Water. Desalination + reuse
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TECHNOLOGY Info and contact details for most companies in Showcase are in the Suppliers section of www.desalination.biz Dutch unveil ���breakthrough��� membrane biofouling cleaner Dutch water supplier Vitens and WE-consult have developed what they describe as a ���sustainable breakthrough��� technology designed to clean biofouling from membranes. Vitens is currently using this filtration technology at multiple points in its production process. Many membrane filters are currently cleaned throughout the world with generic chemical products, such as caustic soda and citric acid, or expensive specialist chemicals. The cleaning process takes hours and consequently delays operations. Vitens says that the filters never become 100% clean, as a result of which product quality deteriorates, and the membrane filters require more frequent replacement. By cleaning the filters with a mixture of water and carbon dioxide (CO2), the filters are effectively scrubbed clean by small bubbles. In contrast to air, CO2 is easily soluble in water, as a result of which air-locking is no longer an issue. This process only takes 15 minutes and is 4 times better for the environment than cleaning with chemicals. The filters become cleaner, which increases the lifespan of the filters and the quality of the end-product. ���With the help of this new technology, we are saving the environment and we are realising significant savings on the cost of new filters,��� says Bas Rietman, process technologist. ���Furthermore, the length of time that our business process is down is reduced���. The innovation was in part made possible by an ���innoWATOR��� grant provided by NL Agency. The innovation came about in partnership with the University of Twente, RWB Water Services and WE-consult. This revolutionary membrane cleaning technology is jointly owned by Vitens and WE-consult. The first full-scale LTD plant in El Gouna, Egypt. several research projects with Swiss universities and two pilot plants. The plant is situated in a tourist resort on the Red Sea, where a range of diesel generators provide electricity and waste heat. The purpose of this LTD plant (capacity 500 m3/day) was to simulate a large number of variations in the input variables ��� primarily the amount of waste heat and various salinities in the process ��� as well as to demonstrate the robustness of the plant. The feedwater came from existing beachwells with a salinity of about 35,000 ppm. A full range of trials were conducted in order to test the robustness of the process both under normal operating conditions as well as under extreme variations in key input factors (waste heat and salinity). This verified the key parameters including the following: l The LTD plant could manage very high salinity ��� up to 200,000 ppm, and was consistently operating at 80-100,000 ppm l Depending on the amount of waste heat available, the plant could operate at 10-110 % of capacity, thus confirming part-load flexibility l With a small amount of anti-scalant, the process worked without scaling even for higher salinities, even though the feedwater had very high gypsum content l The plant with 2 stages confirmed the low electricity usage l The plant could be shut off and easily restarted without any extensive process. The Technical University of Berlin, which has a campus in El Gouna and followed the test program, has since developed simulation programs to simulate the various configurations of an LTD plant. CONCLusiON Low Temperature Distillation represents an exciting advancement in thermal desalination technology ��� simple, robust | 36 | Desalination & Water Reuse | November-December 2012 and cost-efficient, and able to be used on its own or as a complement to existing technologies. We believe it has the potential to provide really clean water in a very cost-effective, energy efficient and environmentally friendly way, and that it is also ideally positioned to capture growth both in the desalination market and in the market for treating industrial wastewater including produced water from oil and gas exploration.l SeconD iSobarix er unit inStalleD in mexico Isobarix has installed its second commercial XPR energyrecovery unit for Memco Sistemas de Separacion SA de CV, who operate several seawater reverse-osmosis plants at resorts in Cancun and Los Cabos, Mexico Meanwhile, the company���s first commercial installation at Dong Energy Power AS in Denmark completed 1�� year continuous operation before the power-supplier decided to retrofit its second train with dramatically increased XPR performance. For Memco, the time had come to consider alternatives. One of its Energy Recovery Inc PX-180s operating at 175 GPM (11 L/s) had failed after about five years of operation. In a competitive environment, neither cost nor performance can be ignored, and the client���s choice of exchanging 200 lb VisiT ONLiNE desalination.biz Memco���s ERI PX-180 (left) and its Isobarix replacement (right) SHOWCASE (91 kg) of hardware with 30 lb (14 kg) of unrivaled XPR-509SL performance did not need much convincing, says Leif Hauge, president and CEO of Isobarix. ���We expected the new XPR technology from Isobarix to be quite competitive, but seeing the actual size of the unit and confirming the performance was quite stunning to our operators,��� commented Memco operational manager Diego Pasadas about their choice. ���The determination to spend upfront time on optimizing the XPR technology has been a good strategy for us, and we were able to achieve break-even sales in third-quarter 2012. We are now in a position to adequately outsource our manufacturing needs and provide deliveries from inventory within the first quarter of 2013,��� remarked Hauge. ceramic membrane Deal for proDuceD-water treatment Danish company LiqTech International Inc announced on 5 November 2012 that it has entered into a close cooperation agreement with Constructora Conconcreto South America following a successful 12-month trial period with LiqTech���s ceramic membranes for water filtration in the oil and gas industry. Medell��n-based Conconcreto has been actively working to validate the LiqTech silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic membrane technology for the oil and gas industry during the past 12 months and has successfully concluded field trials with Hocol (a subsidiary of Ecopetrol) in Colombia. The trial period was followed by a commercial agreement between Conconcreto and Hocol for operation of a SiC membrane installation for produced water treatment, marking the commercial breakthrough for this market. Conconcreto is currently certifying LiqTech���s membranes with INTEVEP for the oil and gas market in Venezuela. The field trials included replacing flotation units and walnut shell filters for polishing of produced water for re-injection purpose. The SiC membranes were operated upstream and downstream of a skimmer unit and both operations showed remarkable performance. Typical membrane feed water with oil concentration of 20-100 ppm was consistently treated to <5 ppm oil in water for re-injection purpose (95% of the time below 0.7 ppm oil in water). The production capacity per unit membrane surface area was in the range 200-350 L/m2.h when operating prior to a skimmer unit and even 400-600 L/m2.h when operating downstream of the skimmer unit. new uS facility openeD by rolleD alloyS Rolled Alloys, supplier of stainless steel and special alloys to the desalination and other industries, announced on 22 October 2012 the opening of its new facility in Windsor, Connecticut, USA, which will come online on 1 December 2012. The company is an innovator in the metals industry with their extensive processing capabilities, website and e-business platforms and alloy development. Rolled Alloys says the launch of this new location emphasizes its global strategy of growth through personal service with more local options for customers. With 11 locations across North America, and 10 additional operations throughout Europe and Asia, Rolled Alloys is one of the largest suppliers of stainless steels, nickel, cobalt and titanium alloys. November-December 2012 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 37 |