Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/459793
SHOWCASE February-March 2015 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 27 | US membrane demand to top US$ 6 billion in 2018 Water and wastewater industry demand for membranes will drive a 7.9% a year increase in US demand to reach US$ 6.2 billion by 2018 with reverse osmosis membranes surging 8.6% a year according to report by market research firm, The Freedonia Group. The report: Membrane Separation Technologies records water and wastewater industries as showing the largest gains through the forecast period while growth in the more mature municipal market will stem primarily from replacement membranes for the large existing base said The Freedonia Group. But the municipal segment will receive a boost from use in desalination plants. Microfiltration membranes account for the largest share of membrane demand with a 40% share in 2013. Their broad base of applications means their share tends to remain static: "Microfiltration membranes do not necessarily lose sales even as users shift toward more advanced membranes," said Freedonia Group analyst Katherine Brink. Reverse osmosis membranes' place in desalination and other industries requiring highest purity fluid streams such as pharmaceuticals, chemical processing and electronics production will generate rapid growth through 2018 said the report. Reverse osmosis will show an 8.6% annual growth rate through 2018 to US$ 1.6 billion. Water and wastewater treatment accounts for the largest market share with 48% of sales in 2013. Concerns about availability of potable water in stressed water supply areas – particularly in Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas – will continue to boost demand for membrane-based desalination and water recycling systems. evoqUa takeS vantage reverSe oSmoSiS SyStem to aSian indUStrialS Water and wastewater treatment company, Evoqua Water Technologies, has introduced its Vantage M41 reverse osmosis (RO) system to Asian industrial water treatment markets. The manufacturer said the thin-film composite membrane system was suitable for a range of applications including: • production of process ingredient water, • rinse water, • food ingredient water, • drinking water, • boiler feed water, • ion exchange pretreatment, • RO reject reclaim, and • wastewater recycling. Target industries included food and drink, electronics, laboratories and solar power said The system is expandable between two to eight membrane element units to meet increased flow demand. Its product flow rate can be upgraded to meet future customer requirements without additional pump, skid frame, plumbing and electrical retrofits according to Evoqua. Further benefits included simple commissioning and user- friendly microprocessor-based control said Evoqua. american Water chemicalS to rebrand aS alkema SolUtionS American Water Chemicals (AWC) has rebranded itself as Alkema Solutions from the beginning of 2015. The company said the name was a tribute to alchemy: "Although medieval alchemists failed to convert lead into gold, we've successfully helped the membrane industry convert contami- nated and saline water into blue gold since 1993," said company chief executive officer and technical director Mo Malik. AWC has, for its 20 years in business, provided reverse osmosis chemicals that "lower operating costs, increase recovery, eliminate hazardous acid dosing and reduce the frequency of membrane cleanings," according to the company. The company will continue to operate in its current structure, and all contacts and email addresses will remain unchanged. ge Water reUSe pack letS poWer plant end coStly USe of freShWater aS coolant A Pennsylvania power plant has ended the use of 6.5 Ml/d of drink- ing water in cooling after installing GE Power and Water's advanced water reuse technology. Covanta Delaware Valley's 90 MW energy-from-waste facility in Chester, Pennsylvania has upgraded its cooling system to enable it to use treated discharge water from a nearby municipal wastewater treat- ment plant instead of taking local drinking water supplies. Using GE's RePAK combination ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) system as a tertiary treatment package has enabled Covanta to reduce its operating costs and end its 6.5 Ml/d depletion of local drinking water resources. GE installed two RePAK-450 trains, each producing 2,250 l/min of purified water. "By installing GE's water treatment technology, we are able to reuse the nearby wastewater treatment plant's wastewater effluent that otherwise would have been directly discharged, enabling us to save over a million gallons per day in drinking water for local residents rather than using it for industrial purposes. Not only are we reducing the stress on local drinking supplies, but also the environ- mental impacts of the wastewater treatment plant and the use of po- table water by our facility," said facility manager at Covanta Delaware Valley, Tim Gregan. GE's RePAK equipment was delivered and commissioned in 2014 to make Covanta Delaware Valley the first North American company to deploy GE's RePAK technology. "This project highlights the significant economic and environmen- tal benefits that North American industrial companies can achieve when they decide to make an investment in water reuse technologies," said Yuvbir Singh, general manager, engineered systems – water and process technologies for GE Power and Water. Covanta chose a combined treatment technology approach with UF pretreatment and RO desalination because the organic and dissolved mineral content of the wastewater required additional treat- ment to be suitable for use in a cooling tower. GE's RePAK combined treatment system reduced the equipment footprint by up to 65% as compared to separate UF and RO systems according to its manufacturer. GE said that by combining the UF and RO into a common frame with common controls and a single multi- functional process tank, it was able to reduce the capital costs and field installation expenses compared to the use of separate UF and RO systems with multiple process and cleaning tanks.