing and outlet routes for reducing hauling burden, reaching Class A standards where required and preparing products where the offtake and regulatory context support them. Selection is based on the solids mass balance, centrate and loadback impacts, storage and odor constraints, and confirmed end-market routes rather than unverified outlet assumptions.
Typical processing depth
The levels below describe increasing processing and outlet depth: safe handling and dewatering, improved stability and dryness, and reuse or thermal outlets where the required standard, logistics and market route are confirmed.
- Level 1: Stabilise + dewater for safe handling and transport.
- Level 2: Dry or compost to reach Class A reuse routes.
- Level 3: Value recovery through fertilizer, biofertilizer, or mono-incineration where the outlet route supports it.
Sludge+Dewater
Mechanical dewatering
The first solids-handling step reduces sludge volume and produces a cake that can be stored, hauled, dried, composted or routed onward. It establishes the hauling requirement, polymer demand and downstream handling basis.
Level 1Handling + hauling reduction
Sludge+Dry
Thermal or bed drying
Introduced after dewatering where mass reduction, Class A readiness, or a drier feed for reuse and thermal routes is required. Bed drying or thermal drying is selected against heat availability, footprint, odor control, and the target outlet.
Level 2Class A route
Sludge+Compost
ASP/Windrow composting
A Class A route where dewatered biosolids are blended and matured into compost for reuse. This requires bulking supply, curing space, odor management and a defined outlet rather than storage-led accumulation.
Level 2Class A compost outputs
Sludge+Fert
Organo-mineral fertilizer
A value-recovery route that converts stabilised solids into an organo-mineral fertilizer product with more deliberate nutrient formulation and product handling than standard compost routes. It depends on outlet quality, market requirements and consistent feed preparation.
Level 3Fertilizer product preparation
Sludge+Bio
Enhanced biofertilizer
An enriched product route where stabilised solids are blended with biological or nutrient additives to create a higher-value amendment for Class A reuse markets. It is chosen where agronomic positioning and product differentiation matter, not only disposal reduction.
Level 3Bio‑enhanced product
Sludge+ReusePlan
Reuse market planning
The planning element aligns product targets, compliance needs, logistics and offtake routes before a reuse route is committed. It converts compost, fertilizer or biofertilizer targets into a defined route with confirmed outlets and quality requirements.
Level 2 - 3Market + compliance planning
Incineration+
Mono-incineration + recovery
A dedicated thermal route for solids where volume reduction, risk control and ash-based recovery justify an alternative to land application. It is considered where feed stability, permitting, ash handling and the recovery route can be defined as part of the overall solids strategy.
Level 3Mono‑incineration + recovery
Odor & Septicity Control
Protect assets, people, and community
Odor and septicity can escalate quickly: H₂S corrosion damages assets, complaints create community and regulatory exposure, and process upsets can affect the treatment sequence. These modules are applied at headworks, tanks, buildings and collection networks, beginning with source control and local capture, then moving into higher-duty air treatment only where the discharge point, airflow or receptor sensitivity requires it. The approach addresses corrosion and safety first, followed by nuisance and receptor impact; this affects both the intervention point and the required duty.
How the control sequence develops
Odor and septicity work rarely begins with a single equipment addition. The sequence usually begins by locating the source and defining the air or liquid risk, then controlling formation and treating release locally, and only adding a higher-duty air-treatment step where the discharge point, airflow, or nearby receptors demand more than source capture alone.
- Diagnose: Map the source, confirm H₂S and septicity drivers, and identify where intervention will address the cause.
- Prevent & capture: Use dosing to limit formation where appropriate, and local air capture with activated-carbon adsorption to control release from headworks, tanks, vents or networks.
- Polish: Add scrubbers, biofilters, specialist media, or other advanced methods where the captured stream still needs a stronger air-treatment step before discharge.
Odor+Capture
Local odor-air capture & activated-carbon adsorption
Applied at wet wells, headworks, tank vents and enclosed handling points where odor-bearing air must be contained and treated locally. Local extraction captures the air stream, while activated-carbon or similar adsorption media remove odor compounds before release and reduce the load on any larger downstream air-treatment stage.
Level 2Odor-air capture / carbon adsorption
Odor+Dose
Chemical/biological dosing
Targets septicity, dissolved sulfide formation, and corrosion risk within rising mains, wet wells, tanks, and upstream process zones before those drivers transfer into the air phase. It works best when the dose point, monitoring points, and expected response are set together.
Level 2Septicity & H₂S prevention
Odor+Polish
Higher-duty air treatment
Used where a captured air stream needs more than local adsorption, or where discharge conditions, airflow volume, or receptor sensitivity require a stronger treatment step. It can be configured as a scrubber, biofilter, specialist media bed, or another advanced method, selected against the actual loading, peaks, and discharge requirement.
Level 3Scrubber / bio / specialist media
Energy & Heat Systems
Enable stable performance with practical heat loops
Heat integration affects both operating cost and biological stability and can become a constraint when identified late. These modules are scoped as defined utility loops with clear connections, fouling and scaling risk assessed before configuration, and performance ranges confirmed against plant operating conditions rather than theoretical heat balances.
Where heat work usually starts
Heat work often begins with one defined duty rather than a site-wide energy plan. These levels describe increasing integration depth: temperature control, support for a defined plant duty, and wider recovery where the source, sink and integration requirements are aligned.
- Level 1: Heat exchange to manage cooling or heating duties that already exist in the process.
- Level 2: Sludge, digestion, or conditioning temperature support where a defined plant loop benefits from recovered heat.
- Level 3: Wider waste-heat recovery across site loops where the source, sink and integration requirements are aligned.
Thermo+Cooling Loop
Effluent cooling before treatment
Cooling of hot wastewater or effluent before biological treatment, membrane systems, chemical treatment, reuse polishing, or discharge. A heat exchanger and secondary cooling loop remove heat so the stream enters downstream units within an acceptable temperature band.
Level 1Temperature control before treatment
Thermo+Heating Loop
Recovered heat for a defined plant duty
Recovery of useful heat from warm wastewater or effluent to support a defined heating duty such as boiler feed preheat, process water heating, digester heating, or other plant heating requirements. Heat is transferred through an exchanger into a dedicated heating loop serving the selected duty.
Level 2Recovered heat for plant use
Thermo+Heat Recovery Screening
Low-grade heat screening + upgrade options
Screening and integration of low-grade thermal recovery opportunities from wastewater, including heat-pump integration where technically and commercially justified. Applied where a site may benefit from thermal reuse beyond direct heat exchange, subject to feasibility assessment before configuration.
Level 3Screening + heat-pump integration options
Get in touch
Share your outcome target and the constraints affecting delivery. We will define the appropriate FlowPlan module configuration, together with the diagnostics, performance requirements and connection points needed for later Process Mapping and Planning & Delivery.
- Your outcome target (compliance / reuse end-use / recovery / odor / brine control)
- Feed context (flows & loads, variability, salinity/chemistry, existing operating problems)
- Constraints & connections (space, utilities/heat, shutdown periods, operator capacity)
- Module focus (polishing, brine management, sludge routing, odor capture/dosing, heat integration)
- Verification expectations (sampling plan, commissioning KPIs, monitoring approach, stakeholder approvals)
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