1 9 9 4 / 5 An International Newsletter ISSN 0958-2118

Number 49

Membrane Technology

Two m e m b r a n e c o m p a n i e s jo in forces PCI Membrane Sys t ems Ltd, UK, h a s Joined forces with FloCovery Sys tems Inc of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, to consol idate Its sa les and service activit ies a n d to in t roduce i ts exper t ise di rect ly into North America.

PCI MS and FloCovery are s i s te r compan ies within the PWT Group, which is owned by Thames Water plc.

PCI MS des igns a n d m a n u f a c t u r e s reverse osmosis nanofi l t ra t ion and ul traff l t rat ion p roduc t s and sys tems and had been supply ing cus tom-bui l t sys t ems to the North Amer ican food a n d da i ry m a r ke t s for 15 years . PCI Membrane Systems, as a division of FloCovery, will be offering sepa ra t ion equ ipment direct ly to end users , while con t inu ing to work with key OEM cus tomers in selected appl ica t ion areas .

FloCovery p roduc t s fea ture ClarIFIo Fi l t ra t ion equipment , IonMiser ion exchange sys tems , SCION shor t cycle deionizat ion equ ipmen t a n d Horison reverse osmosis , nanof l l t ra t ion and ul t raf l l t ra t ion sys tems.

Further Informatlon from: PCI Membrane Sys tems Ltd, 623 Grace Avenue, Fond du Lac, W154935, USA. Tel: +I 414 923 5869. Fax: +1 414 923 5879. Or: FloCovery Sys tems Inc, 9837 West 69th Street, Eden Prairie, MN 55244, USA. Tel: +1 612 946 1146. Fax: +1 612 946 1344.

ELSEVIER ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

Military order for RO m e m b r a n e s Fluid Sys tems has a n n o u n c e d tha t it h a s been awarded a cont rac t by the US Defense Logistics Agency to supp ly 2968 reve r se osmos i s {RO) elements.

Designed to mil i tary specif icat ions, Fluid Sys tems RO m e m b r a n e s will be u sed in the axmy's mobile Reverse Osmosis Water Purif icat ion Units (ROWPU) to supp ly dr inking water to US t roops a r o u n d the world.

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N e w s a n d V i e w s

The cont rac t is worth abou t US$1.142 million. The m e m b r a n e s selected for the cont rac t a re Fluid Sys tems ' TFCL high-reject ion seawater m e m b r a n e s (Model 5820). These 6" x 40" e lements p roduce dr ink ing water from a wide range of raw water sources

from highly b rack i sh in land surface water to ocean water - - mak ing them wel l -sui ted to serve soldiers in a variety of remote field locations.

The cont rac t ' s mi l i ta ry specif icat ion requi res a nomina l product iv i ty of 2100 gal lons per day (glad) unde r specific seawater tes t condit ions, and 99.3% sal t rejection. Fluid Sys tems ' commercia l 8" x 40" vers ion of th ls p roduc t p roduces 5000 glad and sal t reject ion of 99.4%. Soon to be upg raded to 99.6% sal t rejection, th is e lement and its p redecessors cur ren t ly a re u sed in n u m e r o u s indus t r i a l a n d munic ipa l seawater desa l ina t ion p lan t s worldwide.

Further Informatlon from: Fluid Sys tems Corp, 10054 Old Grove Road, San Diego, CA 92131, USA. Tel: +1 619 695 3840. Fax: +1 619 695 21 76.

P a t e n t granted for c o n t i n u o u s d e i o n i z a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y United S ta tes Filter Corp has recent ly announced tha t US pa t en t 5292422 has been gran ted to US Fi l t e r / Ionpure . The pa ten t appl ies to a newly improved vers ion of the company ' s Cont inuous Deionizat ion (CDI) technology, originally invented in 1987. The inventors are Li-Shiang Liang, Gary Ganzi and Freder ick C. Wilkins.

Newly p a t e n t e d CDI des igns offer improved per formance and are amenab le to a u t o m a t e d manufac tu r ing techniques . These changes will open marke t s a n d appl ica t ions for CDI technology, says the company.

In the CDI process , the combina t ion of ion exchange res ins , ion exchange m e m b r a n e s and electrical cu r ren t removes ions from water and other liquid s t reams. Depending on init ial water quality, CDI can remove 90 to 99+% of the ions present .

US F i l t e r / I onpu re CDI sys tems are relatively inexpensive to operate , says the company, typically requir ing less than 1 kWh of electrici ty for 1000 gal lons of I megaohm-cm water. The sys tems do not need to be regenera ted , and water qual i ty r emains consis tent . Because regenera t ion chemicals are el iminated, there a re no p rob lems with corrosion, chemical d isposal , safety haza rd s or res in contaminat ion .

The modu la r des ign can hand le flow ra tes to well over 500 gpm, extending the use of CDI technology to larger water u s e r s in indus t r i e s such as power, chemical , e lec t ropla t ing and others.

Further Informatlon from: US FIlter / lonpure, 10 Technology Drive, Lowell, MA 01851, USA. Tel: +1 508 934 9349, ext 5000. Fax: +1 508 441 6025.

New m e m b r a n e t e c h n o l o g y for o i ly w a s t e w a t e r t r e a t m e n t A range of m e m b r a n e sys t ems for the t r ea tment of oily was tewate rs h a s been l aunched by NWW Acumen Ltd. The Ult imem OWS 500 Series m e m b r a n e sys tems are specifically des igned for opt imal separa t ion and concent ra t ion of emulsif ied oils.

Envi ronmenta l p r e s s u r e s on the use of CFC-based c leaners has brought abou t a significant shift by indus t ry towards a q u e o u s - b a s e d c leaning and degreas ing regimes. The in t roduct ion of the Ultimem OWS 500 Series provides for p e r m a n e n t and effective removal of emulsif ied oils from process was tewater s t reams , originat ing from aqueous washdown of engineered components , soluble oils for meta l machining, edible oil effluents and mar ine room bilge waters.

Central to the process is the Opt imem microfi l t rat ion membrane , b a s e d on an advanced hydrophil ic , or water wettable, polymer matr ix, which aUows water to pa s s th rough b u t rejects oil droplets .

This resu l t s in an oil-free water s t r eam for d isposa l and a highly concen t ra ted oil emulsion. Chemical or mechanica l ly emulsif ied otis p resen t no difficulties as a s ta t ic layer of water on the membrane surface prevents oil drople ts enter ing the pores, says the company.

A range of flow opt ions from a few li tres per hour to 20 m 3 are available.

Further Informatlon from: NWW Acumen Ltd, The Heath, Runcorn, Cheshire WA7 4QD, UK. Tel: 0928 515959. Fax: 0928 51 7891.

Preparat ion and t e s t o f n e w p e r v a p o r a t i o n m e m b r a n e A new alcohol dehydra t ion membrane , poly(vlnyl alcohol)--chitosan b lended composi te m e m b r a n e (PVA--CS) has been p repa red by r e sea rche r s in China, and i ts me thod of p repa ra t ion a n d charac ter i s t ics are p resen ted in J. Membrane ScI., 90, pp 199-205, 1994.

A commercia l dehydra t ion pervapora t ion m e m b r a n e u sed in the separa t ion of alcohol and water is GFT - - a composi te of PVA. PVA is water soluble, is easi ly swollen, and its mechan ica l s t rength and

2 M e m b r a n e Technology No. 49