TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

NX Filtration’s hollow-fibre
NF technology makes peat
water from Indonesia’s
Mesjid River safe to drink
Edited by Simon Atkinson

As reported previously (Membrane Technology, January 2021, page 2), technol­

ogy from Dutch firm NX Filtration BV, which develops membrane products (< 10 NTU) levels, but high colour content –
for treating water, is being used to optimise the Dumai City Water Treatment in excess of 1000 TCU (colour units).
Plant in Sumatra, Indonesia. The Indonesian company selected to carry out the The colour content is formed by natural
work – PT. Bayu Surya BaktiKonstruksi, which specialises in the construction organic matter (NOM) from humus soil with
of water and wastewater treatment plants – will employ NX Filtration’s hollow- a molecular weight of 800–50 000 Dalton.
fibre nanofiltration (NF) technology to turn, in a single step, the peat water Conventional water treatment technologies, for
from the local Mesjid River into a valuable source of drinking water, as this example, using chemical dosing, clarification
follow-up article explains. and sand filtration, are not capable of reduc­
ing the colour to below 15 TCU, which is the
The NF system, which is being used in the Asri, the local distributor for NX Filtration’s drinking water standard set by the Indonesian
plant in the city of Dumai – an important products in Indonesia. Ministry of Health.
trade hub in the province of Riau on the Through a series of pilot tests, which were
island of Sumatra – will have a capacity of conducted over a twelve-month period, these ‘The pilot test concluded
50 lps (180 m3/h, or about 47 500 gallons), parties demonstrated how the hollow-fibre NF
that drinking water quality
and will consist of 120 NX Filtration dNF80 system could effectively remove colour and vari­
membrane modules. ous pollutants from the peat water and, as such,
can be achieved in a single
This system will enable the local Mesjid form the basis for a municipal water supply. step without the use
River (Figure 1) to be turned into a valuable of chemicals.’
source of drinking water that can be supplied
to Dumai. The Mesjid contains high amounts
Inadequate Intensive pilot testing demonstrated that
of colour and various pollutants, which accu­ According to NX Filtration, conventional water hollow-fibre NF is capable of reducing the col-
mulate in the river whilst it flows through the treatment technologies were found to be inad­ our levels to below 15 TCU, without the use of
rainforest. equate as they did not meet specific require­ chemical dosing and with minimal pretreatment.
ments and standards. The pilot test also enabled the total cost of

Access to improved The peat water from the Mesjid River

has low acidity (pH 3–5) and turbidity
ownership to be calculated in order to deter­
mine if the technology is economically viable.
water sources
The Ministry of Public Works and Human
Settlement of the Republic of Indonesia, the World
Bank’s National Urban Water Supply Program
and the Local Government of Dumai City have
contributed to this project, with the goal of provid­
ing access to improved water sources.
In addition to the current project, with a
capacity of 50 lps (Figure 2), the facility is
being developed and expanded, which will
increase its total capacity to 450 lps, treating
the same feed water (Figure 3).
The project was initiated by Indonesia’s PT.
Bayu Surya BaktiKonstruksi, a specialist in
constructing water and wastewater treatment Figure 1. The Mesjid River is a valuable source of water for the city of Dumai (photograph courtesy
of NX Filtration BV).
plants, in collaboration with PT. Bumi Kirana

7
March 2021 Membrane Technology
 TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Figure 2. Two trains, each

with a capacity of 25 lps,
comprise NX Filtration’s
WMC200 dNF80 modules
(diagram courtesy of NX
Filtration BV).

Raw water Permeate

P (bar) T (ºC) pH Turb. Colour TDS P (bar) T (ºC) pH Turb. Colour TDS
(NTU) (PCU) (mg/l) (NTU) (PCU) (mg/l)
2.5 30 3.7 11.46 1000 60 2.3 30 4.6 0 0 34
2.5 34.5 3.6 7.55 1000 55 2.3 35.1 4.0 0 0 31
2.4 34.8 3.6 7.25 900 57 2.2 34.9 3.9 0 0 31
2.44 34.3 3.5 5.93 1890 54 2.3 34.6 4.0 0 0 28
2.5 32.7 3.5 4.24 960 58 2.3 32.8 4.0 0 0 25
2.5 32.5 3.6 4.59 810 58 2.3 32.9 3.9 0 0 25
Table 1. Hollow-fibre nanofiltration pilot results for direct peat water treatment (table courtesy of NX Filtration BV).

Pilot plant periodically with a 100 ppm chlorine solution

The river water was treated by the pilot
plant at a pressure of 0.25 MPa (2.5 bar).
Before entering the membrane modules the
water was initially passed through a 200 µm
strainer.
According to NX Filtration, the main advan­
tage of the hollow-fibre dNF membrane is
its low fouling rate, compared with common
spiral-wound NF and reverse osmosis (RO)
membrane modules.
It says that fouling of the dNF membrane
is limited because of its ability to be hydrauli­
cally cleaned with a regular reverse flush and
air flush. Furthermore, the membrane is chlo­
rine tolerant which enables it to be flushed
to control biofouling.
The pilot data displayed in Table 1 show
that colour and turbidity were non-detectable
throughout the pilot test, whilst approximately
50% of the TDS is removed.
The pilot test concluded that drinking
water quality can be achieved in a single step
(Figure 4) without the use of chemicals. No
significant fouling was observed during the test
and the product water quality was very stable.
Operating costs
The operating pressure of the unit is low
because of the relatively low feed-water
TDS and high feed-water temperature.
The system is based on a four-stage
“Christmas tree” design per train – arranged
in a 32/16/8/4 array – which does not require
recirculation and yet is able to operate at up
to 80% recovery.
The operating expenses (OPEX) of the unit,
including membrane replacement, power,
labour, chemical costs and maintenance, is
calculated at US$0.12 per m3 produced prod­
uct water, based on the results achieved during
the pilot test.
The capital expenditure (CAPEX) of the ini­
tial 50 lps system, including the civil works, is
estimated to be US$950K.
At these costs, the expenses associated
with the dNF system are lower than those
of the conventional treatment option, whilst

Figure 3. The layout of the

facility showing the 50 lps
bangunan instalasi pen
golahan air (IPA) (water
treatment plant building),
along with the planned
expansion, comprising
two further buildings
containing systems each
with a capacity of 200 lps
(diagram courtesy of NX
Filtration BV).

8
Membrane Technology March 2021

Figure 4. The hollow-fibre nanofiltration (NF) enables a compact system to be designed and installed. The NF technology has been developed to remove
micro-pollutants and colour from water in a single step – without pretreatment and the use of chemicals (diagram courtesy of NX Filtration BV).
water of significantly higher quality is
produced.
Commissioning
The NF system is expected to be commissioned
in April 2021 and is partly financed by the
World Bank through its National Urban Water
Supply Program, which seeks to provide access
to improved water sources for the population
and strengthen the operational performance of
water service providers in selected urban areas.
For further information, visit:
www.nxfiltration.com,
https://bsbkonstruksi.co.id & https://bumikirana.co.id
(This technology focus is based on press material
issued by NX Filtration BV.)
RESEARCH
TRENDS
Bipolar membranes – a review of
principles, latest developments
and applications
Bipolar membranes (BPMs) are a special class
of ion-exchange membranes constituted by a
cation-exchange and an anion-exchange layer,
allowing protons and hydroxide ions to be gen­
erated via a water dissociation mechanism. Such
March 2021
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS/RESEARCH TRENDS
• PT. Bayu Surya BaktiKonstruksi is
an Indonesian original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) that specialises
in constructing water and wastewater
treatment facilities. Its aim is to provide
sustainable water supplies by applying
the latest technology for a green envi­
ronment. Its scope of services includes
clean water treatment and wastewater
treatment for domestic, sewage and
industrial applications.
• PT. Bumi Kirana Asri is the local distribu­
tor of NX Filtration’s products in Indonesia.
The company services include the supply of
equipment for water treatment and renew-
able energy, engineering design and project
partnership.
a unique feature makes these materials attractive
for a variety of applications in many sectors, such
as biochemical engineering, food processing,
environmental protection, and energy conver­
sion and storage, amongst others. Research and
development into BPMs over the past two dec­
ades has created a growing market. Commercial
BPMs are available today from multiple manu­
facturers. Moreover, BPMs are rapidly gaining
attention for their technical, environmental
and economical advancements, compared with
conventional processes, for the production of
acids and bases, or local pH control. This review
article aims to provide an overall understanding
of BPM technology by describing the current
• NX Filtration produces membrane
products for treating water and filtering
beverages. Based in The Netherlands,
it produces advanced hollow-fibre
membrane modules for nanofiltration
(NF), ultrafiltration and microfiltra-
tion applications. Its unique direct NF
concept has been developed to remove
micro-pollutants, colour, nano-plastics,
selective salts and pharmaceuticals
from water in a single step – without
pretreatment and without the use of
chemicals. Together with a produc­
tion method based on green chemistry
and significant energy savings during
operation, this results in a unique and
sustainable technology.
state of the art on membrane synthesis, proper­
ties, theoretical models and applications, based
on the last 70 years of scientific publications and
patents in this field. Optimised BPM properties
are also discussed, together with a summary of
the advances in BPM fabrication to attain the
targeted optimised characteristics. Furthermore,
novel BPM applications are covered, including a
list of shortcomings of current membranes that
need to be overcome in order to unlock new
promising applications.
R. Pärnamäe, S. Mareev, V. Nikonenko,
S. Melnikov, N. Sheldeshov, V. Zabolotskii,
H.V.M. Hamelers and M. Tedesco:
J. of Membrane Science,
9
Membrane Technology