NEWS

August 2012 Membrane Technology3

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Project cost for Tuaspring desalination plant revisedHyflux Ltd has announced that all approv-als have been granted to Tuaspring Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, for the revised project cost for Singapore’s Tuaspring Desalination Plant. The change in cost – from S$890 million to S$1.05 billion – for the plant, which will be the country’s second and largest sea-water desalination facility, is expected to have a material finan-cial impact on the Hyflux Group for the cur-rent financial year.

H2O Innovation awarded contracts in the USA and Canada worth C$3.7 millionCanada’s H2O Innovation Inc has recently been awarded new contracts worth C$3.7 million. The first will see the com-pany supplying a nanofiltration (NF) membrane water-treatment system, rated at 5000 m3 (1.3 million gallons) per day, to the city of Saint-Tite in Quebec, Canada. Commissioning of the system is planned for summer next year. In a second contract it will build and deliver a containerised water-treat-ment system to the Village of Spencerville, Ohio, USA. The firm will manufacture a low-pressure reverse osmosis (RO)/NF membrane water-treatment system for producing drink-ing water from well water containing iron. Under other contracts H2O Innovation will manufacture and deliver smaller RO mem-brane water-treatment systems to industrial end-users in the USA and Canada.

DuPont award aids researchE.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co has awarded $675 000 to nine young faculty members in its 2012 Class of DuPont Young Professors to further advance key research that is relevant to the company. This class represents eight universities in the USA and one in Germany. Christopher Ellison, University of Texas at Austin, USA, received start-up assistance for research that is investigating the production of nano-fibres and bio-mimetic fibres.

Large-scale desalination plant in UAE uses ERI’s PX technologyUS-based Energy Recovery Inc (ERI) says that its PX Pressure Exchanger (PX) energy-recovery devices will be used in a large-scale desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Ghalilah plant – to be built by Aquatech International Corp for the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) – will be capable of producing around 68 000 m3 (about 18 million gallons) of water per day. ERI expects to ship the devices to Aquatech in the current year. The facility is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

‘Our tried and tested Lewatit ion-exchange resins and the new Lewabrane membrane ele-ments can provide good cost performance in, for example, the preparation of feed-water for down-stream electrodeionisation (EDI) applications.’

The membrane elements provide a stable, lower-salinity permeate to minimise the load in downstream ion-exchange and EDI operations – improving the cost-performance ratio.

Contact:

Lanxess Deutschland GmbH, Building B 106,

51369 Leverkusen, Germany. Tel: +49 214 30 47785,

www.lewabrane.com, www.lewatit.com

Compact UF module is targeted at small filtration systems

Qua Group Llc, a developer of mem-brane products for water and

wastewater treatment, has introduced its compact Q-Sep Model 2008 ultrafil-tration (UF) module.

This module offers greater flexibility for designers of small filtration systems, particularly for commercial customers, and for applications where water demand is low, says the firm. It is most suitable for use in offices, hospitals, hotels or at the point-of-entry of a water supply for an entire house.

Q-SEP 2008 is a self-encapsulated hollow-fibre UF membrane module that has a mem-brane surface area of 20.0 m2 (about 215 ft2). The total length of the unit, including the end-cap, is 1015 mm (40 inches), and it has a diam-eter of 225 mm (around 9 inches). It weighs 28 kg (about 62 lb). As with other Q-Sep mod-els this unit is mounted vertically.

Q-SEP modules contain UF membranes that are manufactured using what the company refers to as its ‘cloud point precipitation’ method. This process ensures that there is a high pore density along the length of the fibre and a uniform pore size distribution in the membrane.

Qua claims that Q-SEP modules deliver superior performance characteristics and prod-uct water quality, which surpasses the quality of water generated by conventional UF modules – with a low silt density index (SDI), and excel-lent rejection of bacteria and viruses.

These modules are made from a hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PES) material that provides high fibre strength and excellent, low-fouling characteristics, which improves productivity. The membranes operate under low trans-membrane pressure in an inside–out flow configuration.

The fibres are held firmly in place, which reduces the stress placed on them, even at high

flow velocities. Uniform fibre packing limits the variation in pressure drop within the module and prevents localised, high fouling conditions.

According to Qua, Q-SEP UF offers a num-ber of advantages compared with conventional media filtration. These include improved fil-trate quality; an SDI that is typically less than 1; the ability to remove virus, bacteria and microbiological, and colloidal matter; improved downstream RO performance; and consistent treated water quality, irrespective of changes in feed-water quality. In addition, for most appli-cations, the technology eliminates the need to add coagulant chemicals.

Q-SEP UF modules can be used in dead-end filtration or in cross-flow mode. The mem-branes are available as 0.8-mm ID fibres, which are suitable for feed-water with low turbidity, and 1.2-mm ID fibres for applications involv-ing water with a high turbidity.

These modules are designed for a range of uses, including pretreatment for reverse osmosis (RO) (brackish and sea-water), the purification of surface and well water for potable applica-tions, filtration of industrial water, and waste-water recycling and reuse.

QUA was recently awarded NSF/ANSI 61 Certification by NSF International for the manufacture of its Q-SEP range of UF modules (Membrane Technology March 2012, page 5). ‘NSF/ANSI Standard 61 Drinking Water System Components – Health Effects’, is the standard that establishes minimum health effects requirements for materials, components, products, or systems that come into contact with drinking water, drinking-water treatment chemicals, or both.

Contact:

Qua Group Llc, 10 Guttman Boulevard, Charleroi,

PA 15022, USA. Tel: +1 877 782 7558,

www.quagroup.com

Amiad filters protect desalination plant’s UF membranes

In Israel, Amiad Water Systems Ltd, which provides water treatment and

filtration systems, has signed a con-tract, valued at $1.67 million, to pro-vide an Arkal Super Galaxy automatic disc filtration system that will be used to protect ultrafiltration (UF) mem-branes at Mekorot Group’s Ashdod Desalination Plant.

The facility, which is scheduled to start operating in early 2013, will produce 100 mil-lion m3 (around 26 417 million gallons) of

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August 2012 Membrane Technology5

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Fertilizer plant in China uses Aquatech’s water-treatment systemsUS water purification technology company Aquatech International Corp has been award-ed a contract to design, engineer, supply and supervise the installation and commissioning of a concentrated brine treatment plant for the Chinacoal Tuke Fertilizer Project in China. The facility is located in the city of Ordos in the Inner Mongolia region. As part of the water-treatment plant, it is supplying two units – a high efficiency reverse osmosis (HERO) system and a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) unit. In operation, reject water from the effluent treatment plant is fed to the HERO system, which consists of a clarifier, a dual media filter, a weak acid cation unit and an RO system.

Lewabrane membrane elements available in RussiaLewabrane membrane separation elements – for reverse osmosis – from German special-ity chemicals company Lanxess Deutschland GmbH are now available in Russia, to com-plement the firm’s established Lewatit ion-exchange resins. The firm exhibited its RO products at Ecwatech 2012, which was held recently in Moscow. It says that customers initially will be able to buy two RO element types with different capacities that are based on polyamide thin-film composite membranes.

Books discuss bio-fouling and desalinationIWA Publishing, part of the International Water Association (IWA), is offering two publications that cover bio-fouling and desali-nation. The first ‘Biofouling of Spiral Wound Membrane Systems’ provides an overview of all aspects of bio-fouling – bridging the gap between microbiology, hydraulics and membrane technology. ‘Membrane Based Desalination: An Integrated Approach’ pro-poses solutions to problems associated with reverse osmosis with an approach based on the integration of different membrane operations in pretreatment and post-treatment stages.

More information: www.iwapublishing.com

KMS displays its technology at SIWW 2012Koch Membrane Systems Inc (KMS) says that the technology it displayed at Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2012, held on 1–5 July, complemented the theme set for this year’s show – ‘Water Solutions for Liveable and Sustainable Cities’. Visitors to the firm’s stand were able to learn about its Targa II hol-low-fibre ultrafiltration system, Puron mem-brane bioreactor system and its Fluid Systems TFC reverse osmosis (RO) range.

new range of products to be made. The com-pany says that the new facilities are necessary to meet global demand for its filtration products. At present 100 water filtration specialists are employed by the company in Singapore to serve customers from all over the world. The team is expected to grow by 30% in 2012.

Ulrich Winter, Managing Director, Mann+Hummel Singapore, said: ‘Our whole team fully supports this commitment. I am proud of the highly qualified and motivated team, and we are all proud of the new facilities. They will enable us to increase our customer service and competitiveness.’

Customers can now benefit from the com-pany’s own water and membrane analysis capabilities, and from Mann+Hummel’s 70 years of filtration experience in the automotive business, using statistical methods and focusing on quality control using approved design and simulation tools. The systematic approach and available work processes will further improve quality, modularity and flexibility. Together with access to the firm’s complete technical and sales network, the Singapore team is better placed to meet market needs.

Yeoh Keat Chuan, Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), said: ‘We are delighted that Mann+Hummel, a world leader in the produc-tion of industrial and automotive filters, has decided to significantly strengthen its water-related operations in Singapore.’

‘This latest investment marks a new mile-stone in the fast growing partnership between the company and Singapore. The establish-ment of its global water headquarters validates Singapore as an ideal home base in Asia where global companies can orchestrate their business strategies for the region and develop future-ready technology.’

The water business is a strategic activity of the Mann+Hummel group. The company develops and manufactures systems for recycling and conserving water. These are based on tech-nologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) and UF.

Depending on the needs of the customer, the systems are highly standardised, modular and adaptive, with no need for significant further engineering on-site. The modular structure, however, does enable modifications to be made to meet the specific needs of customers. These advantages help to save time and reduce costs.

‘Today, Singapore is regarded as a ‘‘global hydrohub’’ – home to about 100 water compa-nies and 25 water R&D centres. The opening of Mann+Hummel’s new facility in Singapore which houses the company’s global headquar-ters for the water business unit, membrane manufacturing plant as well as the global R&D water centre, is a major boost to our water

industry,’ said Chew Men Leong, Executive Director of Environment and Water Industry Programme Office and Chief Executive Officer, Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore’s national water agency.

Mann+Hummel recently extended its water business to Europe – targeting customers in industries and organisations that need high-quality process water or wastewater cleaned using UF (see Membrane Technology November 2011, page 1).

It has also strengthened it water business in Brazil by acquiring Fluid Brasil (see Membrane Technology February 2012, page 1), which spe-cialises in RO and UF used in the treatment of water and wastewater.

Contacts:

Mann+Hummel Ultra-Flo Pte Ltd, No. 2 Tuas

Avenue 10, Singapore 639126. Tel: +65 6457 7533,

www.mannhummel-water.com

Mann+Hummel GmbH, Hindenburgstrasse 45, 71638

Ludwigsburg, Germany. Tel: +49 7141 980,

www.mann-hummel.com

MRC strengthens its water-project operations in Singapore

Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd (MRC) has established a local subsidiary in

Singapore’s WaterHub complex that is owned by Public Utilities Board (PUB), the country’s national water agency, as part of efforts to strengthen its par-ticipation in water treatment projects around the world.

According to the company, through MRC Rensui Asia Pte Ltd it gains access to industry expertise clustered in the WaterHub that will help it to gather information and form business networks, and enable it to enhance its market-ing activities in South-East Asia, India and the Middle East. MRC Rensui Asia will expedite business activities by cooperating in these regions with its group company Nippon Rensui Co Ltd.

WaterHub is a research facility set up in 2004 by the Government of Singapore, bringing together researchers, business owners, companies, and other entities in the water industry for the purposes of water technology development, edu-cation and enabling networking between partici-pating companies and other organisations.

Contact:

Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd, 1–1 Marunouchi 1-Chome,

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8253, Japan.

Tel: +81 3 6748 7500, www.mrc.co.jp

NEWS

August 2012 Membrane Technology7

and indium gallium nitride, they say the same technique could be applied to a variety of dif-ferent materials.

Contact:

Silvija Grade ak, Room 13-5094, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue,

Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Tel: +1 617253 9896,

Email: gradecak@mit.edu,

http://web.mit.edu/gradecakgroup

Residential water treatment shows major growth in the developing world

A market research report produced by US-based Verify Markets shows

that the global residential water treat-ment (RWT) market is experiencing major growth in the developing world.

Entitled ‘Analysis on Select Global Residential Water Treatment Market’ the report, for 2012, says the the RWT market is dynamic and generated revenues of over $9.0 billion in 2011. The market varies by country and region. North America and Western Europe are mature markets, while Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are fast-growing ones.

In 2011, some of the largest markets were Japan, USA, China, Russia, India, Germany, France and South Korea. Most of these are dominated by local market participants and are fragmented.

The South Korean market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 6% through the forecast period. In this country several companies sell and rent out water treatment systems. Several multinational companies are looking to enter the South Korean RWT market. LG entered the market in 2009 and has already established a significant pres-ence in this market place, says the study. Several companies use the direct selling method to sell water treatment systems and sell door to door. Some of the leading companies in South Korea include Woongjing Coway, Chungho Nais, Tong Yang Magic and Kyowon L&C. In South Korea point-of-use systems are highly popular.

The Chinese residential water-treatment market is expected to show tremendous growth with no signs of slowing down, says Verify Markets. Poor water quality, rising incomes and improved consumer awareness is driving the market.

In 2011, the Chinese RWT market garnered revenues of over $1.5 billion. The market is expected to show a double-digit growth rate through the forecast period. Some of the

key players in the Chinese market include Midea Group, Pentair, Ecowater, Shenzhen ChengDeLai, Ningbo Qinyuan, Shenzhen Angel Drinking Water Industrial Group Corp, Paragon Water Systems Inc and Litree.

Sales of water treatment systems were the high-est in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Suzhou. The market is becoming highly competitive with several international companies entering the sec-tor. Most companies offer a diverse product line, such as point-of entry, point-of-use and pitcher systems. Some of the key international players include AO Smith, Pentair, Ecowater, Culligan, BWT, Panasonic and 3M. Several new entrants are likely to enter the market throughout the fore-cast period, says the firm.

The RWT market in India is also expected to show a double-digit growth rate throughout the forecast period. Historically, ultraviolet (UV) light technology has been popular in India. However, with several new entrants, the market dynamics seem to be changing. Reverse osmosis (RO) technology has been gaining traction. Some of the dominant companies in India include Eureka Forbes, Kent, Hindustan Unilever, Whirlpool, Usha Brita and Alfaa. Most companies have started selling a diverse product portfolio, catering to middle and low-end consumers. Large multinationals, such as LG and Panasonic, have also entered the Indian market and several new entrants are expected to enter during the forecast period.

The Russian market generated revenues of over $300 million in 2011. The market is dominated by local participants. The popular technologies used for under-the-sink segment, include carbon/multi-stage filtration, RO and UV systems. RO is the dominant technology for under-the-sink systems in Russia. An esti-mated 50–60% of such systems sold in 2011 were based on RO technology. In counter-top systems, carbon filtration is the popular technology. Key companies that operate in the Russian market include, among others, Aquaphor Corp, Mettem Technologies Ltd, The Geyser Co and Novaya Voda.

The Brazilian market was the largest market in Latin America with estimated revenues of over $200 million in 2011. It was dominated by local companies such as Lorenzetti Sa, Impac, Europa and Hoken.

The Western European market was hit by the economic recession and showed slow growth. Point-of-entry systems and pitchers are highly popular in Western Europe. Key players in this region include, among others, Brita and BWT.

Contact:

Haley Rico, Verify Markets. Tel: +1 210 595 9687,

Email: info@verifymarkets.com,

www.verifymarkets.com

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Saudi Arabia’s Jubail SWRO plant to be equipped with Pentair X-Flow UF membrane technologyX-Flow Bv, a Pentair company, has been selected by Al Fatah Water and Power Works Co Ltd to supply its Seaguard ultrafiltration (UF) membranes and skids to the Jubail phase-2 sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) project in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia. A con-tinuation of an existing project at this site, the second phase has a design capacity of 58 500 m³ (15.5 million gallons) a day and is scheduled to be completed by 1 January 2013. This dual membrane plant, using UF followed by RO, will be one of the largest UF–RO desalination plants in the country. With a UF production capacity of 177 mil-lion litres (46.8 million gallons) a day it will produce water for the city’s industry. An eight-month pilot period using UF and other filtration technologies preceded the selection.

Nalco builds dry polymer facility Nalco Co, an Ecolab Inc company, is con-structing a dry polymer production facility at its complex in Garyville, Louisiana, USA. The 27 870-m2 (300 000-ft2) facility will produce dry polymer products for use in removing contaminants from wastewater, increasing production efficiency in the paper industry and recovering minerals in the min-ing sector. Nalco first opened a production facility in Garyville in 1970.

Membrana expands on-line Liqui-Cel membrane contactor storeMembrana-Charlotte, a division of Celgard Llc, recently expanded the Liqui-Cel on-line membrane contactor store that was launched in January 2012 at the request of custom-ers wanting to purchase a greater variety of degassing products on the Web. The expan-sion doubles the number of products available for purchase from the store. The products added include select Liqui-Cel 2.5 × 8-inch, 4 × 13-inch and 4 × 28-inch products. The 8 × 20-inch membrane contactor, launched in May 2011, is also now available for purchase on-line. Allen Pittman, Vice President, Liqui-Cel Membrane Contactors, commented: ‘The on-line membrane contactor store has been well received by our customers and has proven to be a greater success than anticipat-ed. While we initially only featured products with small flow rates, customers have been asking us to make additional products avail-able since the store was launched.’

More information:http://store.liqui-cel.com