NEWS/IN BRIEF
lons) a day of potable water for a municipality
located on the Alaska North Slope.
A pair of additional contracts brings H2O
Innovation to work with two municipalities in
the state of Montana. The first is a wastewater
facility that will use the firm’s new flexMBR
open-platform membrane bioreactor (MBR).
Flat-sheet membranes will be used in the pro-
cess for the separation of solids to help meet
regulatory requirements. The second municipal
project involves a FiberFlex UF system that will
be used to deliver municipal drinking water.
The corporation has also won two smaller
water treatment projects – one at a RO facility
in Florida and another for a FiberFlex UF in
Michigan.
‘We are proud of the wide diversity of tech-
nologies used in these new projects that span
our core competencies: UF, RO, NF and MBR
systems,’ commented Denis Guibert, Vice
President and General Manager, Engineering
Division, H2O Innovation.
‘These new flexMBR and FiberFlex contracts
also confirm the corporation’s ability to build
on an expanding market trend for flexibility
and contractual freedom for membrane asset
management.’
Contact:
H2O Innovation Inc, 330 rue St-Vallier Est, Suite 340,
Quebec City, Quebec G1K 9C5, Canada.
Tel: +1 418 688 0170, www.h2oinnovation.com
Order from
South Africa helps
ItN Nanovation enter
new field of business
G ermany’s ItN Nanovation Ag
reports that a recent order from
South Africa is helping it to employ its
ceramic flat-sheet membranes in a new
field of business – cleaning wastewater
from mining operations.
The technology will be used to treat bore-
hole water within an exploration area in South
Africa. The boreholes are flooded with ground-
water that is contaminated with residuals of
explosives and other chemicals used during the
operation of a mine. The water that is pumped
out needs to be treated before it is allowed to
be discharged into a surface-water drain.
ItN Nanovation says that it has been work-
ing for several months on a cleaning process
using its ceramic flat-sheet membranes and,
during testing, this process turned out to
be superior to alternatives based on reverse
osmosis (RO).
June 2017 Membrane Technology
According to the company, its customer
is planning to lease the fully integrated plant
to the mining operator and will operate it
on-site. This “lease-and-operate” model is
especially attractive to the mine operator and
ItN’s system is ideal for this type of business
because the plant can be moved easily to dif-
ferent sites.
Further projects in this field of application,
using this business model, are already under
way says ItN Nanovation.
Contact:
ItN Nanovation Ag, Untertürkheimer Str. 25, 66117
Saarbrücken, Germany. Tel: +49 681 5001-460,
www.itn-nanovation.com
Modern Water secures
sale of FO system
to China’s Hangzhou
Water
U K-based Modern Water Plc, which
installs and operates membrane
systems, and develops and supplies
water monitoring systems, has secured
a sale of its proprietary forward osmo-
sis (FO) system for sea-water desalina-
tion to Hangzhou Water Treatment
Technology Development Center Co Ltd,
in China.
The company will license its patented FO
technology for use in a sea-water desalination
plant, rated at 500 m3/day, which is to be built
at the Shengsi Seawater Desalination Base on
Sijiao Island.
Hangzhou Water is one of the region’s leading
providers of water desalination and through its
ultimate parent, China National Chemical Corp,
is part-owned by the Chinese government.
Modern Water will receive licence fees in
the short term, and commissioning fees for
supervising commissioning of the plant. It will
also sell specialised equipment and spares to
Hangzhou Water on a long-term basis. The
Chinese company anticipates that this new
desalination plant will be completed and com-
missioned in early 2018.
According to Modern Water, this is the
first example of its platform FO process being
deployed in China. In this case, the technol-
ogy is being used to produce desalinated water.
Compared with conventional processes it will
reduce membrane fouling and, as a result, con-
sume less energy.
The process inherently produces high-quality
product water on a long-term basis, with a
double membrane barrier between the sea
In Brief
Entegris partners with Spectrum Materials
Entegris Inc, which specialises in contami-
nation control and materials-handling tech-
nologies for advanced manufacturing envi-
ronments, has signed an agreement with
Spectrum Materials (Fujian) Co Ltd to expand
its presence in China. According to the agree-
ment, the Chinese firm will manufacture
Entegris’ speciality chemicals products at its
Quanzhou facility. ‘We are excited about this
partnership as it will significantly improve
our capabilities to meet growing demands
for speciality chemicals in the industries
we serve,’ commented Stuart Tison, Senior
Vice President of Specialty Chemicals and
Engineered Materials, Entegris.
Minerva Marine employs Wärtsilä’s BWMSs
Wärtsilä Corp, a Finnish company that manu-
factures and services power sources and other
equipment in the marine and energy markets,
has agreed to supply ballast water management
systems (BWMSs) for use on board globally
operating tanker vessels managed by Minerva
Marine Inc. The agreement covers the retrofit
of several vessels. The main BWMS chosen
for the vessels is the Wärtsilä Aquarius ATEX-
compliant system, which uses a proven two-
stage process involving both filtration and
electrochlorination.
Mann+Hummel amongst top 50 firms with
the most patent applications in Germany
For the sixth consecutive time Mann+Hummel
GmbH has been ranked as one of the com-
panies with the most patent applications
filed at the German Patent and Trade Mark
Office (DPMA). The filtration specialist has
improved its position in the list, compared
with the previous year, by six positions, mov-
ing from position 37 to 31. Patent applica-
tions from 2016 included a three-stage filter
system for the separation of water contami-
nants from diesel fuel. A patent application
has also been filed for a membrane system
which serves to maintain the ideal humidity of
fuel cells and finds application in the automo-
tive industry and in power-generating systems
used in houses.
Evoqua’s MemPulse MBR system
set to improve WWTP
Evoqua Water Technologies reports that its
Memcor MemPulse MBR System is being
used as part of a range of improvements that
are being made to the Star City Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Morgantown,
West Virginia, USA. The company says that
this system has been selected for its reduced
footprint, operational simplicity and ability to
deliver consistent, high quality effluent.
5
 NEWS
water and the desalinated water. These advan-
tages reduce the operating costs for Hangzhou
Water, and help to mitigate any impact that
this operation may have on the environment.
Simon Humphrey, CEO, Modern Water,
commented: ‘The first sale of our forward
osmosis desalination system in China, to an
organisation of Hangzhou Water’s calibre, rep-
resents exciting progress for us. We believe it
is proof that our revised strategy to license our
membrane technologies to high-quality indus-
trial partners in key geographies is paying off.’
‘Furthermore, it is a pleasing recognition of the
benefits that our unique technology can generate
in this globally important field. This deal, togeth-
er with the other transactions recently announced,
give us confidence that the membrane division
will meet this year’s market forecasts.’
‘We look forward to working with Hangzhou
Water on this project and will continue to pur-
sue further opportunities to commercialise the
innovative technology we have created.’
Contact:
Modern Water Plc, Bramley House, The Guildway,
Old Portsmouth Road, Guildford GU3 1LR, UK.
Tel: +44 1483 696 000, www.modernwater.com
SSB integrates PESU
membrane into
single-use Sartocon
loop assemblies
S artorius Stedim Biotech Sa’s (SSB)
polyethersulfone membrane (PESU)
is now integrated into two, sterile
Sartocon bench-top and production-
scale filtration assemblies.
The provider of equipment and services for
the development, quality assurance and produc-
tion processes of the bio-pharmaceuticals indus-
try says that using these assemblies guarantees
rapid and safe ultrafiltration (UF) of biologics
and vaccines.
Because of their fully enclosed design,
Sartocon assemblies are ideal for safely purify-
ing vaccines and recombinant proteins, as well
as monoclonal antibody manufacturing. This
makes them suitable for use in cGMP environ-
ments for process development, clinical trials and
small-scale production batches, says the firm.
The single-use Sartocon self-contained fil-
ter loop assembly has been developed for use
with SSB’s FlexAct UD control unit, whilst
the Sartocon Slice self-contained bag loop
assembly has been designed for its bench-top
crossflow system, Sartoflow Alpha plus SU.
Both assemblies are gamma sterilised and ready
6
Membrane Technology June 2017
to use when supplied. The integrated PESU
membrane is pre-wetted and flushed, which
saves hours in set-up and validation time, and
eliminates the cost of using buffers and purified
water to prepare the membrane.
Since the Sartocon assemblies are designed
with the same hydrodynamic flow path as the
company’s larger production-scale filter devices,
and all device materials and accessories are
manufactured to the same industrial quality-
assured specifications, linear scale-up and pro-
cess transfer is a simple process.
The PESU membrane inside the Sartocon
assemblies is available in several sizes and
10–300 KDa molecular weight cut-offs, and
is robust enough for use in broad pH and
temperature ranges. These features, combined
with the Sartocon assemblies’ single-use design
– which prevents product cross-contamination
– means they are perfect for use in R&D appli-
cations, contract manufacturing organisations
and multi-product facilities.
The company estimates that compared with
reusable filter cassettes, employing the single-
use, PESU membrane-based assemblies can
reduce processing time by around 60% and
significantly cut costs in terms of buffer and
water usage.
Contact:
Sartorius Stedim Biotech Sa, Zone Industrielle Les
Paluds, Avenue de Jouques – CS 91051, Aubagne
13781, France. Tel: +33 4 4284 5600,
www.sartorius-france.fr,
www.sartorius.com/en/filtration-and-purification/
single-use-crossflow
Fertiliser producer
combines ion-
exchange resin
with membranes
I on exchange resins and mem-
brane elements from German spe-
ciality chemicals company Lanxess
Deutschland GmbH are working hand in
hand in a water treatment plant run by
Alexandria Fertilizers Co, one of Egypt’s
leading fertiliser manufacturers.
The brackish water is pretreated using reverse
osmosis (RO), performed by a total of 228
Lewabrane B400 FR elements, and fully deminer-
alised with Lewatit MonoPlus ion exchange resins.
In addition to achieving the required final
demineralised water conductivity of below
0.08 μS/cm and 2 ppb SiO2 (silicon dioxide),
combining the two technologies also provides a
stable and reliable process.
‘The membrane elements from Lanxess exhibit
an excellent level of performance with the dif-
ficult Nile surface water. The rejection measured
even exceeds expectations,’ commented Alexander
Scheffler, Director Membrane Business, Liquid
Purification Technologies, Lanxess.
Ashraf Aly Mostafa, Project Manager,
Alexandria Fertilizers, remarked: ‘Using reverse
osmosis for pretreatment means we can reduce
the consumption of specific chemicals for resin
bed regeneration by around 60%.’
The brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO)
plant in Alexandria is fed with canal water from
the Nile. The seasonally variable inorganic and
organic total dissolved solids content is between
300 mg and 550 mg per litre. The water is
pretreated using precipitation and flocculation
(coagulation), cold lime softening and filtration.
During softening (decarbonisation), calcium car-
bonate is precipitated through “slurrying” of cal-
cium hydroxide in order to prevent scaling. Such
deposits of particles on the membrane would
otherwise block it and make it less effective.
The RO plant consists of two trains – each
with a feed stream of 120 m³/h and a recovery
rate of 74%. A single train is composed of two
stages in a 13:6 array, with six elements per
vessel.
The RO plant was installed in an existing
water treatment plant to provide pretreat-
ment for full demineralisation using Lewatit
MonoPlus resins.
According to Lanxess, the Lewabrane RO
elements demonstrated their excellent salt
rejection of up to 99.76% (at 20°C) from the
outset. This rejection results in a permeate con-
ductivity of the order of 3–5 μS/cm, which sig-
nificantly reduces the ionic load for the resins
in the demineralisation unit.
Whilst maintaining the required parameters
of demineralised water, the cycle times of the
demineralisation trains are increased by up to
four times (depending on season and with the
possibility of a further increase).
A recent issue of Membrane Technology
(Issue 4, April 2017, pages 9–10) included a
case study entitled ‘Reverse osmosis and ion
exchange go hand in hand: textile dyeing with-
out effluent’. This brief article looks at a similar
application of Lanxess’ technologies. It reveals
how separation processes that combine reverse
osmosis elements with ion exchange resins from
the company play a key role in the treatment
of effluent produced by companies operating in
the textile industry in India.
Contact:
Lanxess Liquid Purification Technologies (LPT),
Lanxess Deutschland GmbH, Kennedyplatz 1,
50569 Cologne, Germany. Tel: +49 221 88850,
http://lpt.lanxess.com, http://lanxess.com