Basic RO Question

[danno]

If I start with 2% sap, can I concentrate to just 4 or 5% - or will an RO automatically bring it to a higher sugar content on it's first pass through.

Reason I ask is that I am gradually expanding - but would like to bring an RO on line now to cut down on wood consumption. I do enjoy boiling, and based upon the amount of sap I'm boiling now, if I took the sap to 8-10% I would not be boiling much.

Also, if I'm concentrating to only 4 or 5%, can I push more sap per hour through the RO?

[mountainvan]

you can concentrate to 4-5% easily. It all depends on how you set the concentrate and permeate flow. A flow of 2.5 gals/min on each gave me 4% from 2% sap. It does increase the amount of sap you can do in an hour, but in my experience not a lot.

[vtmaplemaker]

thanks for correcting me!!

Origional message:Danno,
You can adjust the RO to bring the concentration to whatever you want, the lower you concentrate the more you push through the machine a hour.. My 600, with 2% entering, will do about 2.2 gph of concentrate, and 6 gph of permiate, bringing it to 8%. at about 492 gph total.. If I go to 4%, it will do about 4.5 gph concentrate, and 4.7 gph permiate say for a total of 550 gph.
I hope this answers your question...

[brookledge]

Vtmaplemaker

If you look you will see that Danno mistakenly posted twice and you posted on the other thread this morning. I don't think anyone erased your post
Keith

[Randy Brutkoski]

Are you trying to get kicked off the trader. It seems like you are always complaining about something? Is it that time of the month again? Let us know what is on your mind. Maybe we could help.

[Russell Lampron]

Another factor that figures into the amount of flow you will get is the pressure that you run your high pressure pump at. Last season I was setting my concentrate flow at 4gpm and getting 1.75gpm of permeate at 300psi. I wasn't looking for a specific concentrate percentage. I was just removing water. I recirculated the concentrate back into the storage tank and it just kept getting sweeter as the water was removed. When it got to 8% or higher I would start boiling.

[maplwrks]

I do it just like Russ does--keep the concentrate flow high. By pounding it up high the first time through, you will plug your membrane real fast.