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Sales of membrane systems set to grow
NEWS computer modelling to compare an existing system’s operating costs with theoretical operating costs, and determines the optimum replacement point for resin and membranes. In this way plant chemistry is improved, while chemical, waste treatment and disposal costs are reduced. Formerly a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest environmental services companies, Veolia Environnement, USFilter was acquired by Siemens during 2004. Through its Water and Wastewater Systems and Water Services and Products group, the company provides services to municipal, industrial and institutional clients. Following its acquisition by Siemens, USFilter became a division within Siemens’ Industrial Solutions and Services group. Contact: USFilter Corporation, 181 Thorn Hill Road, Warrendale, PA 15086, USA. Tel: +1-724-772-0044, www.usfilter.com
Sales of membrane systems set to grow The demand for pure water will drive the market for cross-flow membrane equipment and membranes worldwide from $6.8 billion in 2005 to $9 billion in 2008, according to a study published by McIlvaine Co of Northfield, Illinois. Desalination alone will account for over one-third of this growth and revenues in this sector will grow to $2 billion in 2008, claims the study entitled ‘RO, UF, MF World Markets’, which is continuously updated on-line by the company. The costs of reverse osmosis (RO) have dropped while alternative desalination methods using heat for evaporation and condensation have risen. This is because of increasing energy costs. The result is an increase in the market share for membrane desalination, says the company. Saudi Arabia is the third largest purchaser of RO membranes and equipment, while the USA and Japan are placed first and second. Parts of Asia suffer from a lack of water resources. Unreliable
4
municipal water supplies have caused the middle and upper classes in major cities such as Shanghai, China, to purchase home RO systems despite their high selling price. According to the research, the RO equipment and membrane market in Asia will exceed $1.8 billion per year in 2008. Ultrafiltration (UF) is somewhat less efficient than RO, but uses less energy. Growth in this sector has been associated with the food industry, and more recently, the purification of drinking water. The use of UF for the purification of drinking water, and the reclamation of tertiary wastewater, has doubled in the last four years, says McIlvaine. The use of UF in the biotechnology industry is growing even faster than the sector itself, reveals the study. By 2008 the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will be purchasing cross-flow equipment at the rate of $700 million per year, and membranes and modules at the rate of $300 million a year, says the company. Microfiltration (MF) is now often used in municipal drinking water plants, and it is used to treat wastewater, in combination with biological treatment. Compact membrane bioreactors offer capital and performance advantages over conventional biological treatment systems. Sales of MF equipment and membranes will rise from $1.9 billion in 2005 to $2.5 billion in 2008, predicts McIlvaine. Contact: McIlvaine Co, 191 Waukegan Road, Suite 208, Northfield, IL 60093, USA. Tel: +1 847 784 0012, www.mcilvainecompany.com
Rapid COD tests predict plant upsets The traditional chemical oxygen demand (COD) test is becoming a common method used by many wastewater treatment facilities to predict possible plant upsets before they occur. A standard COD test approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required for EPA reporting, but a
more rapid and mercury-free method is now available for testing influent streams when reporting is not required. When test results are needed immediately for process control decisions, a quicker and easier approach is definitely better. The test developed by Bioscience Inc of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, measures contaminants that can be readily oxidized. High COD in the influent can signal an abnormal event such as slug loading of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), or industrial discharge. High COD in the effluent may indicate that a toxic chemical is inhibiting or killing the biomass, or that a non-biodegradable compound is passing through the plant. As a rough prediction, for domestic wastewater COD is generally about 2.5 times the five-day BOD. A standard Bioscience ‘microCOD’ test takes two hours. A 2.5ml sample is placed in a twist tube with pre-measured reagent, digested for 2 hours at 150°C and read in an inexpensive colorimeter. The quick variation, suggested by Bioscience, uses a mercury-free reagent, which allows for simpler and usually cheaper disposal, while shortening the digestion time to as little as 15 minutes. Shortened digestion time typically results in COD readings 5–15% lower than those using standard digestion. Tests with varying digestion times should be used to confirm that the results are within acceptable accuracy for a particular wastewater stream. The colorimeter microprocessor selects low or standard COD range, displays the test sequence and indicates results in parts per million. It displays the appropriate built-in light filter to match one of 40 programmed test parameters. It also indicates percentage light transmittance and absorption so that users can develop calibration curves for proprietary analyses. The system uses the same or similar twist tubes as Bioscience’s EPA-approved accu-TEST COD method, which requires a spectrophotometer to conform to EPA Method 410.4. The colorimeter also can be used with a wide variety of other pre-measured reagents to measure specific toxicity or inhibitory compounds in the waste stream.
Contact: Bioscience Inc, 1550 Valley Center Parkway, Suite 140, Bethlehem, PA 18017, USA. Tel: +1 610 974 9693, www.bioscienceinc.com
FilterPen is approved by German Army The FilterPen, a portable water purifier developed by Dutch company Filtrix’, has recently been approved by the German Army’s Bundesfamt für Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung for use in an emergency kit carried by jet fighter pilots. Filtrix, which specializes in the development and production of small to medium-scale water purification concepts and products, says the that the FilterPen has not only been tested for bacteria retention, but also for the extreme high temperatures that can occur in a fighter aircraft. It has passed all these tests and will now receive official approval by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The pocket-size device is a handy straw-like water filter that is designed to remove water-borne pathogens from drinking water. The FilterPen contains capillary microfiltration membranes from X-Flow BV of Enschede, The Netherlands. These provide an effective physical barrier to harmful water-borne micro-organisms such as bacteria, cysts and protozoa. The membranes also remove sediment and turbidity. The FilterPen is used like a straw. Water is sucked through the sieve-like membranes inside the FilterPen, which block out harmful contaminants. Both X-Flow and Filtrix are part of Norit NV, an international company that develops and supplies membrane technology to the global municipal and industrial markets. Contacts: Filtrix, Siliciumweg 28, NL-3812 SX Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 33 4220440, www.filtrix.com X-Flow BV, PO Box 739, NL-7500 AS Enschede, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 53 428 7350, www.x-flow.com
Membrane Technology September 2005
Sales of membrane systems set to grow The demand for pure water will drive the market for cross-flow membrane equipment and membranes worldwide from $6.8 billion in 2005 to $9 billion in 2008, according to a study published by McIlvaine Co of Northfield, Illinois. Desalination alone will account for over one-third of this growth and revenues in this sector will grow to $2 billion in 2008, claims the study entitled ‘RO, UF, MF World Markets’, which is continuously updated on-line by the company. The costs of reverse osmosis (RO) have dropped while alternative desalination methods using heat for evaporation and condensation have risen. This is because of increasing energy costs. The result is an increase in the market share for membrane desalination, says the company. Saudi Arabia is the third largest purchaser of RO membranes and equipment, while the USA and Japan are placed first and second. Parts of Asia suffer from a lack of water resources. Unreliable
4
municipal water supplies have caused the middle and upper classes in major cities such as Shanghai, China, to purchase home RO systems despite their high selling price. According to the research, the RO equipment and membrane market in Asia will exceed $1.8 billion per year in 2008. Ultrafiltration (UF) is somewhat less efficient than RO, but uses less energy. Growth in this sector has been associated with the food industry, and more recently, the purification of drinking water. The use of UF for the purification of drinking water, and the reclamation of tertiary wastewater, has doubled in the last four years, says McIlvaine. The use of UF in the biotechnology industry is growing even faster than the sector itself, reveals the study. By 2008 the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will be purchasing cross-flow equipment at the rate of $700 million per year, and membranes and modules at the rate of $300 million a year, says the company. Microfiltration (MF) is now often used in municipal drinking water plants, and it is used to treat wastewater, in combination with biological treatment. Compact membrane bioreactors offer capital and performance advantages over conventional biological treatment systems. Sales of MF equipment and membranes will rise from $1.9 billion in 2005 to $2.5 billion in 2008, predicts McIlvaine. Contact: McIlvaine Co, 191 Waukegan Road, Suite 208, Northfield, IL 60093, USA. Tel: +1 847 784 0012, www.mcilvainecompany.com
Rapid COD tests predict plant upsets The traditional chemical oxygen demand (COD) test is becoming a common method used by many wastewater treatment facilities to predict possible plant upsets before they occur. A standard COD test approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required for EPA reporting, but a
more rapid and mercury-free method is now available for testing influent streams when reporting is not required. When test results are needed immediately for process control decisions, a quicker and easier approach is definitely better. The test developed by Bioscience Inc of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, measures contaminants that can be readily oxidized. High COD in the influent can signal an abnormal event such as slug loading of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), or industrial discharge. High COD in the effluent may indicate that a toxic chemical is inhibiting or killing the biomass, or that a non-biodegradable compound is passing through the plant. As a rough prediction, for domestic wastewater COD is generally about 2.5 times the five-day BOD. A standard Bioscience ‘microCOD’ test takes two hours. A 2.5ml sample is placed in a twist tube with pre-measured reagent, digested for 2 hours at 150°C and read in an inexpensive colorimeter. The quick variation, suggested by Bioscience, uses a mercury-free reagent, which allows for simpler and usually cheaper disposal, while shortening the digestion time to as little as 15 minutes. Shortened digestion time typically results in COD readings 5–15% lower than those using standard digestion. Tests with varying digestion times should be used to confirm that the results are within acceptable accuracy for a particular wastewater stream. The colorimeter microprocessor selects low or standard COD range, displays the test sequence and indicates results in parts per million. It displays the appropriate built-in light filter to match one of 40 programmed test parameters. It also indicates percentage light transmittance and absorption so that users can develop calibration curves for proprietary analyses. The system uses the same or similar twist tubes as Bioscience’s EPA-approved accu-TEST COD method, which requires a spectrophotometer to conform to EPA Method 410.4. The colorimeter also can be used with a wide variety of other pre-measured reagents to measure specific toxicity or inhibitory compounds in the waste stream.
Contact: Bioscience Inc, 1550 Valley Center Parkway, Suite 140, Bethlehem, PA 18017, USA. Tel: +1 610 974 9693, www.bioscienceinc.com
FilterPen is approved by German Army The FilterPen, a portable water purifier developed by Dutch company Filtrix’, has recently been approved by the German Army’s Bundesfamt für Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung for use in an emergency kit carried by jet fighter pilots. Filtrix, which specializes in the development and production of small to medium-scale water purification concepts and products, says the that the FilterPen has not only been tested for bacteria retention, but also for the extreme high temperatures that can occur in a fighter aircraft. It has passed all these tests and will now receive official approval by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The pocket-size device is a handy straw-like water filter that is designed to remove water-borne pathogens from drinking water. The FilterPen contains capillary microfiltration membranes from X-Flow BV of Enschede, The Netherlands. These provide an effective physical barrier to harmful water-borne micro-organisms such as bacteria, cysts and protozoa. The membranes also remove sediment and turbidity. The FilterPen is used like a straw. Water is sucked through the sieve-like membranes inside the FilterPen, which block out harmful contaminants. Both X-Flow and Filtrix are part of Norit NV, an international company that develops and supplies membrane technology to the global municipal and industrial markets. Contacts: Filtrix, Siliciumweg 28, NL-3812 SX Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 33 4220440, www.filtrix.com X-Flow BV, PO Box 739, NL-7500 AS Enschede, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 53 428 7350, www.x-flow.com
Membrane Technology September 2005