Water. desalination + reuse

TECHNOLOGY The remote site at La Chanavayita in Chile. to automatically ensure constant and reliable high-pressure feed to the RO membrane. The three-in-one construction has made the iSave particularly interesting for applications where space is at a premium and demands for simple operations are at their peak. "Most iSave installations so far have been in hotels and small municipal water plants," says Bentzen, "and most of these have been as part of containerized solutions. These days, where electricity contributes more than two-thirds of total SWRO operating costs, ERDs are the rule rather than the exception." FISHING VILLAGE IN CHILE GETS THREE TRAINS One of Danfoss's most recent installations is also one of its most remote so far, located in the community of La Chanavayita, a fishing village on Chile's northern Pacific coast. The plant comprises three Danfoss iSave 21 ERDs and APP pumps in three parallel trains. Each train produces 15 m3/h of fresh water, giving the entire plant a capacity of 1,000 m3/d. The Chilean installation is new in more ways than one: it was also the first time Israel's Nirosoft sold its containerized NiroBox™, a concept specially developed to deliver SWRO plants quickly. LOW-MAINTENANCE, HIGHPERFORMANCE Nirosoft developed the new NiroBox as a plug-and-play membrane-based desalination plant that contains everything it needs inside a 40-ft (12 m) container and can be configured to produce anywhere from 100 to 1,000 m3/d. The company specializes in tailor-made solutions that include everything from engineering and hardware to installation and BOT contracts. As an experienced system integrator, Nirosoft was familiar with all the major suppliers of components for RO plants and knew how difficult it was to get a high-quality containerized plant up and running fast. "We wanted to create a plug-and-play unit that is robust enough for very low maintenance, but at a price customers can afford to pay," explains Michael Tramer, Nirosoft's global VP of sales and marketing. "Until now, the problem has been to balance good delivery time with good price. It used to take anywhere 5-9 months to get the kind of components we need at a decent price from our key suppliers. If you wanted them faster, then you had to pay – sometimes a lot more." "The NiroBox is pre-engineered to hit the ground running," says Tramer. "All you need to do is connect the electricity, inlet and outlet pipes, and it's ready to go. We are also able to deliver on a very tight schedule – just a few months rather than up to 9 months as we used to. Every component has been carefully selected for performance and reliability – as well as delivery time." "We knew from the start that Danfoss's iSave ERDs would be at the heart of the containerized plant," says Tramer. "There is just no other ERD that delivers the same combination of energy saving, low maintenance and simplicity for both installation and operation. Plus, Danfoss has very decent lead times to supply both their iSave and APP high-pressure pumps." "Other suppliers do provide ERDs with isobaric chambers," continues Tramer, "but their constructions are much more complicated, take a lot more space to install and are more susceptible to breaking down." SO WHAT'S THE NEXT TREND? Both Tramer and Bentzen concur: the future will continue to bring more and more parallel trains on line. Many of these will be containerized and will continue to grow in output as manufacturers and system integrators become increasingly skilled at packing efficient capacity into smaller and smaller places. The iSave combines three key components in one: rotary isobaric pressure exchanger, high-pressure positive displacement booster pump and electric motor. iSave is available in two sizes: iSave 21 (flow range 7–21 m3/h) and iSave 40 (flow range 22–40m3/h). November-December 2013 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 33 |

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