Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/459793
business | 8 | Desalination & Water Reuse | February-March 2015 Environment and tight regulation to drive membrane market Environmental concerns and increasingly stringent government regulations in water and wastewater treatment will drive growth in the membrane separation market until 2020 according to a report by market researcher, Grand View Research. The report predicted that mergers and acquisitions were "to remain the key growth strategy" among the leading players in the market. The Grand View study said microfiltration dominated the membrane separation market in 2013 at more than 30% of the total. And water and wastewater treatment was the strongest application segment in the year contributing more than 35% to the overall market share. The report held out desalination as a major force in nanofiltration demand. Europe was the most dominant region in 2013 according to the report with more than 35% of the global membrane separation market. Asia Pacific was picked out as promising high growth through to 2020 spurred by manufacturing growth and tighter regulations in water and wastewater treatment. And the researcher predicted significant growth in developing markets from a mounting need for wastewater treatment. Membrane fouling, chemical corrosion and faulty installation and maintenance, "may hinder membrane separation market growth," according to Grand View. Furthermore, high installation and operational costs coupled with lack of funds in developing nations were seen as likely obstacles. Increasing use of microfiltration membranes as pre-filters for reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration processes was expected to drive membrane separation growth. Desalination was one of the major forces driving nanofiltration demand, which in turn was expected to have a positve impact on the membrane filtration market. The report named key market players as including: 3M Purification, GEA Filtration, Koch, Pall Corporation, Merck Millipore, Nitto Denko Corporation, Veolia Environnement, and Dow Chemical Company. ContRaCt&tenDeRneWs San Diego gives green light for wastewater direct potable reuse San Diego's City Council has given the green light to build a 415 Ml/d facility for direct potable reuse of wastewater costing up to US$ 3.5 billion. The reverse osmosis recycling scheme is expected to meet as much as a third of San Diego's daily drinking water requirement by 2035 making it the second largest potable reuse plant in the US. The scheme – known as the Pure Water Plan – will be built in three stages in different parts of the city. The first stage, scheduled for 2023, will be a 75 Ml/d ~facility at the North City Reclamation plant where trials for the scheme have been carried out. A second 75 Ml/d facility is planned at the South Bay Reclamation Plant also for 2023, with a 265 Ml/d facility on the grounds of a former Naval Training Centre scheduled for completion in 2035. The system has been subject to extensive testing at a trial installation. It comprises pre-treatment with microfiltration followed by reverse osmosis and disinfection with ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide treatment. The programme could avert the need for upgrades to the Point Loma wastewater treatment plant. The upgrades are needed to bring Point Loma up to federal standards for secondary treatment and are costed at about US$ 2 billion. The plant currently treats sewage from 16 towns and cities at a rate of 900 Ml/d and discharges into the Pacific. Current thinking calls for water from the Pure Water Plan to be mixed with supplies from the San Vicente reservoir to be piped to customers. An alternative strategy would allow the city to route the water directly into water distribution systems and ship it directly to users. Either approach would require changes to state regulations. San Diego has put a construction cost on the project of US$ 1.5 billion to US$ 2.5 billion. Interest payments would take that to US$ 3.5 billion. Officials have estimated that the city would have to increase the price of water by 1-3% for most of the contract period of the plants. They plan to cover between a quarter and a third of the cost with state and federal grants. They are seeking money from a recently passed, US$ 7.5 billion state water bond and earlier state water measures as well as grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The city is claiming to have support for the Pure Water project from local taxpayer and environmental groups. Earlier public support for direct potable reuse was poor in San Diego. The city, this summer, hired public relations firm, Katz, on a US$ 1 million, two-year contract to improve the perception of what was dubbed "toilet to tap" technology. Preliminary planning and design of the Pure Water project are underway. The start of construction awaits approval from the EPA and other regulators.