- Email: [email protected]
Lydall launches composite media for air filtration
NEWS provide a system for treating coalbed-methane (CBM) produced water at the Mitchell Draw CBM Project near Gillette, Wyoming, USA. Siemens will also provide assistance with system commissioning, and will operate and maintain the plant under a five-year operation and maintenance contract. Scheduled to start up during April 2009, the system will treat 72 000 barrels of CBM produced water a day, or the equivalent of over 11 000 m 3 (3 million gallons), removing contaminants such as sodium and total dissolved solids (TDS), which will allow the plant to meet current state regulatory requirements. Siemens says that this is the second time Petro-Canada has chosen it to supply a CBM produced water system for a major application. During 2005, the company provided a similar system for PetroCanada’s Wild Turkey CBM project, also in Wyoming. For the Mitchell Draw project, Siemens worked with Petro-Canada to determine the most cost-effective and efficient way of treating large quantities of produced water while minimising the waste stream. PetroCanada selected a system based on reverse osmosis (RO) technology, which includes multi-media inlet filtration, a packed-bed ion-exchange softening system, a primary RO system and a brine-recovery RO system for effective produced water treatment. ‘Because it proved to be the most costeffective and efficient technology at our Wild Turkey operation, RO was a logical choice to support the Mitchell Draw Project,’ commented Peter Hampton, Operations Manager at Petro-Canada. ‘At Mitchell Draw, the water treatment system will allow us to recover an average of 96% of the water. In addition, the combined softener and RO system effectively reduces handling and storage of hydrochloric acid – a benefit in terms of the safety of our employees and in mitigating our impact on the environment.’ The treated water flow from the system will be sent to the outfall, in accordance with the plant’s discharge permit. The brine waste-stream will be sent to evaporation ponds located on the site. Contacts: Siemens Water Technologies, 181 Thorn Hill Road, Warrendale, PA 15086, USA. Tel: +1 724 772 0044, www.industry.siemens.com Siemens AG, Industry Solutions, Schuhstrasse 60, D-91052 Erlangen, Germany. Tel: +49 9131 70, www.industry.siemens.com
4
Membrane Technology
CH2M Hill delivers desalinated water to the UAE
U
S-based CH2M Hill, a global fullservice engineering, procurement, construction and operations firm has delivered design, construction and commissioning services to the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority for two sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A third desalination plant for the authority is currently under construction by CH2M Hill and is expected to come on steam by mid-2009. Located in the rapidly developing UAE, the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority is responsible for providing reliable and affordable electricity and water to the Emirate of Sharjah. As water demands increase, the authority is turning to SWRO membrane desalination to diversify and augment the region’s potable water supplies. ‘The Emirate of Sharjah needs additional water supplies. Salty water comes from the taps in some areas, such as Khor Fakkan. The new desalination plants will serve a critical need in the existing distribution network,’ commented CH2M Hill’s commissioning manager and process engineer Felix Wang. The company says that it has served as the single source of responsibility for engineering procurement and construction services for the three desalination plants, which will provide more than 60 000 m3 (16 million gallons) of high-quality desalinated water per day to the people of Sharjah. The Layyah and Khor Fakkan SWRO desalination plants began exporting desalinated water during October 2008. The environment and source waters of the three plant sites differ dramatically – each presenting unique design and engineering challenges, says CH2M Hill. The Layyah SWRO desalination plant lies on the Arabian Gulf, about 15 km (10 miles) north-east of Dubai. The Khor Fakkan and Kalba SWRO facilities are located on the opposite side of the Oman Peninsula on the east coast of the UAE, facing the Arabian Sea. The engineering challenges have been addressed with an array of advanced desalination technologies. The Layyah and Khor Fakkan sites use dual-stage media filters for the treatment of the raw sea water prior to reaching the high-pressure SWRO system. The Layyah site incorporates a dissolved air floatation
system before the media filters for enhanced removal of particulates, and better protection against accidental oil spills and seasonal algae blooms. Instead of conventional media filters the Kalba desalination plant will use high-performance ultrafiltration membranes that are specifically designed for SWRO pretreatment applications. All three plants incorporate high-efficiency, energy-recovery devices which ensure that seawater desalination is achieved at lower capital and operating costs than is possible using conventional systems. Contact: CH2M Hill Companies Limited, 9191 S. Jamaica Street, Englewood, CO 80112, USA. Tel: +1 303 771 0900, www.ch2m.com
Lydall launches composite media for air filtration
I
n the USA, Lydall Performance Materials has launched a new line of air filtration composite media. The materials use Solupor microporous membranes, which are based on a technology platform obtained through the acquisition of DSM Solutech BV (see page 1 of this issue). Arioso composite air filtration media are based on microporous membranes that are composed of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and manufactured by a patented process. Possessing a structure consisting of a micro-fibrillar, laminar membrane network, Arioso provides an exceptionally high filtration efficiency at an extremely low resistance to air flow, claims the company. ‘This new media technology is a natural fit with Lydall’s ongoing focus – providing customers with the highest level of air filtration performance available,’ said Patrick Apfeld, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Lydall Performance Materials. ‘The exceptional efficiency of this media is based solely on mechanical effects and does not rely on an electrostatic charge to collect particles from an air stream. Because of its unique structure, it will greatly reduce the force required to move air through a filter, compared with other traditional mechanical filter media.’ ‘We have received extremely positive feedback from customers at the prospect of both lowering overall system cost and enhancing filtration performance.’ Arioso composite media will be available in efficiencies for those applications specified as requiring traditional systems, covered by the
February 2009
NEWS American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), through to ultra low particulate air (ULPA) filters. ‘In addition to providing a high performance technology that will benefit Lydall’s existing customer base, we are excited that Arioso will allow us to expand into markets that the company has not traditionally served,’ added Kevin Longe, President of Lydall Performance Materials. ‘Dust collection and gas turbine air filtration applications, for example, are new markets for us that will benefit significantly from this highly durable membrane with superior dust collection and dust release capabilities.’ Contact: Lydall Filtration/Separation Incorporated, 34 Chestnut Hill Road, Rochester, NH 03867, USA. Tel: +1 603 332 4600, www.lydallfiltration.com
Water treatment is among the fastest growing markets in Brazil
A
t a recently held quarterly analyst briefing, Frost & Sullivan discussed the results of research which show that the industrial water and waste-water treatment sector in Brazil is by far one of the most dynamic and fast growing regional markets. The rapid industrial growth has fuelled demand for high purity water and driven the growth of the process water treatment market, including advanced systems based on membrane technology and products, says the company. The diversity of the industrial sector in Brazil has also been a key factor in the broad-based growth story of the industrial water treatment market, with opportunities being widespread for both conventional and advanced systems. The strong petrochemical sector has been one of the driving forces of the industrial market in Brazil and together with other key sectors, such as mining and mineral processing, and the pulp and paper industry, it is beginning to define the growth pattern for both process water and wastewater treatment systems in the region. The two key trends in the Brazilian industrial water and wastewater treatment market relate to water reuse and recycling as well as energy generation from wastewater treatment. This has prompted an increasing interest in and growth of wastewater treatment for energy- generating systems such as Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blank (UASB) units and advanced wastewater treatment systems,
February 2009
for example, membrane bioreactors and standalone membrane systems, for tertiary treatment. Contacts: Frost & Sullivan Limited, 4 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH, UK. Tel: +44 20 7343 8383, www.frost.com Frost & Sullivan, 7550 IH 10 West, Suite 400, San Antonio, TX 78229-5616, USA. Tel: +1 210 348 1000.
ThermoEnergy awarded a multi-million dollar water project by URS
T
hermoEnergy Corporation’s subsidiary CASTion has been selected to provide a critical system for the treatment of raw water at the US strategic base Camp Lemioner in the Republic of Djibouti, Africa. According to ThermoEnergy, CASTion was selected for this multi-million dollar contract by URS Corporation – a major provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world – because it was able to provide a system that was capable of meeting the water production needs of this vital anti-terrorism base for the next 15 years. ‘This is an important contract award for ThermoEnergy and CASTion and we are pleased that we have been selected. We were able to meet the stringent engineering requirements for the project and look forward to a rewarding partnership with URS for this and future opportunities,’ commented Dennis Cossey, ThermoEnergy’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The water production system consists of a reverse osmosis water-treatment train and a chlorination unit. It will supply water for drinking and for protecting buildings and living units from fires within a large facility. Once operational the system will supply over 1500 m3 (400 000 gallons) of potable water per day in the most economical fashion, with minimal energy consumption and which meets drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Contacts: ThermoEnergy Corporation, 124 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 880, Little Rock, AR 72201, USA. Tel: +1 501 376 6477, www.thermoenergy.com or www.castion.com URS Corporation, 600 Montgomery Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. Tel: +1 415 774 2700, www.urscorp.com
In Brief Toray receives humanitarian award Japan’s Toray Industries Incorporated has received the ‘2008 Humanitarian Award’ from the United Nations Association of New York in recognition of its environment-friendly business activities, including its involvement in areas such as sea-water desalination, water treatment as well as for its corporate social responsibility activities targeting climate change prevention and sustainable social growth, energy saving measures and betterment of the workplace. Cell stack qualified for oxygen-generating systems In the US, Proton Energy Systems, a developer and manufacturer of proton exchange membrane electrochemical products, and Hamilton Sundstrand, a supplier of aerospace and industrial products, say they have successfully qualified the next-generation electrolysis cell stack for use in oxygen-generating systems on board nuclear submarines. The cell stacks enable oxygen-generating systems, based on water electrolysis, to split water into its hydrogen and oxygen elements. This design will provide customers with a high quality and reliable product at a low cost, say the firms. The first production delivery is scheduled for June 2009. Programme aims to support technologies developed at the Hebrew University A US$1 million programme has been launched to support the development of outstanding cleantech inventions by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. The Cleantech Programme has been launched by Yissum, the university’s technology transfer company. ‘We are pleased to launch Yissum’s Cleantech Programme, in response to the growing need for alternative energy systems, novel technologies to combat water shortage and cleaner technologies to protect the environment,’ commented Nava Swersky Sofer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yissum. Sionix water treatment system analysed Sionix Corporation recently announced that it has completed a drinking-water analysis of its containerised Elixir 225 water treatment system at the Villa Park Dam in Orange County, California. The analysis was carried out in accordance with Title-22 of the California Code of Regulations. The Serrano Water District agreed to the implementation and testing of the system at the dam in an effort to find an affordable way of reducing the high levels of iron and manganese in its water stream. It successfully treated the water with iron and manganese levels of more than 3000 ppb and 5000 ppb to non-detectable levels and 17 ppb, respectively – bringing these abnormally high results well below Title 22 maximum contaminant levels allowable for drinking water.
Membrane Technology
5
4
Membrane Technology
CH2M Hill delivers desalinated water to the UAE
U
S-based CH2M Hill, a global fullservice engineering, procurement, construction and operations firm has delivered design, construction and commissioning services to the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority for two sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A third desalination plant for the authority is currently under construction by CH2M Hill and is expected to come on steam by mid-2009. Located in the rapidly developing UAE, the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority is responsible for providing reliable and affordable electricity and water to the Emirate of Sharjah. As water demands increase, the authority is turning to SWRO membrane desalination to diversify and augment the region’s potable water supplies. ‘The Emirate of Sharjah needs additional water supplies. Salty water comes from the taps in some areas, such as Khor Fakkan. The new desalination plants will serve a critical need in the existing distribution network,’ commented CH2M Hill’s commissioning manager and process engineer Felix Wang. The company says that it has served as the single source of responsibility for engineering procurement and construction services for the three desalination plants, which will provide more than 60 000 m3 (16 million gallons) of high-quality desalinated water per day to the people of Sharjah. The Layyah and Khor Fakkan SWRO desalination plants began exporting desalinated water during October 2008. The environment and source waters of the three plant sites differ dramatically – each presenting unique design and engineering challenges, says CH2M Hill. The Layyah SWRO desalination plant lies on the Arabian Gulf, about 15 km (10 miles) north-east of Dubai. The Khor Fakkan and Kalba SWRO facilities are located on the opposite side of the Oman Peninsula on the east coast of the UAE, facing the Arabian Sea. The engineering challenges have been addressed with an array of advanced desalination technologies. The Layyah and Khor Fakkan sites use dual-stage media filters for the treatment of the raw sea water prior to reaching the high-pressure SWRO system. The Layyah site incorporates a dissolved air floatation
system before the media filters for enhanced removal of particulates, and better protection against accidental oil spills and seasonal algae blooms. Instead of conventional media filters the Kalba desalination plant will use high-performance ultrafiltration membranes that are specifically designed for SWRO pretreatment applications. All three plants incorporate high-efficiency, energy-recovery devices which ensure that seawater desalination is achieved at lower capital and operating costs than is possible using conventional systems. Contact: CH2M Hill Companies Limited, 9191 S. Jamaica Street, Englewood, CO 80112, USA. Tel: +1 303 771 0900, www.ch2m.com
Lydall launches composite media for air filtration
I
n the USA, Lydall Performance Materials has launched a new line of air filtration composite media. The materials use Solupor microporous membranes, which are based on a technology platform obtained through the acquisition of DSM Solutech BV (see page 1 of this issue). Arioso composite air filtration media are based on microporous membranes that are composed of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and manufactured by a patented process. Possessing a structure consisting of a micro-fibrillar, laminar membrane network, Arioso provides an exceptionally high filtration efficiency at an extremely low resistance to air flow, claims the company. ‘This new media technology is a natural fit with Lydall’s ongoing focus – providing customers with the highest level of air filtration performance available,’ said Patrick Apfeld, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Lydall Performance Materials. ‘The exceptional efficiency of this media is based solely on mechanical effects and does not rely on an electrostatic charge to collect particles from an air stream. Because of its unique structure, it will greatly reduce the force required to move air through a filter, compared with other traditional mechanical filter media.’ ‘We have received extremely positive feedback from customers at the prospect of both lowering overall system cost and enhancing filtration performance.’ Arioso composite media will be available in efficiencies for those applications specified as requiring traditional systems, covered by the
February 2009
NEWS American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), through to ultra low particulate air (ULPA) filters. ‘In addition to providing a high performance technology that will benefit Lydall’s existing customer base, we are excited that Arioso will allow us to expand into markets that the company has not traditionally served,’ added Kevin Longe, President of Lydall Performance Materials. ‘Dust collection and gas turbine air filtration applications, for example, are new markets for us that will benefit significantly from this highly durable membrane with superior dust collection and dust release capabilities.’ Contact: Lydall Filtration/Separation Incorporated, 34 Chestnut Hill Road, Rochester, NH 03867, USA. Tel: +1 603 332 4600, www.lydallfiltration.com
Water treatment is among the fastest growing markets in Brazil
A
t a recently held quarterly analyst briefing, Frost & Sullivan discussed the results of research which show that the industrial water and waste-water treatment sector in Brazil is by far one of the most dynamic and fast growing regional markets. The rapid industrial growth has fuelled demand for high purity water and driven the growth of the process water treatment market, including advanced systems based on membrane technology and products, says the company. The diversity of the industrial sector in Brazil has also been a key factor in the broad-based growth story of the industrial water treatment market, with opportunities being widespread for both conventional and advanced systems. The strong petrochemical sector has been one of the driving forces of the industrial market in Brazil and together with other key sectors, such as mining and mineral processing, and the pulp and paper industry, it is beginning to define the growth pattern for both process water and wastewater treatment systems in the region. The two key trends in the Brazilian industrial water and wastewater treatment market relate to water reuse and recycling as well as energy generation from wastewater treatment. This has prompted an increasing interest in and growth of wastewater treatment for energy- generating systems such as Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blank (UASB) units and advanced wastewater treatment systems,
February 2009
for example, membrane bioreactors and standalone membrane systems, for tertiary treatment. Contacts: Frost & Sullivan Limited, 4 Grosvenor Gardens, London SW1W 0DH, UK. Tel: +44 20 7343 8383, www.frost.com Frost & Sullivan, 7550 IH 10 West, Suite 400, San Antonio, TX 78229-5616, USA. Tel: +1 210 348 1000.
ThermoEnergy awarded a multi-million dollar water project by URS
T
hermoEnergy Corporation’s subsidiary CASTion has been selected to provide a critical system for the treatment of raw water at the US strategic base Camp Lemioner in the Republic of Djibouti, Africa. According to ThermoEnergy, CASTion was selected for this multi-million dollar contract by URS Corporation – a major provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world – because it was able to provide a system that was capable of meeting the water production needs of this vital anti-terrorism base for the next 15 years. ‘This is an important contract award for ThermoEnergy and CASTion and we are pleased that we have been selected. We were able to meet the stringent engineering requirements for the project and look forward to a rewarding partnership with URS for this and future opportunities,’ commented Dennis Cossey, ThermoEnergy’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The water production system consists of a reverse osmosis water-treatment train and a chlorination unit. It will supply water for drinking and for protecting buildings and living units from fires within a large facility. Once operational the system will supply over 1500 m3 (400 000 gallons) of potable water per day in the most economical fashion, with minimal energy consumption and which meets drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Contacts: ThermoEnergy Corporation, 124 West Capitol Avenue, Suite 880, Little Rock, AR 72201, USA. Tel: +1 501 376 6477, www.thermoenergy.com or www.castion.com URS Corporation, 600 Montgomery Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. Tel: +1 415 774 2700, www.urscorp.com
In Brief Toray receives humanitarian award Japan’s Toray Industries Incorporated has received the ‘2008 Humanitarian Award’ from the United Nations Association of New York in recognition of its environment-friendly business activities, including its involvement in areas such as sea-water desalination, water treatment as well as for its corporate social responsibility activities targeting climate change prevention and sustainable social growth, energy saving measures and betterment of the workplace. Cell stack qualified for oxygen-generating systems In the US, Proton Energy Systems, a developer and manufacturer of proton exchange membrane electrochemical products, and Hamilton Sundstrand, a supplier of aerospace and industrial products, say they have successfully qualified the next-generation electrolysis cell stack for use in oxygen-generating systems on board nuclear submarines. The cell stacks enable oxygen-generating systems, based on water electrolysis, to split water into its hydrogen and oxygen elements. This design will provide customers with a high quality and reliable product at a low cost, say the firms. The first production delivery is scheduled for June 2009. Programme aims to support technologies developed at the Hebrew University A US$1 million programme has been launched to support the development of outstanding cleantech inventions by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. The Cleantech Programme has been launched by Yissum, the university’s technology transfer company. ‘We are pleased to launch Yissum’s Cleantech Programme, in response to the growing need for alternative energy systems, novel technologies to combat water shortage and cleaner technologies to protect the environment,’ commented Nava Swersky Sofer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yissum. Sionix water treatment system analysed Sionix Corporation recently announced that it has completed a drinking-water analysis of its containerised Elixir 225 water treatment system at the Villa Park Dam in Orange County, California. The analysis was carried out in accordance with Title-22 of the California Code of Regulations. The Serrano Water District agreed to the implementation and testing of the system at the dam in an effort to find an affordable way of reducing the high levels of iron and manganese in its water stream. It successfully treated the water with iron and manganese levels of more than 3000 ppb and 5000 ppb to non-detectable levels and 17 ppb, respectively – bringing these abnormally high results well below Title 22 maximum contaminant levels allowable for drinking water.
Membrane Technology
5