Back in March, I attended the opening day of the AWWA & AMTA Membrane Technology Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida to meet Plutoshift customers. I wanted to learn more about the challenges facing them and explore the new processes and solutions being employed to meet those challenges.
The conference opened with an inspiring keynote address given by Water for People CEO, Eleanor Allen. Her speech offered a glimpse into the progress made through collaborative partnerships of social entrepreneurs around the world to provide potable water to the millions in need. Distinct from the technologically-focused presentations given throughout the day, this talk was an uplifting reminder of the life-sustaining impact of the advancements and efforts of the water industry’s products, services, and people.
After the lunch hour, Val Frenkel Ph.D., PE, D.WRE., of Greely and Hansen, presented a thought-provoking presentation entitled “What We Don’t Know About RO.” Dr. Frenkel provided a comprehensive review of the history of RO systems and the introduction to the commercial marketing dating back to the 1970s. He discussed the impact of specific system configurations to enable different types of RO systems to achieve individual targets of product quality or meet specific operating procedures for different applications.
Dr. Frenkel went on to describe pretreatment of membranes as a cost-effective way to insure integrity. Now that the performance of RO systems is no longer a question of achievability, the longevity and integrity of the RO membrane is the new focus for furthering system performance.
Another talk that stood out was a presentation by Pierre Kwan of HDR, regarding the Basin Creeks membrane operation, “All-Gravity Membrane Filtration: Design and Operational Considerations.” Kwan described an almost certainly unique circumstance of having a water reservoir with enough altitude above the plant to not only eliminate to the expensive pumping usually required but, created the complication of managing high pressure, instead.
Building a sustainable operation under these conditions had several interesting ramifications. Along with this gravity challenge was the high-water quality requirement, the two-stage membrane process implemented was impressive. The net result of this unique system design was that this facility consumed only 5% of the energy typically expected of a membrane plant. Kwan painted a vivid description of how thoughtful, custom design can overcoming the geographical and infrastructure challenges; the result was an compelling speech about how to achieve energy efficiency in the face of adversity.
Overall, the advancements in membrane integrity analysis and the appetite for increasing efficiencies is a rich area for predictive technologies. Plutoshift’s predictive analytics dashboard has helped several utilities and companies determine convenient cleaning schedules and discover optimal points for normalization of RO membrane trains, typically with a 3-5x ROI. Click here for more information (link to Demo)
