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Elga's RO system produces make-up water for aquarium
NEWS •
In Brief Puresep appoints business development manager for its wastewater and membrane technologies division David Parocki has recently joined UK-based Puresep Technologies Ltd, a member of the Amplio Filtration Holdings Group, as business development manager for its wastewater and membrane technologies division. Parocki will be introducing a range of wastewater technologies within the group to the UK market, along with broadening and growing the portfolio of membrane products. He also will work with fellow group member Envirogen Technology Inc to strengthen the group’s position globally. Desalination plant in China uses Norit Haffmans’ CO injection system Dutch company Norit Haffmans Bv is supplying a COinjection system for use in a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in the Caofeidian Industrial Zone, near the city of Tangshang, China. The dosing and injection system will add CO to the permeate flow during the post-treatment process. Water leaving the RO membranes is carbonised so that it can dissolve the minerals at the calcite filters. This process is required to convert RO water into potable water. Entegris collaborates with IBM In the USA, Entegris Inc recently formed an agreement with IBM to develop and test new filtration techniques for use in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Entegris, which provides both filters and dispense systems used in the semiconductor industry, will work with IBM’s technology team in East Fishkill, New York, to develop new technologies for controlling impurities such as particles and bubbles that can have a negative effect on manufacturing yields. GE technology helps BFGoodrich tyre plant save millions of gallons of water By using technology from GE Power & Water, tyre manufacturer BFGoodrich has significantly reduced water and chemical usage while simultaneously increasing efficiency at its plant in Woodburn, Indiana, USA. With the installation of a reverse osmosis system and following a chemical treatment programme, the company has improved the quality of boiler make-up water, which enables an increase in total boiler cycles, leading to fuel cost-savings. The firm’s tyre-manufacturing plant now conserves 37 475 m (9.9 million gallons) of water annually, reducing the impact on the environment.
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Membrane Technology
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The company has also succeeded in developing a cell-recycling fermentation reactor based on a chemically stable polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. According to the firm, the reactor has a fermentation rate that is more than five times faster than that achievable by conventional batch fermentation, and continuously produces D-lactic acid, which is useful for making polylactic acid (PLA). This reactor can be widely used in the production of other chemicals by fermentation. Also under development is a highly effective and energy-saving purification technology for fermentative production of industrial chemicals such as lactic acid and alcohols. It uses a membrane-based process to remove impurities from the fermentation broth and concentrate the chemical products. The concentration of fermentative products is usually about 10% and a large amount of energy is necessary to remove the surplus water. Membrane treatment technology, however, enables the water to be removed using less energy than required by ordinary heat condensation.
Contact: Toray Industries Inc, Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, 1–1 Nihonbashi-Muromachi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8666, Japan. Tel: +81 03 3245 5111, www.toray.com
Elga’s RO system produces make-up water for aquarium
E
lga Process Water has supplied a second MidiRO reverse osmosis (RO) system to The Deep, an aquarium based in Hull, UK, that combines education, conservation and research, and is home to over 3500 freshwater and sea fish, including sharks and rays. The welfare of the fish is of paramount importance and water treatment is critical as Ben Jones, Senior Aquarist, The Deep, explained: ‘Fish excrete high levels of ammonia. The water is continuously circulated through a biological treatment plant that converts the ammonia into nitrate, but we have to control the nitrate concentration by discharging some of the water to waste and replacing it with make-up water.’ Make-up water is taken from the mains supply, pretreated by a Selectron softener before passing through the MidiRo’s low-pressure RO membrane which removes over 95% of the dissolved salts while minimising energy consumption, which lowers operating costs. The Deep can then re-mineralise the purified water under controlled conditions to give the
precise chemical constituents for their freshwater or sea-water aquaria. As a bonus, the RO treated water is pure enough to be used in The Deep’s laboratories for glassware washing and reagent preparation. The compact treatment plant also serves the aquarium’s quarantine facility, where fish that are affected by illness can be isolated and treated. ‘We were very satisfied with the Elga Process Water unit on the main aquaria so it was logical to use the same technology, and it means that both plants are covered by a single AQUAservice service contract,’ added Jones. Contact: Elga Process Water, Marlow International, Park Way, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 1YL, UK. Tel: +44 1628 89 7000, www.elgaprocesswater.com
Consortium benefits from Aquaporin’s technology
A
quaporin A/s of Copenhagen, Denmark, a cleantech company that develops membrane technology for purifying water, reports that it is part of an ‘innovation consortium’, funded by the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation, which aims to develop purification technologies for ensuring the sustainable intelligent exploitation of biomass. The consortium is motivated by a lack of economical incitement to purify ingredients from biomass as current technologies are energy demanding, technically complicated and not environment-friendly, says the firm. As part of the consortium Aquaporin wishes to develop its Aquaporin Inside Technology (AIT) for processing biomass fractions from the industry. The technologies in the consortium will be combined to form a new technological platform for ensuring sustainable intelligent exploitation of biomass. In addition to Aquaporin, other participants in the consortium include Agro Korn A/s; AllerAqua A/s; Center for Bioressourcer og Innovation ApS (CEBI); DSS Silkeborg; DTU Physics; Jens Møller Products ApS; Launis Fiskekonserves; University of Aarhus; University of Southern Denmark; and Upfront Cromatography A/S.
Contact: Aquaporin A/s, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark. Tel: +45 82 30 30 82, www.aquaporin.dk
May 2011
In Brief Puresep appoints business development manager for its wastewater and membrane technologies division David Parocki has recently joined UK-based Puresep Technologies Ltd, a member of the Amplio Filtration Holdings Group, as business development manager for its wastewater and membrane technologies division. Parocki will be introducing a range of wastewater technologies within the group to the UK market, along with broadening and growing the portfolio of membrane products. He also will work with fellow group member Envirogen Technology Inc to strengthen the group’s position globally. Desalination plant in China uses Norit Haffmans’ CO injection system Dutch company Norit Haffmans Bv is supplying a COinjection system for use in a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in the Caofeidian Industrial Zone, near the city of Tangshang, China. The dosing and injection system will add CO to the permeate flow during the post-treatment process. Water leaving the RO membranes is carbonised so that it can dissolve the minerals at the calcite filters. This process is required to convert RO water into potable water. Entegris collaborates with IBM In the USA, Entegris Inc recently formed an agreement with IBM to develop and test new filtration techniques for use in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Entegris, which provides both filters and dispense systems used in the semiconductor industry, will work with IBM’s technology team in East Fishkill, New York, to develop new technologies for controlling impurities such as particles and bubbles that can have a negative effect on manufacturing yields. GE technology helps BFGoodrich tyre plant save millions of gallons of water By using technology from GE Power & Water, tyre manufacturer BFGoodrich has significantly reduced water and chemical usage while simultaneously increasing efficiency at its plant in Woodburn, Indiana, USA. With the installation of a reverse osmosis system and following a chemical treatment programme, the company has improved the quality of boiler make-up water, which enables an increase in total boiler cycles, leading to fuel cost-savings. The firm’s tyre-manufacturing plant now conserves 37 475 m (9.9 million gallons) of water annually, reducing the impact on the environment.
6
Membrane Technology
•
The company has also succeeded in developing a cell-recycling fermentation reactor based on a chemically stable polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. According to the firm, the reactor has a fermentation rate that is more than five times faster than that achievable by conventional batch fermentation, and continuously produces D-lactic acid, which is useful for making polylactic acid (PLA). This reactor can be widely used in the production of other chemicals by fermentation. Also under development is a highly effective and energy-saving purification technology for fermentative production of industrial chemicals such as lactic acid and alcohols. It uses a membrane-based process to remove impurities from the fermentation broth and concentrate the chemical products. The concentration of fermentative products is usually about 10% and a large amount of energy is necessary to remove the surplus water. Membrane treatment technology, however, enables the water to be removed using less energy than required by ordinary heat condensation.
Contact: Toray Industries Inc, Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, 1–1 Nihonbashi-Muromachi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8666, Japan. Tel: +81 03 3245 5111, www.toray.com
Elga’s RO system produces make-up water for aquarium
E
lga Process Water has supplied a second MidiRO reverse osmosis (RO) system to The Deep, an aquarium based in Hull, UK, that combines education, conservation and research, and is home to over 3500 freshwater and sea fish, including sharks and rays. The welfare of the fish is of paramount importance and water treatment is critical as Ben Jones, Senior Aquarist, The Deep, explained: ‘Fish excrete high levels of ammonia. The water is continuously circulated through a biological treatment plant that converts the ammonia into nitrate, but we have to control the nitrate concentration by discharging some of the water to waste and replacing it with make-up water.’ Make-up water is taken from the mains supply, pretreated by a Selectron softener before passing through the MidiRo’s low-pressure RO membrane which removes over 95% of the dissolved salts while minimising energy consumption, which lowers operating costs. The Deep can then re-mineralise the purified water under controlled conditions to give the
precise chemical constituents for their freshwater or sea-water aquaria. As a bonus, the RO treated water is pure enough to be used in The Deep’s laboratories for glassware washing and reagent preparation. The compact treatment plant also serves the aquarium’s quarantine facility, where fish that are affected by illness can be isolated and treated. ‘We were very satisfied with the Elga Process Water unit on the main aquaria so it was logical to use the same technology, and it means that both plants are covered by a single AQUAservice service contract,’ added Jones. Contact: Elga Process Water, Marlow International, Park Way, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 1YL, UK. Tel: +44 1628 89 7000, www.elgaprocesswater.com
Consortium benefits from Aquaporin’s technology
A
quaporin A/s of Copenhagen, Denmark, a cleantech company that develops membrane technology for purifying water, reports that it is part of an ‘innovation consortium’, funded by the Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation, which aims to develop purification technologies for ensuring the sustainable intelligent exploitation of biomass. The consortium is motivated by a lack of economical incitement to purify ingredients from biomass as current technologies are energy demanding, technically complicated and not environment-friendly, says the firm. As part of the consortium Aquaporin wishes to develop its Aquaporin Inside Technology (AIT) for processing biomass fractions from the industry. The technologies in the consortium will be combined to form a new technological platform for ensuring sustainable intelligent exploitation of biomass. In addition to Aquaporin, other participants in the consortium include Agro Korn A/s; AllerAqua A/s; Center for Bioressourcer og Innovation ApS (CEBI); DSS Silkeborg; DTU Physics; Jens Møller Products ApS; Launis Fiskekonserves; University of Aarhus; University of Southern Denmark; and Upfront Cromatography A/S.
Contact: Aquaporin A/s, Ole Maaløes Vej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark. Tel: +45 82 30 30 82, www.aquaporin.dk
May 2011