Enhancing HERO Performance with Flow Reversal RO

Practical insights from a ZLD combined cycle power plant retrofit

At a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) combined cycle gas power plant in the Southwestern United States, a 2025 turnkey installation of Flow Reversal Reverse Osmosis (FR-RO) replaced two reverse osmosis (RO) units within a High-Efficiency Reverse Osmosis (HERO) treatment train treating cooling tower blowdown.

This paper goes into detail of the operation of the FR-RO units and documents how they improved operational flexibility within the plant’s water utility under highly varying feed water quality and flow rates.