Reverse Osmosis 1,500~10,000 GPD

Hotels, resorts, large food service operations, car washes, ice manufacturing, greenhouse irrigation, light industrial rinsing, and medical facilities all fall in this capacity range. A 1,500 GPD system serves a mid-size restaurant with high-volume cooking and dishwashing needs. A 10,000 GPD system covers a hotel with 200 rooms or a light manufacturing operation with continuous process water demand.

Frames are 304 or 316L stainless steel welded construction with powder-coat or electropolished finish options. Pressure vessels are fiberglass-wound or 316L stainless, rated to 300 PSI minimum working pressure. All wetted fittings are 316L stainless or NSF 61-certified polymer. Food service and pharmaceutical buyers should specify NSF 61 wetted-material certification, available on the appropriate system variants.

Systems in this range use multiple 4-inch by 40-inch or 8-inch by 40-inch membranes arranged in series and parallel arrays. A typical 5,000 GPD system uses six to eight 4040 membranes in a 2:1 staging ratio, meaning two membranes feed one. This staging recovers additional permeate from the first-stage concentrate, improving overall system recovery to 75 to 80 percent.

Systems include PLC controls with touchscreen HMI showing real-time flow rates, operating pressure, feed and product TDS, system runtime hours, and alarm history. Programmable flush cycles run on elapsed time or shutdown trigger. Data logging to USB or Modbus TCP/IP output enables integration with building management systems. Remote access via cellular modem is an available option for unattended sites.

Pre-treatment selection depends on the feed water analysis, but a standard package for municipal water feed includes a 5-micron sediment filter, granular activated carbon filtration for chlorine removal (membranes are chlorine-sensitive), and antiscalant injection for hardness control. Well water sources often add a water softener ahead of carbon filtration. Full pre-treatment design is included in system proposals.

Energy use for brackish or municipal feed in this size range is typically 0.4 to 0.8 kWh per 1,000 gallons of product water, depending on feed TDS and operating pressure. Running a 5,000 GPD system continuously at 0.6 kWh/kgal consumes roughly 72 kWh per day. At a commercial rate of $0.12 per kWh, that is under $9 per day in energy cost for 5,000 gallons of purified water.