a method for purifying and recovering wash water in a polymer manufacturing process using media filtration with reverse osmosis membranes to achieve separation and water reuse . wash water containing particles of polymer product and surfactants is introduced into a media filtration unit having filter media particles which comprise a substrate and an adsorbed layer of a coagulant compound adsorbed onto the substrate . the filtrate stream is then introduced to a staged reverse osmosis system . the ro system concentrates the surfactants in a rejects stream to a desired concentration , and the rejects stream is preferably disposed of after reaching the desired concentration , while the permeate is preferably reused .