{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T17:24:48Z","timestamp":1790961888603,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776902400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Guangzhou Maritime University","award":["K42025004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["K42025004"]}]},{"name":"Guangzhou Maritime University","award":["QLE2025A004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["QLE2025A004"]}]},{"name":"Key Special Programs in Priority Areas for Higher Education Institutions of Guangdong Province","award":["2025ZDZX4054"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025ZDZX4054"]}]},{"name":"Key Construction Discipline Scientific Research Capacity Improvement Project of Guangdong Province","award":["2024ZDJS053"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024ZDJS053"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Intermittently operated, tankless reverse osmosis (RO) systems are widely used in decentralized and point-of-use applications, yet water stagnation during idle periods remains a critical challenge, leading to degraded water quality, accelerated fouling, and performance loss. This study presents an experimentally validated engineering solution that eliminates stagnant water in intermittently operated RO systems. A dual-membrane RO configuration with flexible series\u2013parallel switching was developed, enabling membranes to alternate between production and flushing modes. An adaptive control strategy, integrated into the system hardware, regulates membrane switching and flushing based on real-time feed-water quality. The proposed configuration and control framework was evaluated under representative intermittent operating conditions. Experimental results show that the zero-stagnant-water strategy effectively prevents residual water accumulation during shutdown and maintains stable permeate quality, with total dissolved solids consistently below 10 mg\/L. Long-term testing further demonstrates reduced membrane fouling and slower performance degradation compared with conventional fixed-operation schemes, resulting in enhanced desalination efficiency and operational stability. Owing to its modular design and simple control logic, the proposed approach is readily transferable to decentralized and point-of-use membrane water treatment systems requiring reliable, high-quality water under intermittent operation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes16050155","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T10:10:17Z","timestamp":1776939017000},"page":"155","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Development of a Zero-Stagnant-Water Purification System Based on Smart Series\u2013Parallel Control of Dual RO Membranes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Mei","family":"Ma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electric and Information Engineering, Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute, Yangzhou 225002, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bin","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lingling","family":"Mei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electric and Information Engineering, Yangzhou Polytechnic Institute, Yangzhou 225002, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Future Transportation, Guangzhou Maritime University\/Guangzhou Transportation University (Preparatory), Guangzhou 510725, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ke","family":"Xing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lida","family":"Liao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Energy and Power Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3013","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.est.2c09257","article-title":"Membrane life cycle management: An exciting opportunity for advancing the sustainability features of membrane separations","volume":"57","author":"Ma","year":"2023","journal-title":"Environ. 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